With spring almost daring to make an appearance at Greenham this morning, we welcomed a good sized turnout of 219 runners for today's parkrun. We were also exceptionally impressed at the number of first timers this morning: 47 of you graced the cow-lined paths for the first time this morning. That's over one in five of today's finishers! We hope you enjoyed your first Newbury parkrun experience and look forward to seeing you another week......and then another week, and another (ad infinitum).

The large volume of new runners today actually helped Newbury parkrun reach a major milestone: since the first run back in February, we've now had over 1,000 "unique" runners cross the finish line at Newbury (1,026 to be precise). In fact, in true supermarket dash style, we should ask Stuart Huntley to step forward to claim his award for being the 1,000th runner to cross the finish line at Newbury. We wonder if a prize of an unlimited 5km dash around his local common each Saturday would be a fair award. What do you think, Stuart?

Our regular course "setter-outer", Mark Shepherd, was absent from the parkrun today, and we were a little concerned about how we'd get the cones set up to the normal high standard we were used to. However, we needn't have worried: James Moorcroft offered himself up to the task, and laid out the plastic cones with military like effectiveness. In fact, we even heard the word "precision engineering" used to describe the course set-up. Thank you James for doing such a wonderful job!

In today's race, Adem Omar (SM30-34) of Andover AC took his first win in a time of 17:02 - an impressive solo run, putting him over a minute ahead of the rest of the field. One of the most impressive runs of the day, however, has to go to second placed Oliver Overend (JM14) of Team Kennet. At only 13 years old - and with legs half the size of many of the finishers around him - Oliver ran a new personal best of 18:12. Third place today went to one of our 47 newcomers, Mike Bradfield (SM35-39) who crossed the line in 18:28. Whilst Mike is a newcomer to Newbury, he is somewhat of a parkrun veteran who first ran the Bushy Park parkrun back in 2007 and has an impressive "Bushy PB" of 17:04. We hope to see him back at Newbury very soon!

In the ladies' race, Georgina Bradford (JW14) of Team Kennet took her first win in a new personal best time of 20:34. This win was made all the more special as Georgina had been awarded her T-shirt for entering the "10 club" this very morning. Congratulations, Georgina! Second place went to fellow Team Kennet athlete Susie Drake (JW14) whose time of 20:59 earned her a new personal best and represents an extremely impressive time for someone of just 11 years old. Bev Hall (VW45-49) of Newbury AC took the final podium slot, also knocking four seconds off her previous personal best.

Today's highest age graded score went to Michael Sheridan (VM60-64) of Team Kennet. Michael finished just a second from his personal best to earn today's only >80% age graded score (80.51%).

Winners and podium places aside, there were some equally impressive performances throughout the field today: Jo Darby managed to break the 40 minute barrier for the first timer (a massive 6 minute improvement since she started parkrunning!), and Geren Scarlett got a massive new personal best - going sub-24 (by some way!) for the first time. Dave Smith and Brian Billington were both exceptionally grateful to have "secret pacers" to spur them on to better times, whereas we noted a number of you were enticed to faster times by the threat of being caught on camera slacking by our resident photographer-extraordinaire, Colin Brassington. We think Colin's "run-faster-photo-aid" was particularly effective today, in fact: 66 runners ran new personal bests - that's 39% of you who've run before! It was also nice to welcome regular Basingstoke parkrunner, Mark Cornwell, who not only introduced himself at the start - but also helped cart some of the equipment from the car park to the start area. Thanks, Mark! Fellow Basingstoke parkrunner, David Sheard, was also running his 100th parkrun at Newbury today! We're also liking the fact that many of you are now bringing your friends to parkrun: Jo Darby's friend brought her two boys to their first parkrun, and Andy Tucker's friend Darren Tuckwell ran a very strong race in his first parkrun. Andy Woodman also brought his two girls, Gina and Keri, to their first parkrun - and they both did him very proud!  Keep bringing your friends and sharing the "parkrun love".

We did notice this week that a significant number of runners turned up without barcodes. It is vitally important that you now bring these every week. Keep spares in your car, roll up a couple in the soles of your shoes, iron it onto your running shorts, tattoo it onto your forehead. Whatever it takes! It makes results processing so much quicker and also guards against errors. We have been kind up to now, but you won't get a time at other parkruns if you don't bring your barcode - and when Colin Brassington is race directing twice next month, he is going to strictly adopt the "no barcode, no time" rule. If your barcode won't scan for whatever reason, we can still manually add you - but please be aware of this in the coming weeks.

