Winchester parkrun #14 had a distinctly youthful feel about it. This Saturday was the first of seven special volunteer events, run by parkrun UK in collaboration with the Join In initiative. We're aiming to encourage people who've never volunteered before to give it a go, by focusing on a different group of parkrunners each week. There's more about the upcoming weeks further down this run report. Today, the theme was junior parkrunners, and we're pleased to say that the young people of Winchester did not let us down! We had 12 juniors emailing to offer their services during the week, and even more turning up on the day to help out. With an average age of 8 ¾, our junior team took on timekeeping, handing out position tokens, marshalling, scanning tokens and barcodes, and recording the details when barcodes wouldn't scan. They all did a fantastic job, so thanks to them all (and their accompanying parents). We were particularly pleased to see two entire families helping out - thank you to the Wilsons and the Porters.
After using course B last week, we went back to the original course A layout this week. A turnout of 139 runners included 28 first-timers - welcome to you all. 25 runners achieved PBs despite the warm weather, so well done. We were also pleased to hear that Tricia Meads, a regular at Winchester parkrun, ran her 50th parkrun today in another location. Congratulations Tricia, and we look forward to presenting you with your well-earned T-shirt soon!
So, the next six weeks continue the theme of volunteering. We'll be looking for the following groups of parkrunners to come forward and volunteer:
- August 3rd - 10, 50, 100 & 250 club members (juniors accompanied by an adult)
- August 10th - male parkrunners
- August 17th - female parkrunners
- August 24th - faster parkrunners (those with an age grade over 70%)
- August 31st - families
- September 7th - people who’ve never been to a parkrun before
If you fit into one (or more!) of these categories and want to volunteer, please email winchesterhelpers@parkrun.com stating the week you'd like to help out.
Finally, here are the stats...
Men's placings:
Humza AHMED (JM15-19) (Unattached) was first over the line in 17:59 - first time in 3 appearances.
Jeremy Daniel CARTER (JM15-19) (Unattached) was second over the line in 18:27.
Joe CHICK (SM25-29) (Unattached) was third over the line in 18:42.
Current standing in the Men's annual points competition:
Nick James AMBLER (Winchester and District AC) 1059 pts.
Tom REID (Winchester and District AC) 965 pts.
Matt GROTE (Unattached) 905 pts.
Women's placings:
Penelope ARMAND-SMITH (SW30-34) of Royal Navy AC, was first (12th overall) over the line in 20:22 - second time in 4 appearances.
Catherine DARLISON (JW14) of Winchester and District AC, was second (30th overall) over the line in 22:09.
Jane KEEN (VW35-39) (Unattached) was third (50th overall) over the line in 23:39.
Current standing in the Women's annual points competition:
Sarah Anne REID (Winchester and District AC) 1036 pts.
Bex CLEARY (Unattached) 1016 pts.
Sarah Louise Caroline MEADS (Unattached) 931 pts.
The following runners recorded the best Age Grade scores:
Humza AHMED (JM15-19) was graded 77.39% for the time 17:59 (first overall).
Bart HUBY (VM50-54) was graded 75.23% for the time 19:55 (9th overall).
Penelope ARMAND-SMITH (SW30-34) was graded 73.00% for the time 20:22 (12th overall).
This week there were 139 runners, of whom 28 were first timers and 25 recorded new Personal Bests. Representatives of 9 different athletics clubs took part.
Winchester parkrun started on 27th April 2013, and since then 872 different runners, including participants from 68 athletics clubs, have completed 2,182 runs covering a total distance of 10,910 km, and there have been 576 new Personal Bests.
The Women's course record is held by India LEE who ran in a time of 18:12 on 27th April 2013 (event number 1).
The Men's course record is held by Matt KING who ran in a time of 16:43 on 22nd June 2013 (event number 9).
The Age Grade course record is held by Phil MANLY who recorded a 85.65% run (19:03) on 4th May 2013 (event number 2).
Today's full results and a complete event history can be found on the Winchester parkrun Results Page.