What a day....the sun even came out to play and dried up all the rain ...well apart from a few patches around the course and we were back to the 2 lap route.
It was great to be back on home turf after my recent taste of parkrun tourism at Poole and Killerton Park, Reading looked beautiful with the sun, blue skies and freshly mown grass for extra speed !
Whilst I was waiting for the runners to come speeding past my marshalling point, I spotted a man in a 'Born to Run' hoodie walking his dog and after 2 minutes chatting he now knows all about parkrun and is planning to join us very soon.
Then all of a sudden I saw Ed Stockdale leading the pack and finished in 17.30 beating our very experienced and powerful set of regular front runners. He smashed his personal best by 33 seconds today . His mother who came to chat to me at the bridge had been instructed by Ed to time him with her mobile phone.....by the time she walked down to the marshalling point her mobile battery had died and on his second lap she best guessed and shouted 'Ed !! 8 minutes- you better up it a bit' which he clearly did, well done Ed for your fantastic run and PB - aren't Mothers wonderful motivators !!
The first lady home was Louise Durman with a time of 21.10 what a wonderful welcome to the world of parkrun Louise.
There were many first timers and visitors including Sam Simone (Junior Male 14 category) who ran an impressive 20.57 and was supported by his Granddad and friends who also ran today.
Mike Wheeler and Aled Busser completed 25 parkruns, Paul Caswell ran his 50th, Junior Deborah Maxwell ran her 10th and Tom Harrison & Rhiannon Bailey ran their 75th.
It was lovely to see runners helping runners when they needed it too. Kenneth Wilcox saw Dawn Taylor starting to flag a bit and gave her a lift by holding her hand on that tiring home straight. Well done to Dawn for being so determined and Kenneth for helping a runner in need.
Well done to you all!
Men's placings:
Edward STOCKDALE (JM15-19) (Unattached) was first in 17:30 - first win in 13th appearance.
Andrew STAY (SM30-34) (Unattached) was second in 18:07 - 4 previous wins.
Paul ROBERSON (SM35-39) of Reading Roadrunners, was third in 18:21 - 24 previous wins.
Current standing in the Men's annual points competition:
David Lewy LEWIS (Unattached) 2765 pts.
Kevin WHEELER (Unattached) 2728 pts.
Keith ELLIS (Berkshire Orienteers) 2610 pts.
Women's placings:
Louise DURMAN (SW25-29) of Stroud & District AC, was first (26th overall) in 21:10 - first appearance.
Sorcha BOTWRIGHT (JW15-19) (Unattached) was second (55th overall) in 23:29.
Sarah PACHONICK (VW35-39) of Reading Roadrunners, was third (65th overall) in 23:56.
Current standing in the Women's annual points competition:
Joanna GREENWOOD (Unattached) 2894 pts.
Jenny Angharad TORENGA (Unattached) 2843 pts.
Lois Emily MAXWELL (Unattached) 2390 pts.
The following runners recorded the best Age Grade scores:
Aleid BUSSER (VW65-69) was graded 81.20 % for the time 25:21 (86th overall).
Caroline WHITE (VW65-69) was graded 77.43 % for the time 27:50 (133rd overall).
Peter MANNION (VM50-54) was graded 76.82 % for the time 19:12 (8th overall).
This week there were 233 runners, of whom 32 were first timers and 59 recorded new Personal Bests. Representatives of 15 different athletics clubs took part.
Reading parkrun started on 12th September 2009, and since then 3,289 different runners, including participants from 160 athletics clubs, have completed 21,308 runs covering a total distance of 106,540 km, and there have been 4,574 new Personal Bests.
The Women's course record is held by Annie BAUMBER who ran in a time of 18:13 on 26th November 2011 (event number 111).
The Men's course record is held by Tom LERWILL who ran in a time of 15:37 on 31st March 2012 (event number 129).
The Age Grade course record is held by Paula FUDGE who recorded a 91.95 % run (20:43) on 30th April 2011 (event number 82).