Today once again couldn't have happened if it wasn't for a wonderful team of volunteers - many of whom came forward at the last minute when we became short of help late in the week. Therefore, thanks this week go to Amelia and Anne Wenlock, Ash Singal, Colin and Elaine Brassington, David Billings, Nicki and Drew Tucker, Hazel Nicholls, James Moorcroft, Lorraine, Jemima and Martha Croggon, Karen Bennett, Mags Scarlett, Maria Scaplehorn, Mark Shepherd and Philip Randall.

After 15 events, 1,026 athletes from 61 athletics clubs have now completed 2,992 runs on the Newbury parkrun course, running a cumulative total of 14,960km. The women's course record is held by Sandra Bowers who ran 16:31 in event #13 on 5 May and the men's course record held jointly held by David Fry and Michael Randall who ran 16:43 in event #5 on 10 March and event #7 on 24 March respectively. The age graded record is held by Sandra Bowers who recorded a 91.62% in event #13.

It's tight at the top of the women's points competition, with Amelia Wenlock and Jemima Croggon jointly leading the women's competition with 1018 points. James Moorcroft leads the men's competition with 1,241 points with Paul Hendry currently runner up with 986 points.

After the event, we go to the wonderful Coffee Exchange on Greenham Business Park for wonderful home made food, tea and coffee. Please come and join us to chat about running, life, or even share stories about the old US Airforce base! Coffee Exchange have opened especially for Newbury parkrunners, so it is important we continue to support it. If you haven't heard about them, the cafe makes absolutely legendary rock cakes (which are normally still warm when we arrive as they're now having to bake extra ones on Saturday morning!). They have to be eaten to be believed!

Don't forget you can keep up to date with the latest Newbury parkrun chat through our Facebook page (Link) and via Twitter (Link). We're also always looking for more volunteers (and don't forget you get extra points each time you volunteer!) so please email newburyhelpers@parkrun.com if you are interested in being added to the volunteer database. We are currently looking at people who would like to have a go at being a Race Director. This doesn't mean you have to organise the whole event - just be around to ensure all volunteers know what they're doing, can give a little talk before the race and just oversee the running of the event. You don't even have to process the results!

We'd also like to remind you that it is currently nesting season on Greenham Common, so it's vital we keep off all the "red zones" when warming up (and we didn't see a single runner straying this week). To learn more about the nesting birds, the zones on the common and the site of special scientic interest status, please read West Berkshire Council's leaflet "Welcome to Crookham and Greenham Common" which provides an excellent summary.

As we mentioned before today's run, we are looking to hold a special Jubilee parkrun event on Tuesday 5 June at 10:30am. Basingstoke AND Andover parkruns are also doing a special events on Tuesday at 9am, so there will be time to do both if you legs (and your car engines!) will allow it. You will be encouraged to dress up, and be as regal as possible. There are rumours that Her Majesty herself may be going for her age category record, but you'll only find that out on the day. More information to follow, but get it in your diaries now!

Any suggestions, ideas and feedback are always welcome to newburyoffice@parkrun.com.

See you next week!

Rachael Elliott (Event Director)

When we arrived to set the course up at Greenham this week, we thought that one of the science start-ups on Greenham Business Park had cleverly teleported us to the hotter climes of a Mediterranean utopia: we'd have had trouble spotting a single cloud in the sky, and the course was bathed in beautiful sunshine. We actually felt rather sorry for many Newbury parkrunners who were resting their legs ahead of the annual Bayer 10k the following day and would be missing out on (arguably) the best conditions Newbury parkrun has ever seen!

We knew numbers would be down because of the 10k, so we were pleasantly surprised that we had 163 finishers today, including 24 newcomers to Greenham. However, the statistic that probably impressed us the most today was the sheer number of non-club runners who graced the gravel this morning - 83% of finishers today were not members of a running club, showing that parkrun really is for everyone.

In today's race, Julian Sherman (VM40-44) of Reading Roadrunners won in a time of 17:18. Julian is a regular winner at Reading parkrun, and it was a pleasure to see him running at Newbury today. His time also earns him the VM40-44 category record at Newbury. Second place went to fellow Reading Roadrunner, Roy Maddams (SM30-34) who finished just 10 seconds behind Julian in 17:28. We think  the Reading Roadrunner roadtrip was worth it though - Julian and Roy both ran their fastest parkrun times this year, and we hope the enticement of speed will see them both returning very soon! 

