Driving in at a much more reasonable hour this morning (Thank you David for setting up the signs at 6a.m.)  I entered a thick bank of fog just short of the lake before re-entering bright sunshine in time to find a space in the rather minimal car-park. There were people everywhere, trucks, banners, burger vans, and jetskis as this weekend is the British Championships. Sadly none of them were out on the lake this early, but it wasn’t yet 8 so not too suprising. Starting my relaxing 5k I battled back through the fog but a mile later along the canal it had all gone, as I hit the steeply perilous zig-zags I was glad I was not racing as it felt far more difficult than it should. Obviously It was not so tough for our front runners as Jeremy took his first win at the fourth attempt, with Dave & Andrew battling around less than a minute later.

In the Race Director smackdown Nigel extended his lead to 17 seconds with another cracking PB, one of 39 in total today, giving us hope of cracking 1000 PBs next Saturday.

We had 2 late volunteers in Alan & Dave which means that we will have some great pictures on facebook later today. Please add yourself to the group to keep up to date with parkrun news.

Talking of volunteers, I was really pleased to award the August parkrunner Sweatshop voucher to Jill Eaton. Jill joined us on Race 2 and has barely missed any runs since. She always vowed never to run and yet, 7months later, she has not only started running but has knocked 16 minutes off her PB.

Jill represents everything that is great and wonderful about parkrun and is an inspiration to us all. I do not want or expect you all to volunteer 25+ times but we do need a lot more help. If you each help us 2 or 3 times a year we can continue with a smooth running event that is also able to grow and draw in more and more runners.

Please register your help by emailing MiltonKeynesHelpers@parkrun.com

In his 4th appearance, Jeremy WEIGHTMAN (VM45-49) of Unattached won for the 1st time in a time of 17:40. Dave BARNETT (SM25-29) representing Unattached took second by 46 seconds recording 18:26. Andrew WASDELL, (SM35-39) of Marshall Milton Keynes AC placed third in a time of 18:29.

In her 17th appearance, Miriam DREWETT (SW25-29) of Unattached won in a time of 22:11 for the 3rd time. Miriam DREWETT beat Laura BEECHEY (SW25-29) representing Unattached by 67 seconds recording 23:18 in the process. Barbara CLAYTON, (VW40-44) of Unattached placed third in a time of 24:20.

In today's Age Graded competition, Jeremy WEIGHTMAN recorded a performance of 81.51%

In the points competition Tony DAGLISH has a lead of 345 points over second placed Nigel SHEPPARD. Gillian SHEPPARD leads Hazel CARR by 3 in the ladies competition.

This week there were 31 first timers.

39 runners recorded PBs, bringing the total number since the Milton Keynes started to 971. In this time, 734 runners from 72 different clubs have completed the race 3013 times covering a distance of 15065 kilometers.

The male course record is held by Damian CARR who ran 16:17 on 28/08/10, event #33. The female equivalent is held by Jane OVINGTON who ran 17:59 on 03/07/10, event #25.

You can find our own MK parkrun page in Facebook

You can also follow us on Twitter

and you can pop in for a chat in Fetcheveryone or Runners World

Have a good week, parkrunners, hope to see you on Saturday

On a beautiful sunny August morning, 133 runners of all sorts of ability gathered for the 33rd Milton Keynes parkrun, all with the single aim of covering the 5k course as quickly as possible. This is the 3rd highest field we've seen at Willen Lake so far.

Before the parkrun started it was lovely to see Jack Stride receive his 10 club t-shirt and Julie Ropke receive her Sweatshop Runner of the Month award from Event Director Gareth Snelson, and then a shout of "3-2-1-Go" signalled the start of this week's run.

Today's parkrun was won by 2 of the 23 first-timers who came along this week. Congratulations not only to Damian Carr, our winning man (in a new course record of 16.17) and our winning lady, Stephanie Corbett, who came home in 21st position overall in a time of 21.51, but also to everyone who took part. We had 133 excellent performances this weekend.

