The 153rd parkrun at March is brought to you, in part, by Fenland District Council and by Smickelskis & Swinkels, purveyors to the extremely wealth and the very fat, and Sew Watt, your local steam powered sewing machine supplier. Saturday morning, or as it’s known in certain circles, parkrun day, dawned, and the parkrun family consisting of old friends and new, gathered in the amphitheatre of Westend Park to enjoy some well supervised exercise, whether it be to run, walk, or just generally have some fun.

Our run director, Dawn, began proceedings with the important and must be listened to briefing. We don’t want to be ‘that’ person, but can we please remind you of the following: Please respect the briefing and stay quiet. We don’t do this for fun, it is for your safety and there are currently newcomers that may not have heard it before. If you’re chatting through it, then it’s unfair to your fellow runners. Some of our RD’s don’t have the loudest voices and amplification can muffle voices, hence why we don’t have one, so please stay quiet just for five minutes of your time while this is delivered.

This week we inducted into the black 100 t-shirt club local legends Sue Jeeves and Debbie Perry. Congratulations to you fine ladies from the core team and everyone at March parkrun on this magnificent achievement. This week we have those worthy enough to be mentioned in our meritorious dispatches section, that is all who turned up to run and volunteer and know that parkrun still isn’t just for New Years Day, it’s for life. We also welcomed tourists from Rotherham, who may have mentioned once or twice that he was from Rotherham, Gloucester and Purley in South London, and were brightly greeted into the family. Also joining us were our fellow local runners from Bodymode, BRJ, and Three Counties. The core team also wish to give a huge thank you to all the volunteers, without whom, park run could not happen every week. If you wish to volunteer, please see the March parkrun volunteers Facebook page or email marchhelpers@parkrun.com.

This weeks brave and fluffy and splendid Hi-Viz heroes were: -

Hilary RANGER • Mark DARLOW • Hugh HARRIS • David WATTS • Justin ELVIDGE • Irene LANE • Samantha WOOL • Dawn VEAL • Katie LEACH • Georgina JACKMAN • Raymond FEW • Andrew WOOL • Patricia NORRIS • Sydney DAVIS • Karen PATTERSON • Debbie PERRY • Graham PEARCE • Bill SWADLING • Gemma SOMMERSBY • Carole DAVIS • Mary BETTLES • Roger MONEY

For those of you who get their geek on over stats, and for a change, we have all new top three for the ladies, so here they are: -

1st Luke Brown (March AC) 18:41. 2nd John Comrie (Rotherham Harriers & AC) 20:52. 3rd Tim Fitches (unattached) 21:23.
1st Jessica Ward (unattached) 24:45. 2nd Hannah Daniel (unattached) 25:24. 3rd Agata Chelchowska (unattached) 25:50.

The following runners recorded the best Age Grade scores: -
John Comrie (VM55-59) was graded 73.63% for the time 20:52 (2nd overall)
Jill Vaughan (VF60-65) was graded 69.51% for the time 28:19 (56th overall)
Luke Brown(VM20-24) was graded 69.05% for the time 18:41 (1st overall)

This week 187 people ran, jogged and walked the course, of whom 22 were first timers and 22 recorded new Personal Bests. Representatives of 14 different clubs took part.
March parkrun started on 23rd January 2016. Since then 2,930 participants have completed 22,889 parkruns covering a total distance of 114,445 km, including 4,816 new Personal Bests. A total of 441 individuals have volunteered 3,835 times.

The female record is held by Lisa MARRIOTT who recorded a time of 19:08 on 21st May 2016 (event number 18).
The male record is held by Glen WATTS who recorded a time of 16:12 on 1st October 2016 (event number 36).
The Age Grade course record is held by Catherine WRIGHT who recorded 87.35% (22:32) on 6th May 2017 (event number 67).
Today's full results and a complete event history can be found on the March parkrun Results Page.

The 150th parkrun at March is brought to you, in part, by Fenland District Council and also by Smickelskis & Swinkels, purveyors to the extremely wealth and the very fat, and Sew Watt, your local steam powered sewing machine supplier. Saturday morning, or as it’s known in certain circles, parkrun day, dawned, and the parkrun family consisting of old friends and new, gathered in the amphitheatre of Westend Park to enjoy some well supervised exercise, whether it be to run, walk, or just generally have some fun.