Probably the loudest cheer today went to third placed runner Oliver Overend (JM14) of Team Kennet (pictured).  Oliver put in one of the most impressive finishes we've ever seen, sprinting for the line with such energy it was hard to believe he'd just run a full 5k! Oliver's run today also earned him the highest age graded run of 79.23% - although we'll see that percentage get a lot higher over the coming weeks.

In the ladies' race, Stacey Mahoney (SW20-24) ran just 10 seconds off her personal best (21:07) to claim her second win at Newbury parkrun - earning her an impressive 50% win rate! Susie Drake (JW14) of Team Kennet crossed the line just 15 seconds behind Stacey to earn a new 19 second personal best in 21:22. Hot on her heels, and knocking a massive 34 seconds from her previous best, was fellow Team Kennet athlete Kirsty Bennet (JW14) in a time of 21:28. All very close indeed!

Here at Newbury parkrun we have a bit of an obsession with geography, and we're always keen to hear when we have "parkrun tourists" visiting us. One such tourist we welcomed today was Helen Borking who normally runs the intriguingly named Pennington Flash parkrun. I'm sure she won't mind us mentioning it, but she managed to sneak under 30 minutes for the first time ever at a parkrun - a really impressive feat, particularly as she was obviously new to the course! Also, we notice that James Flood ran this week. James is somewhat of a parkrun veteran having completed 129 parkruns so far, most of which have been at Richmond and Gunnersbury - although he's run 23 different parkruns in total. A true tourist! He's also one of a rare breed who have run a sub-16 parkrun, with his best time of 15:44 run at Kingston last April.

Although many of you confessed to "jogging" around the course today in order to stay fresh for the 10k the following day, we still noticed some exceptionally impressive performances from across the field. Jemima Croggon managed to knock a whole minute off her previous personal best (we blame her February parkrunner of the month trainers!). Andy Tucker became a member of the "21 club" with a huge new personal best of 21:37, whilst Andy Woodman kept up his impressive PB-(almost) streak with an excellent sub-23 finish time. Simon Burns edged ever closer to the elusive sub-20, whilst Ryan Westcombe was pleased to knock nearly 1.5 minutes from his previous best and Dave Quincey went 4.5 minutes faster! Cath Davies didn't quite manage a new PB, but showed the potential is there by running a very fast first two miles, whilst Anne Wenlock managed to complete the run after three weeks of enforced rest (and we very much missed her on volunteer duties this week as she's been brilliant!). Finally, big congratulations to Josh Parry who joined the junior 10 club with his run today!

We'd also like to give a special mention this week to Monique Amor. Monique has been awarded the Newbury parkrunner of the month prize for April, and is a very worthy winner (even though it was, as usual, very hard to decide a winner!). Monique is one of the most supportive runners we have at Newbury, and is one of the first to offer herself up as a volunteer - even if she's got no reason not to run. She's managed to get a personal best in 8 of her 10 parkruns run so far, and has knocked nearly eight minutes off since she first started running parkrun. She managed to knock yet another 39 seconds off today, and we know that her new trainers which she wins from Sweatshop will see her smashing through the 30 minute barrier in no time!

Today once again couldn't have happened if it wasn't for a wonderful team of volunteers who were exceptionally bright and enthusiastic today! Therefore, thanks this week go to Brian Emms, Chloe Coxhead (such enthusiasm!), Hazel Nicholls, Ian Blair, James Thomas, Lorraine, Jemima and Martha Croggon, Jo Wiltshire, Liana Hamilton-King, Liz Harkness (wonderful handwriting!), Mark Shepherd, Matthew Brooks, Mike Nicholls (excellent photos!), Nicki Turner and Sarah Thorne.

After 14 events, 979 athletes from 61 athletics clubs have now completed 2,773 runs on the Newbury parkrun course, running a cumulative total of 13,865km. The women's course record is held by Sandra Bowers who ran 16:31 in event #13 on 5 May and the men's course record held jointly held by David Fry and Michael Randall who ran 16:43 in event #5 on 10 March and event #7 on 24 March respectively. The age graded record is held by Sandra Bowers who recorded a 91.62% in event #13.

Jemima Croggon is leading the women's annual points competition with 939 points, with Amelia Wenlock in second place with 918 points. James Moorcroft leads the men's competition with 1,141 points with Paul Hendry currently runner up with 897 points.

