Well that was 2018 folks, another year over and new one just about to begin.  So pop the kettle on, grab something nice to nibble and huddle up for a (largely statistical!) review of 2018 at Market Harborough parkrun!

But first, it is a Run Report, so let’s hear about event number 192 from Saturday:

 

Jo was up the RD stepladder and overall a silky-smooth event ensued.  Thank you to our wonderful 34 volunteers who made the event happen.  It was a windy at first 9 degrees and the dry skies brought out 353 people to run, jog and walk the course.

We welcomed a large number of First Timers (36) – of whom 19 were tourists and 17 were completely new to parkrun (obviously feeling the effects of too much Christmas chocolate!).  We hope to see you again and again through 2019.

Despite the headwind into the Bowls Pavilion straight, 45 of you managed new PBs – congrats to you all.  Particular congratulations to the PBs from:

• David STAFF, who knocked 5 seconds off his PB to record a fantastic 17:50 on his 114^thparkrun (110^that MH), but was pipped to be the first finisher by one second by Benjamin HAINES, a tourist from Burnham and Highbridge.  That must have been an exciting finish sprint!
• Paul GRANGER, another PB after 135 parkruns (all at MH) – great to be still hitting PBs after so many parkruns!
• Patsy WILSON and Wiki SOLLY, both of whom recorded PBs on their 50^thmilestone PBs – Well done!

Otherwise on the day, up front was a good three-way tussle with David and Benjamin mentioned above and young Adam BARBER.  From what I saw Adam did much of the hard work towing the other two around for most of the 5k until wisdom took over and David and Benjamin fought in out for First Finisher.

The top 10 all finished under 20 minutes; you have to run under 25 minutes now if you want to appear in the top 100; around 29 minutes may see you into the top 200 and depending on the turnout, around 35 minutes will see you into the top 300.  Everyone completed this weekend’s parkrun in under an hour and the kit was soon stashed away, with thanks again to the volunteers who help with this essential end of event task.

In the café, much talk about the previous fabulous Christmas Day event and the forthcoming ‘New Year’s Day Double’.  Market Harborough parkrun chooses to participate in the Christmas Day event, but not the NYD event, meaning there are plenty of tourist opportunities for those wishing to try out a couple of new parkrun courses.  But we’ll hopefully see you back in the New Year on 5^thJanuary for event number 193!

 

Now, what about that 2018 review?...

 

Well due to some bad weather in the first couple of months and an August Food Fair in the park, we had 2 fewer events than in 2017.

 

But overall you wonderful parkrunners completed 1,200 (7.7%) more parkruns this year than last.

 

There were 201 more unique parkrunners to Market Harborough in 2018 (+7.3%)

 

Here is a little table showing our most frequent parkrunners through 2018:

 

And a fabulous 264 more total volunteers (+16.0%)

 

Provided by 62 more unique volunteers through the year (+17.9%)

 

We love our volunteers and thank them for helping deliver this wonderful event every week – a special ‘heart’ to all those who have volunteered on at least 10 occasions this year:

 

Combining parkruns completed with volunteering credits, gives us some interesting stats on who has attended the most consecutive events in 2018.

 

We still had plenty of PBs, although the more events parkrunners complete, the more difficult it becomes to reach out for PBs, so we did see a drop in the overall number of PBs (-7.8%):

 

And here’s the roll of honour for the most PBs in 2018:

 

We had a few fewer First Timers in 2018 – still plenty each week to fully occupy our First Timers Briefing volunteer, but overall down 119 (-7.3%)

 

All of this meant we had a great average of 334 parkrunners at each event (up 36 +12.1%), supported by an average of 38 volunteers (up 6 +18.8%):

 

You may be aware that parkrun HQ have a stated aim to gradually increase the average time at parkrun each year.  This isn’t as odd as it sounds.  As many PBs continue to be recorded, we also continue to reach out to the community and welcome more and more people to participate in a safe, free, weekly timed 5k walk, jog or run.  This inclusivity is great to see nationwide and Market Harborough has continued to support this trend, this year increasing our average time by 35 seconds:

 

That said, there have been some great time improvements this year, take a look through this little lot! (minimum of 5 completed parkruns in 2018 to qualify for this table):

 

Some of our Age Grade % records have also been beaten this year – here are the top 2018 performances, shown in amber if they set a new MH record in 2018:

 

On our website the top 1,000 Age Grade performances are shown  (http://www.parkrun.org.uk/marketharborough/results/agegradedleague/).   To qualify for this list, you’ll currently have to achieve an Age Grade rating of around 66%.  To give you an idea, these are the approximate times for each Age Grade category you’ll have to hit to make this list:

 

There is also an overall ‘Fastest 500’ list (http://www.parkrun.org.uk/marketharborough/results/fastest500/). Those quickies up front now need to beat 20:39 to appear on that list!

 

Finally on the stats report (are you still awake?!) we have had plenty of milestones achieved and announced each week at the RD briefings. It’s a little difficult to extract this data, but I reckon we have had:

• 31 junior 10 milestones achieved (white T-shirt) – congratulations those below:

• 137 50 milestones achieved (red T-shirt)
• 43 100 milestones achieved (black T-shirt)
• And 22 V25 volunteer milestones achieved (aubergine T-shirt) – congratulations to those below:

 

Well I think that about wraps up the statistical review of 2018.  Looking at other happenings through the year, we had:

• Ice, a flood and a food fair leading to 3 cancellations.
• A record turnout (394) on the second event of the year.
• A first first finisher who was female (Chloe FINLAY in March with 18:58).
• A new female Course Record in July (17:36).
• A few fallers, but thankfully nothing too serious - thank you to everyone who helps out anyone who is ever in any trouble at parkrun.
• An amazing response to our fundraising appeal – thank you again, allowing us to supplement the first aid supplies, buy radios, pacer bibs and a few other essentials that keep the wheels turning.
• A record number of volunteers at an event in December (51).
• We’ve had a hen do, a few parkrun romances (I won’t embarrass anyone by mentioning names), a few weddings are due in 2019 and we’ve had a few babies and returning mums.

 

What a year!  On behalf of the whole Core Team, it has been our pleasure to look after the wonderful thing that is Market Harborough parkrun.

 

Happy New Year to one and all.

 

 

Roger Pangbourne