Firstly, thank you to everyone for being patient with the results this week. Although the data was uploaded directly after the run, it took some time for it to get onto the system.

A big thank you to Lucy Clark also. She nervously uploaded the results for the first time this week, and was probably having kittens until they appeared on the parkrun website.

And thank you to all the volunteers that stepped in at the last moment to marshal or time-keep. I didn’t get everyone’s names, so if you find yourself missing, please contact us and we’ll pop you on the system over the next few days.

Don’t forget runners, you get full points for volunteering on up to 3 occasions per year.

Well, despite it being cooler along the seafront than many of us expected, and with the off-sea breeze, no one froze (not even the marshals), and 24 people managed PB’s. Congratulations.

We had 7 first timers also. Yippee! Well done to the 3 late starters that decided to run anyway, and caught up with the pack.

It was also good to see a few runners back from time out with injury; Gavin Knight, Barry Sullivan and David Reid spring to mind.

So, what with Gravesend and Maidstone parkruns already established, Palm Bay having started this week, and Pegwell Bay soon to follow, we have the opportunity to indulge in a little local parkrun tourism. I wonder whether anyone registered at Whitstable will run them all, and if so who’ll be first. If you run all 5 (including Whitstable), then let us know.

We wish those of you running the Whitstable 10K next week an enjoyable run, and the rest of you happy running.

First man this week was Alex Horsley with a time of 19:40;

Second man was Lee Page with a time of 19:45 (and a PB of 4 seconds);

Third man was Chris Reid with a time of 19:50.

First woman was Julie MacRae with a time of 22:22 (11th over all and with a PB of 17 seconds);

Second woman was Lisa Reid with a time of 22:33 (14th overall);

Third woman was Penny Birchall with a time of 22:53 (15th overall and with a PB of 2 seconds).

What a fabulous fun filled family event today. Thank you to everybody who attended today from our 1st class volunteer marshals, families, dogs, baby buggies and a staggering 14 newbies. The sun shone, bringing out the best in all of us.

Of 161 finishers there were 24 PBs. Most notable Graham Terry, first PB in a year, Andrea Gates under 30mins for the first time and Paul Morgan under 35.

Congratulations to everybody who crossed the line today and those attempting a single lap on their first run, but especially to first over the line Chris Valdus with his 17th win. .

First female was Junior Kealy Goldsmith from Thanet Road Runners with her first win.
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We had two pacers today Tina Jones 30mins and Terry Brightwell 27. Terry was due to run the London Marathon tomorrow but pulled a ham string today which has now shattered his chance of not only competing tomorrow but also too late to defer his place next year. Terry. we feel for you. We also feel for those who were victims of the Boston Marathon bombs and wish all runners and supporters of the best running event in the world (the London) a safe passage tomorrow.

Families were well supported today. We have too many to mention but for the first time we saw, mum, dad and two off spring of the Harvey family. It goes to show how the enthusiasm of one family member can spread to others. Gavin Harvey (dad) has recently completed his 50th run, lets hope the other members will now follow suit. Very welcome.

Now for the more serious stuff. Our event is growing and growing. Soon we will lose quite a few to Margate, notably the Freemans (with gorgeous 6 yr old Claude, Billy and Arthur), McLaughlans, Levers, Rachel Beecham (and boys Alfie and Harry) the Storrars, the Baileys and others, however with more newbies attending each week, more help is needed. We are not looking for compromises to those where running is their main objective but looking for support. David Oliver is now the 'banner man' and Lucy Clarke has offered to do the results upload. Thank you to Russell Evans for his suggestions on the funnel management which we implemented today with his help, and was a great success. We will be asking front runners who have a little time after their run to help with this role in future. Russell is also suggesting we need a megaphone for the pre run briefing and has taken this on board and for which we are very grateful.

The main thing we really need is somewhere to store the equipment close to our event. Somewhere lockable and assessable where somebody with a car could collect and deliver afterwards. It takes 5 armfulls for the kit but not much space but it does need to be kept together. So if anybody has that facility and is willing we would love to hear from you.
Now that the volunteer roster is web based we are looking for somebody to take on this role. This will take approximately an hour a week on a Thursday evening and half an hour on Saturday morning before the start.
Somebody to organise the pacers, inform the event director(ED) of who they are (to add to volunteer roster) and hand out the hi-vis jackets, collect them afterwards and put them back in order in the bag. Once in a while, to that persons bidding, have a full 'Chase the Pacer' event. This person would need to be at the event 20 minutes before the and stay until (at most) 40 minutes after to collect up jackets.
Ideally these volunteers would be regular runners and on the weeks they could not attend, nominate another person to take their place, but not essential as long as ED informed in advance. If you think you could help we would love to hear from you. Please don't be shy!

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Happy running, enjoy the spring before the summer comes and we use the heat as an excuse not to don the trainers!