The Event Director Kate has kindly let me write this week’s report as a visitor and I have to say Bressay is undoubtedly the best adventure among the Scottish parkruns. My trip to Lerwick yesterday involved a bicycle, two trains and a ferry, and this morning I joined an excited group of parkrunners and volunteers to take the 9am ferry across to Bressay for the run.

The Run Director warned us in the briefing that a rogue scorie (that’s a seagull for us sooth-moothers) had dived at one of the volunteers checking the route, but she reassured us that there were no “dead things” on the course, which was nice to hear! We started into a breeze and there are a few undulations to keep the course interesting as well as very scenic; the wind was at our heels on the last two kilometres and the promise of coffee and cake in the Speldiburn Café next to the finish line spurred us on.  The volunteers kindly transported our bags from the ferry to the café and they also treated us to the sight of local politicians of rival parties squeezing into a car together for a lift back to the ferry!

This week’s milestone was set by Emma Welch from “Sisters R Doing It”, who completed her 50th parkrun today.  As well as locals from Lerwick, Hillswick, Scalwa and Weisdale, there were visitors from Bristol, Campbelltown, Darlington, Dublin, Fife, Glasgow, Gosport, Kendal, Linlithgow, Newcastle, Oldham and Thurso, but the furthest travelled was surely Rosalind Cheek from Falkland Islands IG.

Showing that parkrun can be a real family event, Reece Black in age group 11-14 was the first finisher in 19:12, with his mother not far behind as first female finisher and fourth overall in 20:21, and his two brothers Cameron and Lewis also finishing together in 23:55.

This week 62 people ran, jogged and walked the course, of whom 24 were first timers and 8 recorded new Personal Bests. Representatives of 13 different clubs took part.

The event was made possible by 23 volunteers:

Neil Graham ANDERSON • Kate WILLS • Amelie MCALLISTER • Ann THOMSON • Catherine BROOK • Lesley ROBERTS • Kathy KELLY • Noel KELLY • John BATESON • Kenneth GROAT • Liz POLSON • Heidi ERIKSEN • Derek ROSS • Maureen BURKE • Babs ROSS • Elizabeth EDWARDS • Susie FOX • James MACLEOD • Fiona GRAY • Martin HENDERSON • Malcolm SMITH • Martin HEIGHWAY • Kristen SAUNDERS

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

Neil Anderson

Bressay parkrun #80 17/8/19 - provided by Lindsay Middleton-Scarr

Bressay parkrun has been on my parkrun to do list ever since it started and then when I found a school friend lived in Shetland I had even more reason to get planning a trip.  The weather on Friday was wet and windy and set to continue all weekend, but apart from a few drops of rain during the first timers briefing the rain held off and hour later the sun came out.

The ferry was all part of the adventure with lots of locals and tourists heading over to Bressay.  It was a pleasure to meet John Swinney on the way over, out on the campaign trail and doing his first parkrun, as well as a mix of locals and tourists.  After chatting to a few tourists, I have got even more ideas for parkrun travels next year.    

The first timers briefing had tourists from Hertfordshire, Colchester, South Australia, Birmingham, Somerset, Perth, Ireland, Leicester, Leeds, Inverness, Litchfield, Chesterfield and Reigate Priory.  One celebration this week for Andrea Sanchez running her 10th Bressay parkrun.

The course has a downhill start and is a lovely smooth and fast tarmac surface with a few undulations along the way.  The views are quite spectacular across the fields and out to sea with lots of wild flowers along the sides.  The café was buzzing and had an amazing selection of cakes, bacon rolls and a good cuppa.  

There were a total of 59 runners and walkers on the day.  Well done to the 12 people who did their first parkrun today, there were 4 personal bests and as always, a big thank you to the volunteers who make the event so special.

A really memorable day for me as I got to share a wonderful parkrun with two school friends reunited after 30 plus years.  

Lindsay Middleton-Scarr

The 22 volunteers this week were: Lindsay MIDDLETON-SCARR • Andrew FOX • Kate WILLS • Jonathan PINNICK • Ann THOMSON • Patricia MELVILLE • Kathy KELLY • Noel KELLY • John BATESON • Kenneth GROAT • Ingrid SANDISON • Babs ROSS • Elizabeth EDWARDS • Susie FOX • Julie JOHNSON • Arthur BURGESS • Fiona GRAY • James ROCK • Jan HOWARD • Talia HOWARD • Esther HOWARD • Ellie HOWARD

It was a warm morning, with a touch of mist for Bressay’s 79th parkrun. There were 73 runners and walkers who completed the course, and with enough runners, walkers, volunteers and spectators that the ferry needed to do a double run.