And congratulations are also due to our team of volunteers who coped admirably with a situation none of us had encountered before. As you might know, our timing clock didn't work this weekend. We knew this in time to tell the runners before they set off, which as the bearer of the news somehow felt better than telling everyone after the event.

Whilst I strove to record the times with my Garmin, the rest of the team just got on with their roles - handing out the finish tokens and registration for example - with smiles on their faces, unflustered and unhurried, ensuring that the parkrun experience for our 133 runners was as smooth as possible.

Linda worked with first-time volunteer Adam, handing out the tokens, and Alex and Catherine got on with registration. Gareth was there with them, solving any problems that came up, and Lynne, our designated timer for the day, was ready with a second Garmin should mine fade away, and plenty of encouragement for me, the somewhat despondent race director. Marcus took some excellent photos for us, and John and Caroline did a great job out on the course marshalling. We know this, because nobody got lost.

Finally, must mention Paul who, having run his parkrun and finished 4th, set off on a warm down lap, and realised that nobody had collected the signs and so took it upon himself to do so.

Thank you to all 

Since then Gareth has slaved over a hot spreadsheet or two, and a full set of results was online on Wednesday morning. Thanks for your patience whilst these were collated, we felt it better to take some time and get the results as accurate as possible.

Hope to see you all back at parkrun MK soon!!

Meanwhile . . here's Sttattattack . .

In his 1st appearance, Damian CARR (SM25-29) of Coventry Godiva Harriers won in a new course record time of 16:17. Adam Mark ATKINS (SM25-29) representing Marshall Milton Keynes AC was second, 48 seconds behind Damian in 17:05. Maxwell ROBINSON, (SM20-24) who is unattached finished third in a time of 18:03. 

In her 1st appearance at parkrun MK, Stephanie CORBETT (SW25-29) who is unattached, won in a time of 21:51. Stephanie beat Miriam DREWETT (SW25-29) who is also unattached by 51 seconds, with Miriam recording 22:42 in the process. Alice LANGTON, (SW30-34) of Beckenham RC placed third in a time of 22:50. 

In today's Age Graded competition, John SKELTON recorded a performance of 83.98% 

In the mens points competition Tony DAGLISH has a lead of 346 points over second placed Nigel SHEPPARD, while Gillian SHEPPARD leads Hazel CARR by 90 in the ladies competition. 

This week there were 23 first timers. 

37 runners recorded PBs, bringing the total number since the Milton Keynes parkrun started to 932. In this time, 703 runners from 72 different clubs have completed the run 2,889 times covering a distance of 14,445 kilometers. 

The male course record is held by Damian CARR who ran 16:17 in today's event, which was number 33. The female equivalent is held by Jane OVINGTON who ran 17:59 on 03/07/10, event #25. 

You can find our own MK parkrun page in Facebook

You can also follow us on Twitter

and you can pop in for a chat in Fetcheveryone or Runners World

Have a good week, parkrunners, hope to see you on Saturday

Hi Everyone,

Please email your times in to MiltonKeynesOffice@parkrun.com

Results will be delayed, possibly until mid week, but it will be easier for us if we can cross check our stopwatch to your times

Gareth

I could not have been happier as I introduced our special guests this morning. Okay, I would be happier if I woke up to find Eddie Van Halen & David Lee Roth jumping up and down on the bed and shouting that the band were back together again, but apart from that...

Anyway. Darren Wood was running his 273^rd parkrun this morning, and it was a great pleasure to welcome one of our earliest parkrunners. He started on October 9^th 2004 (Bushy parkrun #2) and has hardly stoppped since

It was lovely to see Jenny again, and she deserves an extra shout out as this was her third fastest parkrun despite being dressed as a banana.

Jenny is one of the bananas in this year Bananaman Chase on October 3^rd. Entries are still open!

This weeks stats

In his 1st appearance, Craig PEARSON (SM25-29) of Cannock & Stafford AC won for the 1st time in a time of 17:33. Mark DOWSON (SM35-39) representing Unattached took second by 30 seconds recording 18:03. Paul TEW, (VM45-49) of Unattached placed third in a time of 18:22.