Our run director, Gaelle, began proceedings with the important and must be listened to briefing. This week we inducted into the red 50 t-shirt club, local runner David Watts, the same David Watts that both the Kinks and the Jam sang about. Ask your Dad if you’re confused, or maybe just consult google. Congratulations to you all from the core team and everyone at March parkrun on this magnificent achievement. This week we have those worthy enough to be mentioned in our meritorious dispatches section, that is all who turned, including our tourists, local runners and all our hi-viz heroes. We also welcomed tourists from Cambridge, Dereham, Sheffield, Wells-next-the-Sea, and a tourist from South Africa who kept that to herself, but I have my ways of finding these things out. Shame, as you would have been brightly welcomed into the family. Also joining us were our fellow local runners from Bodymode, Nene Valley, Ramsey Road Runners, Thorney and Three Counties. The core team also wish to give a huge thank you to all the volunteers, without whom, park run could not happen every week. If you wish to volunteer, please see the March parkrun volunteers Facebook page or email marchhelpers@parkrun.com.

This weeks brave and fluffy and splendid hi-viz heroes were :-

Gaelle BRYANT, Dawn BURBIDGE, Carole DAVIS, Gary DAVIS, Justin ELVIDGE, Cate EWAN, Raymond FEW, Andrew FOVARGUE, Nicola FUNNELL, Georgina JACKMAN, Victor JEEVES, Vanessa MURRAY, Rowan MURRAY, Patricia NORRIS, Amy RUDD, Helen SEIMS, Paul STACEY, Natalie SZULC, Emma UDEN, Debra WATTS, Anthony WHIBLEY, Andrew WOOL, Samantha WOOL

For those of you who get their geek on over stats, and for a change, we have all new top three for men and ladies, so here they are :-

1st Simon Mead (Ramsey Road Runners) 17:37. 2nd Andy Caress (unattached) 20:42. 3rd Kieran Williams (unattached) 20:44.
1st Olivia Mead (Nene Valley) 21:28. 2nd Alexandra Louise Watson-Usher (Valley Striders AC) 22:30. 3rd Amberley Wright (Runners-next-the-Sea) 23:35.

The following runners recorded the best Age Grade scores:-
Simon Mead (VM45-49) was graded 81:08% for the time 17:37 (1st overall)
Brian Jones (VM60-64) was graded 75.87% for the time 21:08 (5th overall)
Olivia Mead (VF15-17) was graded 72.20% for the time 21:28 (7th overall).

This week there were 160 runners, of which 20 were first timers and 13 recorded new Personal Bests. Representatives of 17 different athletics clubs took part.
March parkrun started on 23rd January 2016, and since then 2858 different runners, including participants from 217 athletics clubs, have completed 22331 runs covering a total distance of 111655km, and there have been 4768 new Personal Bests.

The female record is held by Lisa MARRIOTT who ran in a time of 19:08 on 21st May 2016 (event number 18).
The male record is held by Glen WATTS who ran in a time of 16:12 on 1st October 2016 (event number 36).
The Age Grade course record is held by Joan CLARKE who recorded a 83.07% run (23:02) on 26th March 2016 (event number 10).
Today's full results and a complete event history can be found on the March parkrun Results Page.

All that remains is for me to wish you a very happy new year, and hopefully I will see you at the second parkrun of 2019. I shall be doing a freedom run on New Year’s Day at 3:30pm if anyone wants to join me for those who have to work and don’t have the day off.

The 152nd parkrun at March is brought to you, in part, by Fenland District Council and by Smickelskis & Swinkels, purveyors to the extremely wealth and the very fat, and Sew Watt, your local steam powered sewing machine supplier. Saturday morning, or as it’s known in certain circles, parkrun day, dawned, and the parkrun family consisting of old friends and new, gathered in the amphitheatre of Westend Park to enjoy some well supervised exercise, whether it be to run, walk, or just generally have some fun.

Our run director, Gaelle, began proceedings with the important and must be listened to briefing. We don’t want to be ‘that’ person, but can we please remind you of the following: Please respect the briefing and stay quiet. We don’t do this for fun, it is for your safety and there are currently newcomers that may not have heard it before. If you’re chatting through it, then it’s unfair to your fellow runners. There was lots of chatter today and it wasn’t quiet. Some of our RD’s don’t have the loudest voices and amplification can muffle voices, hence why we don’t have one, so please stay quiet just for five minutes of your time while this is delivered.

This week we inducted into the white 10 t-shirt club William Bradley and Hollie Andrews, red 50 t-shirt club, Simon Mead from Ramsey and local runner Melanie Cook, Congratulations to you all from the core team and everyone at March parkrun on this magnificent achievement. This week we have those worthy enough to be mentioned in our meritorious dispatches section, that is all who turned up to run and volunteer and know that parkrun isn’t just for New Years Day, it’s for life. We also welcomed tourists from Spalding and Cheltenham whom were brightly greeted into the family. Also joining us were our fellow local runners from Bodymode, Eye, Ely, Fenland, Lynnsport Ladybirds, Ramsey Road Runners, Run DMC and Three Counties. The core team also wish to give a huge thank you to all the volunteers, without whom, park run could not happen every week. If you wish to volunteer, please see the March parkrun volunteers Facebook page or email marchhelpers@parkrun.com.

