Event 136 - Race report by Ric Adams

Report by Tony Gallagher

                        Roundshaw parkrun, Event number 135, 21st January 2012

Numbers abound in every parkrun report but each can reveal their own little story.

The less than formal stats are here. For the formal stats scroll down to the bottom of this report.

The number 7 this week represents, the number of families who had more than one member loping around Roundshaw Downs: the Walsh, Leigh, Constantinou, Gray, Tanner, Green and Finch clans reflected a nice aspect of the parkruns that happen throughout the country, and beyond, each and every Saturday over the 115 locations.

Number 8 tells us the number of first timers at Roundshaw this weekend and a BIG parkrun welcome to Phil Braim, Chris Moore, Andrew Lambert, Miles Holway, Georgina Evatt, Samuel Leigh, Miki Morita and Denise Morris.

12 was the number of volunteers involved on Saturday: if every participant at Roundshaw volunteered just 3 times per year regular volunteers would get to run more often. More importantly when you volunteer you get to see, and appreciate, what parkruns are really all about: Andrew, Annette, Carol, Catherine, Ercole, Kylie, Mark, Mike, Stephen, Tony, Victoria and Neil were the 12 parkrun disciples this week.

Recently the local Chiltern Church Runners, from Chiltern Road in Sutton, have been to the fore at Roundshaw. No different this Saturday when 13 of those hardy souls joined another 84 runners to give a nice overall field of 97.

37^th finishing position doesn’t especially stand out as unique except that it was accompanied by the best self-motivating roar of “Come On, Come On  “ that I have heard at Roundshaw: the owner was David William Lunn and I trust he was pleased with his finish.

A nice facet of parkruns is that one is always welcome and it was good to see back after injury, Casey Austin, for only the second time in a year at Roundshaw.

The number 2 may be unique to Roundshaw parkrun as it is the number of London Boroughs every participant crosses as they meander around: I wonder if many other parkruns cross more than one borough/district?

Number 1 this week is jointly owned by winner Alan John O’Connor who won both the run plus the age graded category. Co owner of number 1 is the amount of people who made the self proclaimed faux pas of wearing – post race – white socks and black shoes. What is the world coming to Mick Turner?

Last number to look at is not actually a number but a finishing position: many may have finished in front of her but of the 9 personal best times recorded this week one of the biggest improvements was by tail-ender Susan Legg who was greeted enthusiastically at the finish of her journey up and around the downs. Susan improved by 1m 02s.

For the real statistics keeping reading.

 Men's placings:

Alan John O'CONNOR (VM50-54) (Unattached) was first in 18:38 - 7^th win in 18^th appearance.

Chris MORTON (VM45-49) of Striders of Croydon AC, was second in 20:06.

Dean COOPER (SM35-39) of Collingwood AC, was third in 20:14.

Current standing in the Men's annual points competition:

Martin MCCARTHY (Unattached) 2124 pts.

Andy NEWBERY (Unattached) 2063 pts.

Richard TANNER (Collingwood AC) 2043 pts.

Women's placings:

Katy Jane RIGGALL (SW25-29) (Unattached) was first (38^th overall) in 25:23 - first win in second appearance.

Moaa ERIKSSSONN (JW15-19) (Unattached) was second (39^th overall) in 25:33.

Helen BARNES (VW45-49) (Unattached) was third (41^st overall) in 25:38.

Current standing in the Women's annual points competition:

Helen ELDERFIELD (Unattached) 2484 pts.

Rachel TANNER (Collingwood AC) 2166 pts.

Nicola TARRANT (Unattached) 2123 pts.

The following runners recorded the best Age Grade scores:

Alan John O'CONNOR (VM50-54) was graded 79.79 % for the time 18:38 (first overall).

Barry FINCH (VM60-64) was graded 72.09 % for the time 22:38 (18^th overall).

Nigel WOOD (VM55-59) was graded 71.98 % for the time 21:21 (10^th overall).

This week there were 97 runners, of whom 8 were first timers and 9 recorded new Personal Bests. Representatives of 11 different athletics clubs took part.