In her 9th appearance, Jennifer MCBAIN (SW30-34) of Alchester RC won in a time of 19:44 for the 5th time. Jennifer MCBAIN beat Yvonne SCARROTT (VW40-44) representing Nene Valley Harriers by 65 seconds recording 20:49 in the process. Amy DILLON, (SW20-24) of Team MK placed third in a time of 23:19.

In today's Age Graded competition, Philip JONES recorded a performance of 78.87% In the points competition Tony DAGLISH has a lead of 350 points over second placed Nigel SHEPPARD. Gillian SHEPPARD leads Hazel CARR by 66 in the ladies competition.

This week there were 19 first timers. 22 runners recorded PBs, bringing the total number since the Milton Keynes started to 895. In this time, 680 runners from 69 different clubs have completed the race 2756 times covering a distance of 13780 kilometers. The male course record is held by Max DILLON who ran 16:39 on 15/05/10, event #18. The female equivalent is held by Jane OVINGTON who ran 17:59 on 03/07/10, event #25.

You can find our own MK parkrun page in Facebook

You can also follow us on Twitter

and you can pop in for a chat in Fetcheveryone or Runners World

When I designed the course for our parkrun I wanted something that was scenic, that gave a bit of a taste of what Milton Keynes has to offer. The price to pay was a challenging parkrun as opposed to a superfast one. I have always thought that I chose well and was pleasantly surprised, as I looked at the stats of todays winner, to realise it isn't as slow as I had thought. James rocked up in his 50 t-shirt this morning and put in our third fastest run ever, just 2 seconds per kilometre off the record. Looking at his 11 different parkruns I saw that MK is his third fastest, and he isn't even familiar with the course.

He wasn't the only visitor this week. Our top three male & female were all from different clubs; Bedford, Milton Keynes, Cardiff, Beckenham, Teddington and Barnet. In all we had runners from 11 different clubs and todays little shout out is for the running clubs, the lifeblood of running in the UK. They can offer you the extra support and motivation to improve your running if parkrun has given you the running bug.

I will also quickly mention our volunteers. This week I had to make a desperate last minute call for volunteers as 1 wouldn't be enough, and we had 14 in the end plus a few we were able to let run instead. We do need more, so we don't have last minute panics. Please email MiltonKeynesHelpers@parkrun.com to register your help.

Next week we have a visit from Nike, with their new running sports-bra range, so I may rave about them...

The week after is the bank holiday weekend with another visit from Lucozade. I hope to see you at these events.

Gareth

this weeks stats

In his 1st appearance, James Christopher FLOOD (SM30-34) of Stragglers won for the 1st time in a time of 16:48. Grant RAMSAY (SM35-39) representing Barnet & District AC took second by 11 seconds recording 16:59. Marcus Richard COOKHAM, (SM35-39) of Bedford Harriers AC placed third in a time of 17:51.

In her 1st appearance, Melanie WOOD (JW15-19) of Marshall Milton Keynes AC won in a time of 18:33 for the 1st time. Melanie WOOD beat Sally HASELHURST (SW30-34) representing San Domenico RRC by 65 seconds recording 19:38 in the process. Alice LANGTON, (SW30-34) of Beckenham RC placed third in a time of 23:41.

In today's Age Graded competition, Melanie WOOD recorded a performance of 82.48% In the points competition Tony DAGLISH has a lead of 349 points over second placed Nigel SHEPPARD. Gillian SHEPPARD leads Hazel CARR by 42 in the ladies competition. This week there were 23 first timers. 21 runners recorded PBs, bringing the total number since the Milton Keynes started to 873. In this time, 661 runners from 67 different clubs have completed the race 2647 times covering a distance of 13235 kilometers. The male course record is held by Max DILLON who ran 16:39 on 15/05/10, event #18. The female equivalent is held by Jane OVINGTON who ran 17:59 on 03/07/10, event #25.

You can find our own MK parkrun page in Facebook

You can also follow us on Twitter

and you can pop in for a chat in Fetcheveryone or Runners World