After the event, we go to the wonderful Coffee Exchange on Greenham Business Park for wonderful home made food, tea and coffee. Please come and join us to chat about running, life, or even share stories about the old US Airforce base! Coffee Exchange have opened especially for Newbury parkrunners, so it is important we continue to support it. If you haven't heard about them, the cafe makes absolutely legendary rock cakes (which are normally still warm when we arrive as they're now having to bake extra ones on Saturday morning!). They have to be eaten to be believed!

Don't forget you can keep up to date with the latest Newbury parkrun chat through our Facebook page (Link) and via Twitter (Link). We're also always looking for more volunteers (and don't forget you get extra points each time you volunteer!) so please email newburyhelpers@parkrun.com if you are interested in being added to the volunteer database.

We'd also like to remind you that it is currently nesting season on Greenham Common, so it's vital we keep off all the "red zones" when warming up (and we didn't see a single runner straying this week). To learn more about the nesting birds, the zones on the common and the site of special scientic interest status, please read West Berkshire Council's leaflet "Welcome to Crookham and Greenham Common" which provides an excellent summary.

As we mentioned before today's run, we are looking to hold a special Jubilee parkrun event on Tuesday 5 June at 10:30am. Basingstoke parkrun are also doing a special event on Tuesday at 9am, so there will be time to do both if you legs (and your car engines!) will allow it. You will be encouraged to dress up, and be as regal as possible. There are rumours that Her Majesty herself may be going for her age category record, but you'll only find that out on the day. More information to follow, but get it in your diaries now!

Any suggestions, ideas and feedback are always welcome to newburyoffice@parkrun.com.

See you next week!

Rachael Elliott (Event Director)

Here at Newbury parkrun, we like to think we're not superstitious. However, as event thirteen loomed, we couldn't help going back to double check all the gadgets for today's run were charging before we retired for the evening last night, and it did cross our mind that we'd wake up to find Newbury covered in snow for a repeat of parkrun #1. At this point, we should be saying "but we needn't have worried - everything ran smoother than ever". But sadly, this wasn't the case.

Our trusty course marker, Mark Shepherd, discovered his mountain bike had a puncture just when we were leaving for Greenham. One puncture repair later and we finally arrived at Greenham - to discover the course marking cones had made their way from the boot of the parkrun Orange Box (AKA Fiat Qubo) to......the garage at home. The other side of Newbury. Quick thinking Mark had a plan B up his sleeve (marking key points of the route with tape), but we knew the day wasn't starting well. And we started to get genuinely concerned.

However, we needn't have worried. Our trusty team (and today they were just wonderful!) of volunteers helped ensure the morning was put firmly back on an even keel.

The day started with some presentations for the 10, 50 and 100 clubs (a brief explanation of the clubs can be found here). Rhea Walter was welcomed into the junior "10 club". Rhea achieved her 10 runs at Newbury, Basingstoke and Andover, and has an impressive personal best of 21:30. Jemima Croggon also received her "10 club" T-shirt, and is the first runner to earn a t-shirt running all the runs at her "home" parkrun of Newbury. Jemima has already won the monthly Sweatshop prize, and it's really encouraging to see her progress! Alex Naper finally achieved his "50 club" t-shirt. Alex was one of the founders of Basingstoke parkrun in 2008, and the fact he has "only" achieved 50 runs to date is testament to just how many times he's volunteered. We feel privileged that he chose Newbury to receive his t-shirt. Finally, we were extremely happy to see Elaine Brassington be awarded her "100 club" t-shirt and jacket. Many of you will remember Elaine's 100th run a few weeks ago, and it was great to see her finally be awarded the fruits of her 100 labours! Elaine's enthusiasm she brings to parkrun is second to none and when she's helping out, you can guarantee she'll cheer in each and every finisher! We'll have some more t-shirts to give out soon: Abi Scarlett joined the 10 club with her run today, and Jo Oswald became a member of the 50 club.

Greenham Common was particularly baltic today (typical of the May Day bank holiday weekend), but this certainly didn't deter you from running fast. In fact, we wondered if the lure of a hot drink at the Coffee Exchange after you'd crossed the finish line spurred you on to some impressive times. 219 of you crossed the finish line today with an incredible 42% of returning runners running new personal bests - testament to some obviously excellent training which is obviously going on in West Berkshire! We also welcomed 36 first timers. We hope you enjoyed yourselves, and look fotward to seeing you again at Greenham - hopefully for slightly more tropical conditions.