Roundshaw parkrun started on 18th July 2009, and since then 1,496 different runners, including participants from 80 athletics clubs, have completed 10,495 runs covering a total distance of 52,475 km, and there have been 2,135 new Personal Bests.

The Women's course record is held by Clare ELMS who ran in a time of 19:00 on 1st January 2012 (event number 132).

The Men's course record is held by Kevin QUINN who ran in a time of 15:41 on 13th August 2011 (event number 110).

The Age Grade course record is held by Clare ELMS who recorded an 86.14 % run (19:00) on 1st January 2012 (event number 132).

Sautrday’s full results and a complete event history can be found on the Roundshaw parkrun Results Page.

Tony Gallagher

The Big Chill(tern) Run

By Tim Gray

Apologies for the pun, but it was cold (-2 when we left home) and the Chiltern Church Runners did come out in force (24 runners, Chilterns best ever turnout). This helped swell the numbers to 114, the biggest number since our 100th run back in June 2011.

The cold left some runners, like Janet, admiring the beauty of the frost covered surroundings. But both Rupert and Annette commented on it being a better day to run than marshal, particular thanks to the volunteers and spectators today – especially those who struggled with cold fingers and fiddly jobs with tokens and timers. As Nikki has been observing this week parkrun is all about community, a theme we have heard about before, and doubtless will again.

For those not there today (like Rachel off for a cross country run), come back soon.

It was a day, as Josh observed, to be ‘in the zone’. A perfect day for many to push for a pb (Mick said before the results were in) and indeed many did;

Warren Robertson   - who last PB’d in April 2011

Tom Grant

Joshua Smith

Ella Shears   - who last PB’d in January 2011

Nevil Henry   - with 6 pb’s out of the 9 runs after his first

William Own   - pb’s 2 weeks running

Anne Godbolt

Nicola Bacon

Nicola Tarrant

Valerie Hewett   - pb’s 2 weeks running

Alison Symonds-Tayler   - who last pb’d in April 2011

9 Chiltern Church Runners!

Antony Constantinou  - who has pb’d at all 5 of his runs after his first 

Eric De Valmency

Lorraine Darby

Chloe Constantinou 

John Morton   - Broke 30 & took over 3 minutes out of his old pb!

Kate Edwards – Broke 30 & took over 2 minutes out of her old pb!

Ken Wright    - On his Birthday!  Happy Birthday Ken.

Hyacinth Nicholls

Laura Matthews  - with pb’s on 5 out of 6 runs since her first

Congrats to all who pb’d, and I noticed many other runners who ran close to pb times.

First Timers were

Peter Cromwell - very nearly cracking the top ten first time out with 11th

Ryan & Alex Galvin - first two juniors home on their debut

Katy Riggall

Carl Presswood

Hayley Powell

3 Chiltern Church Runners

Sue Gray – My beautiful wife.

Sue Legg – Who only decided to run last Sunday!

Abi Bowen – Who ran with perseverance, well done.

‘Mini Runners’ doing one lap today included

Christine Labung (on childcare duty)

Izzy Groom

Charlotte Constantinou        - all 3 Chiltern Church Runners

This is also the week of the big report, because there is more! A parkrun poem courtesy of the Chiltern Church poet (In yet another shameless plug I note his collection of poetry ‘My Nanny Just Loves Cricket’ is available from Amazon);

The parkrun

Participants cluster together,

Feelings of anticipation and apprehension

Mingle in equal measure

And swirl in the chill breeze.

Gathering at the start .....  they stand,

All awaiting a signal to begin .....

Knowing soon they will embark

On a course etched in many minds.

Progressing purposefully

All run on religiously,

Relentlessly pressing on

Towards their final goal.

The twisting track unfurls

As the seconds go on spinning by

Merging mercilessly into minutes

And leaving metres tumbling in their wake.

Each athlete canters,

Endlessly endeavouring to effortless efficiency,

Some to be assured of attained aspirations,

Others to be disappointed by dissipated dreams.