This weeks brave and fluffy and splendid Hi-Viz heroes were: -

Justin ELVIDGE • Gaelle BRYANT • Samantha WOOL • Dawn VEAL • Georgina JACKMAN • Lin SUTTON • Jon LONG • Bill SWADLING • Graeme DEDMAN • Kay DEDMAN • Oscar WATSON • Victor JEEVES • Mary BETTLES • Leia WATSON • Alan PUGH • Roger MONEY • Peter OCONNOR • Donna EGERTON • Willow DAVIS • Cate EWAN • Chris SHARP • Nicola SHARP

For those of you who get their geek on over stats, and for a change, we have all new top three for men and ladies, so here they are: -

1st Simon Mead & his dog (Ramsey Road Runners) 18:53. 2nd Luke Brown (March AC) 19:08. 3rd Grant Lenton (unattached) 20:44.
1st Karen Patterson (March AC) 22:07. 2nd Abbie Jeeves (March AC) 25:03. 3rd Tina Lambert (March AC) 25:23.

The following runners recorded the best Age Grade scores: -
Simon Mead (VM45-49) was graded 75.64% for the time 18:53 (1st overall)
Karen Patterson (VF45-49) was graded 74.00% for the time 22:07(10th overall)
Lesley Wright (VF55-59) was graded 68.94% for the time 25:53 (43rd overall).
This week 184 people ran, jogged and walked the course, of whom 19 were first timers and 16 recorded new Personal Bests. Representatives of 16 different clubs took part.
March parkrun started on 23rd January 2016. Since then 2,908 participants have completed 22,702 parkruns covering a total distance of 113,510 km, including 4,794 new Personal Bests. A total of 441 individuals have volunteered 3,813 times.
The female record is held by Lisa MARRIOTT who recorded a time of 19:08 on 21st May 2016 (event number 18).
The male record is held by Glen WATTS who recorded a time of 16:12 on 1st October 2016 (event number 36).
The Age Grade course record is held by Catherine WRIGHT who recorded 87.35% (22:32) on 6th May 2017 (event number 67).
Today's full results and a complete event history can be found on the March parkrun Results Page.

So a fresh morning awaited us for our special Tuesday parkrun to celebrate New Year’s Day. Kicking off at the later time of 10:30am rather than our usual 9am Saturday starts. This allowed many runners from other parkruns including Huntingdon, Littleport and Kings Lynn to do the double including Abbie Jeeves who hit their 100 milestone doing just that! It allowed others an extra hour in bed to try and sleep off the celebrations from the night before.
We had 4 milestones in total 2 will be getting that festive red 50 t-shirt Roger Money & Chris Medhurst. The other 2 will be soon donning a magical black 100 one Abigail Jeeves and Debra Watts. Well done all of you.
Now before we get onto the run itself as it’s a new year how about making some resolutions I have 2 suggestions:
1) Encourage someone new to try parkrun with you
2) Volunteer as a hi-viz hero at least 3 times this year and give back to this amazing event.
Both these things can be very rewarding, you can find out about available volunteer roles each week at the March Parkrun volunteers page on Facebook.
So the time came to get underway with Gayna briefing our first timers followed by Andrew making the usual welcome and various thanks to our sponsors and volunteers. As well as the above mentioned milestone and double runners from Huntingdon, Littleport and Kings Lynn we also had tourists from Lowestoft and the Isle of Wight amongst our ranks today.
A fantastic 187 runners, walkers and all those in between took part, we had an outstanding 20 personal bests and 30 first timers with representatives of 19 different clubs.
There were unfortunately 11 unknown runners so a quick reminder don’t forget your barcode! Barcodes must be printed copies as we are unable to scan phones. Sorry but rules are rules. If like me you struggle to remember a piece of paper early in the morning or as has also happened to me accidently wash your barcode on a regular basis you may want to think about investing in a barcode wristband or lace tag available from the parkrun website (these make great Christmas / Birthday presents)
The first finisher was unrecorded, the first recorded man over the line was Luke BROWN in 18:49 and the first recorded woman was Toni ALCARAZ in 20:04 (a new PB!) well done to both of you.
This week 187 people ran, jogged and walked the course, of whom 31 were first timers and 20 recorded new Personal Bests. Representatives of 20 different clubs took part.
The event was made possible by 24 volunteers:

Gillian HOLMES • Samantha WOOL • Katie LEACH • Gayna OROURKE • Emma UDEN • Nina MARKILLIE • Georgina JACKMAN • Raymond FEW • Grace WOOL • Andrew WOOL • Patricia NORRIS • Gary DAVIS • Tracey DICKERSON • Joanne ANDERSON • Chris UDEN • Carole DAVIS • Andrew FOVARGUE • Emma FOVARGUE • Michelle FOVARGUE • Victor JEEVES • Helen SEIMS • Natalie SZULC • Frankie WALDER • Andrew MURRAY
Today's full results and a complete event history can be found on the March parkrun Results Page.
The female record is held by Lisa MARRIOTT who recorded a time of 19:08 on 21st May 2016 (event number 18).
The male record is held by Glen WATTS who recorded a time of 16:12 on 1st October 2016 (event number 36).
The Age Grade course record is held by Catherine WRIGHT who recorded 87.35% (22:32) on 6th May 2017 (event number 67).
March parkrun started on 23rd January 2016. Since then 2,889 participants have completed 22,518 parkruns covering a total distance of 112,590 km, including 4,778 new Personal Bests. A total of 438 individuals have volunteered 3,791 times

The 149th Christmas themed parkrun at March is brought to you, in part, by Fenland District Council and by Smickelskis & Swinkels, purveyors to the extremely wealth and the very fat, and Sew Watt, your local steam powered sewing machine supplier. Saturday morning, or as it’s known in certain circles, parkrun day, dawned, and the parkrun family consisting of old friends and new, gathered in the amphitheatre of Westend Park to enjoy some well supervised exercise, whether it be to run, walk, or just generally have some fun.

Our run director, Sam, began proceedings with the important and must be listened to briefing. This week we inducted into the white 10 t-shirt club, Rowan Whittlesey, also into the red 50 t-shirt club, we inducted Isobel Riches and Lin Sutton, and into the black 100 t-shirt club, we inducted Rhys Davies. Congratulations to you all from the core team and everyone at March parkrun on this magnificent achievement. This week we have those worthy enough to be mentioned in our meritorious dispatches section, and it goes to everyone whom turned up in Christmas themed dress to make the occasion truly wonderful, and did anyone notice the candy cane coloured hats of red, white and green that I laid out on the path section down the hill towards Santa Tic? For those whom didn’t join in, Christmas Steve will be having a quiet word with you about the true meaning of Christmas. We also welcomed tourists from Elswick, Grantham, Sheffield and Leeds. Also joining us were our fellow local runners from Bodymode, BRJ, Ely, Fenland, Lynnsport Ladybirds, Ramsey Road Runners, Three Counties and Werrington. The core team also wish to give a huge thank you to all the volunteers, without whom, park run could not happen every week. If you wish to volunteer, please see the March parkrun volunteers Facebook page or email marchhelpers@parkrun.com.

This weeks brave and fluffy and splendid Hi-Viz heroes were: -

Stephanie BROWN, Sydney DAVIS, Carole DAVIS, Gary DAVIS, Justin ELVIDGE, Raymond FEW, Emma FOVARGUE, Michelle FOVARGUE, Andrew FOVARGUE, Nicola FUNNELL, Georgina JACKMAN, Victor JEEVES, Sadie MANN, Vanessa MURRAY, Jackie NOSWORTHY, Jim REEVES, Helen SEIMS, Chris UDEN, Leia WATSON, Samantha WOOL

For those of you who get their geek on over stats, here they are: -

1st Luke Brown (March AC) 18:37. 2nd Andy Cole (March AC) 20:37. 3rd Grant Lenton (unattached) 20:54
1st Karen Patterson (March AC) 22:20. 2nd Charlotte Beston (Elswick Harriers) 22:38. 3rd Agatha Chelchowska (unattached) 24:28.

The following runners recorded the best Age Grade scores: -
Janice Davidson (VF-65-69) was graded 82.55% for the time 24:56 (27th overall)
Paul Davidson (VM60-64) was graded 74.63% for the time 21:29 (7th overall)
Karen Patterson (VF45-49) was graded 73.28% for the time 22:20 (10th overall).

This week there were 155 runners, of which 10 were first timers and 9 recorded new Personal Bests. Representatives of 14 different athletics clubs took part.
March parkrun started on 23rd January 2016, and since then 2838 different runners, including participants from 215 athletics clubs, have completed 22171 runs covering a total distance of 110855, and there have been 4745 new Personal Bests.

The female record is held by Lisa MARRIOTT who ran in a time of 19:08 on 21st May 2016 (event number 18).
The male record is held by Glen WATTS who ran in a time of 16:12 on 1st October 2016 (event number 36).
The Age Grade course record is held by Joan CLARKE who recorded an 83.07% run (23:02) on 26th March 2016 (event number 10).
Today's full results and a complete event history can be found on the March parkrun Results Page.

All that remains is for me to wish you a very merry Christmas and a happy new year, and hopefully I will see you at the last parkrun of 2018.