Today's parkrun was won by Sandra Bowers (VW35-39) of Winchester and District AC with her trademark huskies. It was Sandra's second outright win at Greenham, but her time of 16:31 was absolutely exceptional (as was the 91.62% age grading) - and is a new course record. It seems the huskies enjoy running on the course, and it was a complete delight to watch them careering down the home straight. Sophie Crumly (SW20-24) of Newbury AC crossed the line as second female in 18:35 which is a new course best for Sophie, and an exceptional time for a woman. Yasmin Ryder earned the third female podium place with an impressive 20:12. We know she'll dip under 20 minutes very soon.

In the men's race, all the first four men finished under 18 minutes. Course record holder Michael Randall (JM15-19) of Bracknell AC put in an impressive run to cross the line first in 17:11, whilst regular Reading winner Ryan Brookling (VM40-44) was second man in 17:20. The race for third place was tight, with Colin Paton (SM35-39) of Aldershot, Farnham and District AC just pipping Robin Oakley (SM35-39) of Overton Harriers AC with both runners recording a time of 17:55.

We also saw a number of the age category records smashed today: Sophie Crumly, Sandra Bowers and Ryan Brooking raised the bar further in the SW20-24, VW35-39 and VM40-44 categories respectively, whilst Geoff Anderson's impressive run saw him lower the VM60-64 record to 19:55.

As usual though, it's not all about the record breakers at parkrun and we heard of dozens of stories today of people who'd achieved at parkrun today. Firstly, an email from Jane Bennet highlighted the impressive performance of the Scarlett family who managed three family personal bests between them and knocked a cumulative >3 minutes from their previous "family" personal best. Jane's own family also managed took 109 seconds off between the four of them! Greg Filmer very much enjoyed his first run, whilst Mike Nicholls managed to put in an impressive run on the back of very little sleep. Cath Davies and Helen Scourfield both successfully managed to get their daughters around the course in highly credible times, whilst Paul Hendry managed to get a "doggie" personal best today. Dean Weller put in yet another impressive run having been inspired by his friend Helen Rogers despite obviously suffering with the cold, whilst Jackie Fripp crossed the line having run further than she'd ever run before! Maria Scaplehorn *finally* got into the 27 minute bracket, whilst Monique Amor managed yet another PB to get in the 31 minute bracket (we know she'll be under 30 before she knows it!). Debbie Futcher brought her friend, Emma Lock, for her first run who, despite only having been running for eight weeks, still managed to get safely below 35 minutes!

Today once again couldn't have happened if it wasn't for a wonderful team of volunteers who operated timers, scanners and clipboard with completely frozen fingers! Therefore, thanks this week go to Alex and Gareth Scourfield, Anne and Amelia Wenlock, Brian Emms, Colin, Elaine and Catherine Brassington, Jane and Dennis Tucker, Lorraine, Jemima and Martha Croggon, Jo Darby, Lee Jones, Mandy Carden, Mark Shepherd, Mike Sheridan, Philip Randall and Roger Davis.

After eleven events, 955 athletes from 61 athletics clubs have now completed 2,610 runs on the Newbury parkrun course, running a cumulative total of 13,050km. The women's course record is held by Sandra Bowers who ran 16:31 in event #13 on 5 May and the men's course record held jointly held by David Fry and Michael Randall who ran 16:43 in event #5 on 10 March and event #7 on 24 March respectively. The age graded record is held by Sandra Bowers who recorded a 91.62% in event #13.

Jemima Croggon is leading the women's annual points competition with 850 points, with Mags Scarlett in second place with 831 points. James Moorcroft leads the men's competition with 1,044 points with Paul Hendry currently runner up with 823 points.

After the event, we go to the wonderful Coffee Exchange on Greenham Business Park for wonderful home made food, tea and coffee. Please come and join us to chat about running, life, or even share stories about the old US Airforce base! Coffee Exchange have opened especially for Newbury parkrunners, so it is important we continue to support it. If you haven't heard about them, the cafe makes absolutely legendary rock cakes (which are normally still warm when we arrive as they're now having to bake extra ones on Saturday morning!). They have to be eaten to be believed!

Don't forget you can keep up to date with the latest Newbury parkrun chat through our Facebook page (Link) and via Twitter (Link). We're also always looking for more volunteers (and don't forget you get extra points each time you volunteer!) so please email newburyhelpers@parkrun.com if you are interested in being added to the volunteer database.