As time passes, the finish line beckons,

Funnelling first the swift and spry

And, at length, offering belated comfort

To the final few.

They gather once more and smile

All spirited in their steadfastness

No longer fearful of their first steps

On the parkrun.

Barry Clist

11/01/12

Lastly before the stats and winners (and allowing me to get the phrase Chiltern Church Runners in yet again), to the lady who spoke to David and wanted to know where we got our t shirts from, catch me next week or use the link by any of our runners to go to the church website, contact me via the church e-mail, and I’ll happily tell you about our t-shirt supplier (Recognition awards, who are local).

Men's placings:
Alan John O'CONNOR (VM50-54) (Unattached) was first in 18:22 - 6^th win in 17^th appearance.
Ercole LUGARI (SM35-39) of Collingwood AC, was second in 19:06 - 2 previous wins.
John SAKER (VM45-49) (Unattached) was third in 19:42.

Current standing in the Men's annual points competition:
Martin MCCARTHY (Unattached) 2124 pts.
Andy NEWBERY (Unattached) 1978 pts.
Richard TANNER (Collingwood AC) 1976 pts.

Women's placings:
Phyllis FLYNN (VW45-49) of Stragglers, was first (7^th overall) in 20:54 - third win in 5^th appearance.
Rhian Christina DAVIES (JW15-19) of Sutton & District AC, was second (18^th overall) in 22:19 - 5 previous wins.
Caitlin WILLIAMS (JW14) of Sutton & District AC, was third (31^st overall) in 23:43.

Current standing in the Women's annual points competition:
Helen ELDERFIELD (Unattached) 2387 pts.
Rachel TANNER (Collingwood AC) 2073 pts.
Nicola TARRANT (Unattached) 2047 pts.

The following runners recorded the best Age Grade scores:
Alan John O'CONNOR (VM50-54) was graded 80.94 % for the time 18:22 (first overall).
Phyllis FLYNN (VW45-49) was graded 79.27 % for the time 20:54 (7^th overall).
Sarah Mary (Sally) O'REGAN (VW60-64) was graded 73.97 % for the time 27:24 (61^st overall).

This week there were 114 runners, of whom 9 were first timers and 20 recorded new Personal Bests. Representatives of 11 different athletics clubs took part.

Roundshaw parkrun started on 18th July 2009, and since then 1,488 different runners, including participants from 80 athletics clubs, have completed 10,398 runs covering a total distance of 51,990 km, and there have been 2,126 new Personal Bests.

The Women's course record is held by Clare ELMS who ran in a time of 19:00 on 1st January 2012 (event number 132).
The Men's course record is held by Kevin QUINN who ran in a time of 15:41 on 13th August 2011 (event number 110).
The Age Grade course record is held by Clare ELMS who recorded a 86.14 % run (19:00) on 1st January 2012 (event number 132).

Today's full results and a complete event history can be found on the Roundshaw parkrun Results Page.

December 2011 Sweatshop Prize Winner - Peter Walsh

 Report written by Clive Smith

A good turnout of 97 finishers and with a welcome to 10 newcomers it was a good day for Roundshaw parkrun.  Conditions, while a little heavy underfoot and still muddy, were nonetheless reasonable for the 133rd parkrun.  In the Men's Daniel Gillett of South London Harriers, was 1st overall in 18:21 his 8th win at Roundshaw!  2nd was Simon Manning of SOFT, (so SOFT featuring 1st and 2nd in the womens and mens races respectively).  3rd was Ercole Lugari of Collingwood AC who, in a dash to the line, just managed to hold off Richard Fox also of Collingwood, although Richard's furry running partner Leka's need to answer the call of nature enroute may have worked in Ercole's favour!  In the womens race Laura Whitehead of SOFT, her first run at Roundshaw since September was 1st (7th overall) in 21:31, in 2nd place Tabitha Lambe returning to form in 25:20 and Annette Helliwell not far behind in 3rd place 25:59.  
 
Now for the stats!