We'd also like to remind you that it is currently nesting season on Greenham Common, so it's vital we keep off all the "red zones" when warming up (and we didn't see a single runner straying this week). To learn more about the nesting birds, the zones on the common and the site of special scientic interest status, please read West Berkshire Council's leaflet "Welcome to Crookham and Greenham Common" which provides an excellent summary.

Any suggestions, ideas and feedback are always welcome to newburyoffice@parkrun.com.

See you next week!

Rachael Elliott (Event Director)

We're being accustomed to very "English" weather at Greenham Common, but this weekend's parkrun is probably the type of meteorological conditions we detest the most: grey skies, unrelenting rain and wind. And strong wind, at that. Three Newbury parkruns out of 12 so far have seen weather like this but, for Newbury parkrunners, it certainly didn't seem to dampen enthusiasm - you once more proved your hardiness, with 166 toeing the line this morning. In fact, we wonder if we should start pinning our course map up in psychotherapist offices in West Berkshire, emblazoned with the slogan "a parkrun a week, makes life feel less bleak"  given the number of smiling faces in the start area, defying the depressing conditions. We were also impressed that 26 of your were running for the first time - a brilliant statistic considering the "it-would-be-so-easy-to-turn-the-alarm-off-and-stay-under-the-duvet" weather conditions. We look forward to seeing you back, hopefully in slightly warmer conditions!

The day started with a presentation of a "50 club" t-shirt to Kerri Barton. Kerri started parkrunning back in September 2009 at the Basingstoke event, and it has been exciting to watch her progress. From a consistent "23 minute runner", Kerri is now pushing at the doors of entering into the "20:xx" bracket - quite some achievment, and it's not surprising Kerri often finishes in the first three ladies at parkrun. In her journey to 50 parkruns, Kerri has run at 9 different events. We rather selfishly hope that Newbury will now be her home, and look forward to welcoming her into the 100 club in around a year's time. Katie Metalli and Connor Davis also entered the junior "10 club" this morning - we hope it won't be too long before we'll be able to present you both with your T-shirts!

Conditions this morning weren't the best for athletes, but this certainly didn't stop you putting the effort in. Nearly a third of you ran new personal bests, and we saw some impressive battles for position at the finish line. First across the line today was Paul Thomas (VM50-54) from Didcot Runners. Paul is an Abingdon parkrun regular, and today represented his first ever parkrun win. We also hope that his new parkrun personal best time of 18:25 is enough to entice him back to Greenham in future weeks! Paul's time also nets him the VM50-54 age category record at Newbury. Second place today went to James Moorcroft (SM20-24) of Team Kennet in 18:36, with Thomas Bailey enjoying his second podium place in six appearances with his 18:52 earning him third place.

The winner in the ladies' race, Liz Hartney (VW45-49) of Reading Roadrunners, just squeezed under 19 minutes to finish in 18:59 - a time good enough for fourth place overall. Yasmin Ryder (JW14) of Team Kennet put in an exceptional run to finish in second place in a new Newbury parkrun personal best 20:03 and is now painstakingly close to breaking the 20 minute barrier. The time is also a new record in the JW14 age category. Susie Drake (JW14), also of Team Kennet, put in an excellent sprint finish to finish as third placed woman in 21:44 - and just three seconds from her personal best.

As usual though, parkrun is more than just podium positions, and we saw some really impressive performances throughout the field today. Dean Weller, who turned the big four-zero last week, showed that age definitely doesn't slow you down and posted a new personal best. Monique Amor also demonstrated that she's far off plateauing by knocking nearly a minute from a previous best! Andy Woodman was also very pleased to run yet another best time at Greenham. We were also very impressed with young Drew Tucker who knocked nearly 90 seconds from his personal best to cross the line before his dad in 29:29 - definitely a Mo Farah in the making! We'd also like to give a special "well done" to Louise Keep and Karen Thompson who, despite the inclement weather, managed to get around the parkrun today without needing to take a walk break - a real achievement! Jamie Croggon also performed an impressive feat today - having arrived that morning on the redeye flight from Boston, Jamie was still determined to run and complete the parkrun - which he did in style! Well done to all of you. Please keep sharing your stories with us, either on Twitter (@newburyparkrun), via our Facebook page (Link) or by emailing us at newburyoffice@parkrun.com.

We also have an impressive selection of photographs taken by Mike Moors (which are currently on the Facebook page) and by Leigh Shelford (on the photos page on this site). Both took some really impressive shots in very unfriendly photographer conditions - we're sure you'll see yourself somewhere in them!.

Today once again couldn't have happened if it wasn't for a wonderful team of volunteers who defied the cold and wet weather and delivered a first class event! Therefore, thanks this week go to Anne and Amelia Wenlock, David Kindred, Hazel Nicholls, Henry Hopkins, Ian Blair, Jo Darby, Leigh Shelford, Lorraine Croggon, Mark Shepherd, Michael Randall, Mikaela Sturgeon, Mike Moors, Alison Jones and Nicki Tucker.

After eleven events, 919 athletes from 60 athletics clubs have now completed 2,391 runs on the Newbury parkrun course, running a cumulative total of 11,955km. The women's course record is held by Sandra Bowers who ran 17:38 in event #10 on 14 April and the men's course record held jointly held by David Fry and Michael Randall who ran 16:43 in event #5 on 10 March and event #7 on 24 March respectively. The age graded record is held by Brian Gardner who recorded a 86.83% in event #10.

Jemima Croggon is leading the women's annual points competition with 850 points, with Liz Harkness in second place with 766 points. James Moorcroft leads the men's competition with 950 points with Paul Hendry currently runner up with 760 points.

After the event, we go to the wonderful Coffee Exchange on Greenham Business Park for wonderful home made food, tea and coffee. Please come and join us to chat about running, life, or even share stories about the old US Airforce base! Coffee Exchange have opened especially for Newbury parkrunners, so it is important we continue to support it. If you haven't heard about them, the cafe makes absolutely legendary rock cakes (which are normally still warm when we arrive as they're now having to bake extra ones on Saturday morning!). They have to be eaten to be believed!

Don't forget you can keep up to date with the latest Newbury parkrun chat through our Facebook page (Link) and via Twitter (Link). We're also always looking for more volunteers (and don't forget you get extra points each time you volunteer!) so please email newburyhelpers@parkrun.com if you are interested in being added to the volunteer database.

We'd also like to remind you that it is currently nesting season on Greenham Common, so it's vital we keep off all the "red zones" when warming up (and we didn't see a single runner straying this week). To learn more about the nesting birds, the zones on the common and the site of special scientic interest status, please read West Berkshire Council's leaflet "Welcome to Crookham and Greenham Common" which provides an excellent summary.

Any suggestions, ideas and feedback are always welcome to newburyoffice@parkrun.com.

See you next week!

Rachael Elliott (Event Director)

The weather forecasters this week had clearly taken their lead from the Michael "15th October 1987"  Fish school of forecasting. This time however, the errors were most welcome. We had been expecting storms and atrocious conditions to be with us at 9am on Saturday, but instead opened the curtains to blazing sunshine and (moreorless) no wind. It seemed as far as the weather was concerned, God was definitely feeling the love for Newbury parkrunners this week.

And the sunshine certainly brought you out in your droves this week. Well, either that or you were inspired to run by the endless renditions of Ron Goodwin's "The Trap" that have been playing on BBC trailers for the Virgin London Marathon* all week (here is the link to the melody if you would like to be reminded about what we're referring to). We had the biggest turnout since our launch date: 227 crossed the finish line at Greenham this week (which, incidentally, has pushed our "average number of runners per week" statistic back over the 200 mark) and 22% of you were newcomers - an outstanding statistic, and we hope that you enjoyed your debut Newbury parkrun this week.

* If you ran London this week, then we'd love to hear how you got on! Let us know by emailing newburyoffice@parkrun.com or through our Facebook page (Link) or via Twitter (Link). We'll share your best stories with the parkrun community!

Before the parkrun got underway today, we had another "statistic" to add to the morning's proceedings. We'd been tipped off that it was Dean Weller's 40th birthday that morning, so it was only right that we gave him a rousing "happy birthday" before the start. We've enjoyed seeing Dean's (rather dramatic) improvements week after week, and the good news for Dean is that he has now joined a new age category, he will see an improved age graded performance even if he runs the same times as he was previously. However, it seems that this method of "cheating" his way to a better performance wasn't necessary - Dean ran a new personal best and has now run over 8.5 minutes (yes, that's eight-and-a-half minutes) faster than his first parkrun back in February. Will this equate to knocking another 17 minutes over the next four months? (no pressure, Dean!)

In today's race, it was a relatively close affair for the first two places: Nicholas Houghton (SM20-24) of Thurrock Harriers AC took his first win in just two appearances with an excellent time of 17:05. Sam Hall (SM25-29) of Newbury AC finished just seven seconds behind Nicholas - and just a single second from his personal best - in 17:11. We know we will see Sam enter the "Sub 17 club" before long.  Third place today went to Steve Robinson (VM45-49) of Team Kennet in 19:04.

In the ladies' race, Chloe Coxhead (SW20-24) of Newbury AC took her first win in 21:28, with Susie Drake (JW14) of Team Kennet crossing the second in 22 minutes exactly. The final podium place went to Ellie Williams (JW14) of Newbury AC in 23:24. Well done to all three of you!

Today's highest age graded score was earned by Sam Hart (JM14) of Team Kennet. Sam's time of 19:32 earned him a score of 78.33% - nearly 3% higher than anyone else today!

We'd also like to give a mention to two of our junior runners today: Carli Nicholls and Jemima Croggon both entered the junior "10 club" when they finished today's run. Carli has run 8 of her 10 runs at Newbury, and Jemima is our first "homegrown" runner to enter the club having run all of her 10 runs at Newbury. Congratulations to both of you, and we hope to get your T-shirts to you as soon as possible! 

We've picked up a few comments on our various social media sites that some of you were a little disheartened this week not to run a personal best after many weeks of doing so on the trot. "Only" 18% of you ran new personal bests this week (which is substantially down on previous weeks) and it seems that the westerly wind got its evil way in the last mile towards the finish. Running is a lifetime journey, and you can't expect to get a personal best every single week (as much as we'd like it!) but enjoy seeing the gradual improvements. Even if you don't run a faster time, there are *always* positives you can get from each run - a faster last mile perhaps? A more evenly paced run? Or perhaps you were painstakingly close to a personal best but only had two hours sleep the previous night? Or maybe your performance was inhibited by an errant unicorn crossing the course at 3.5 kilometres? Whatever if was, there's always something to be happy about from any run!

However, today couldn't have happened if it wasn't for a wonderful team of unicorn course clearers volunteers who once again delivered a top notch performance today! Therefore, thanks this week go to The Scarletts (Abi, Geren, Mags and Paul), Anne Wenlock, Colin & Elaine Brassington, Guy Watts, James Moorcroft, James Thomas, Jo Amor, Lorraine, Jemima & Martha Croggon, Mark Shepherd, Nicki Tucker, Hazel Nicholls and Thomas Bailey.

After eleven events, 893 athletes from 60 athletics clubs have now completed 2,225 runs on the Newbury parkrun course, running a cumulative total of 11,125km. The women's course record is held by Sandra Bowers who ran 17:38 in event #10 on 14 April and the men's course record held jointly held by David Fry and Michael Randall who ran 16:43 in event #5 on 10 March and event #7 on 24 March respectively. The age graded record is held by Brian Gardner who recorded a 86.83% in event #10.

Jemima Croggon is leading the women's annual points competition with 774 points, with Liz Harkness in second place with 766 points. James Moorcroft leads the men's competition with 851 points with Mike Moors currently runner up with 751 points.

After the event, we go to the wonderful Coffee Exchange on Greenham Business Park for wonderful home made food, tea and coffee. Please come and join us to chat about running, life, or even share stories about the old US Airforce base! Coffee Exchange have opened especially for Newbury parkrunners, so it is important we continue to support it. If you haven't heard about them, the cafe makes absolutely legendary rock cakes (which are normally still warm when we arrive as they're now having to bake extra ones on Saturday morning!). They have to be eaten to be believed!

Don't forget you can keep up to date with the latest Newbury parkrun chat through our Facebook page (Link) and via Twitter (Link). We're also always looking for more volunteers (and don't forget you get extra points each time you volunteer!) so please email newburyhelpers@parkrun.com if you are interested in being added to the volunteer database.

We'd also like to remind you that it is currently nesting season on Greenham Common, so it's vital we keep off all the "red zones" when warming up (and we didn't see a single runner straying this week). To learn more about the nesting birds, the zones on the common and the site of special scientic interest status, please read West Berkshire Council's leaflet "Welcome to Crookham and Greenham Common" which provides an excellent summary.

Any suggestions, ideas and feedback are always welcome to newburyoffice@parkrun.com.

See you next week!

Rachael Elliott (Event Director)