First over the line was Shetland AAC’s Steve Daye in 17.21, who also holds the joint course record for Bressay. Second and third males were Martin Vasey in 19.35 and Michael Stokes in 20.56. First lady and third overall was Shetland AAC’s Charlotte Black in 20.15. Second lady was Shetland AAC’s Susan Linklater in 23.39, who last week set a new age category record for Bressay and third lady was Babs Ross in 26.14. First junior with a new personal best of 2mins 25s was Ellie Bisset in 28.20 - well done Ellie, that’s a great improvement. Second and third juniors were Cara Mitchell in 33.36 and Chloe Ludkin in 43.26. 

There were seven personal bests, well done to those runners and walkers who achieved a personal best.

Huge congratulations to Shona Clarke and Diane Robertson who both completed their 250th parkruns at Bressay today. Their home parkrun is Aberdeen and with their wee crew of runners they came to Bressay to celebrate this milestone event.

There were 36 first timers with tourists from Aberdeen, Bergen, Birmingham, Brisbane, Bristol, Frankfurt, Isle of Man, Leeds, Newcastle, North Shields, Norwich, Strathclyde and Thurso. There were at least two returning tourists from Exeter and Aberdeen. Bressay is definitely a bucket list parkrun for parkrunners the world over! Emma Donegan also became the 1,100th person to complete Bressay parkrun.

A massive thank you to the volunteers, who did a fantastic job: 

Hannah BATESON, Anne BATESON, John BATESON, Janice BURGESS, Elizabeth EDWARDS, Leanne GEAR, Fiona GRAY, Mark GREEN, Esther HOWARD, Jan HOWARD, Ellie HOWARD, Talia HOWARD, Richard INGREY, Noel KELLY, Kathy KELLY, Mervyn LINKLATER, Elsa MANSON, Asif MUHAMMAD, Judith PINNICK, Amanda SINCLAIR, Donna STEWART, Ann THOMSON

I was delighted to see the marshal at the turn round point knitting, that’s great multi-tasking.

If you can volunteer at future weeks, then please send the team an e-mail at bressay@parkrun.com, they would be delighted to have you volunteer.

Event 78 was a busy day with the SIC ferry having to make two trips at 9am and again at 11.30am. We had many parkrun tourists again from various places including Edinburgh, Glasgow, Stirling, Dundee, East Kilbride, Strathpeffer, Devon, Croydon, Didcot, Peterborough, Ilkley, London and Denmark. We welcomed 10 year old Caitlyn Anderson who was running her 2nd Bressay parkrun and has now achieved 20 parkruns in total. It was also good to see some of our regulars back following their holidays etc. we also had first timers from Tresta, Gott, Weisdale, Cunningsburgh and Unst.

Congratulation to Susan Linklater for setting a new Age Grade course record. Many thanks to Ellie and Mairi who did a great job scanning and we hope the dodgy scanner will behave next week.

This week 79 people ran, jogged and walked the course, of whom 33 were first timers and 16 recorded new Personal Bests. Representatives of 9 different clubs took part.

The event was made possible by 18 volunteers:

Mervyn LINKLATER • Ann THOMSON • Lesley ROBERTS • Kathy KELLY • Anne BATESON • Ian THOMSON • Mairi THOMSON • Maureen BURKE • Babs ROSS • Amanda SINCLAIR • Janice BURGESS • Ellie BISSET • Emily GIFFORD • Arthur BURGESS • Fiona GRAY • Janice DUNN • Allyn SUTHERLAND • Asif MUHAMMAD

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

The female record is held by Jenny BANNERMAN who recorded a time of 18:17 on 20th October 2018 (event number 39).
The male record is held by Steve DAYE who recorded a time of 16:39 on 2nd February 2019 (event number 53), and by Matthew O'CONNOR who also recorded a time of 16:39 on 22nd June 2019 (event number 72).
The Age Grade course record is held by Susan LINKLATER who recorded 91.14% (22:35) on 3rd August 2019 (event number 78).

Bressay parkrun started on 20th January 2018. Since then 1,109 participants have completed 3,483 parkruns covering a total distance of 17,415 km, including 638 new Personal Bests. A total of 172 individuals have volunteered 1,205 times.

Event no. 77 marked the beginning of a happy partnership between the Lerwick Heath Centre and Bressay parkrun as our birthday boy of the week Adam Czarnobay (Practice Manager) has managed to secure its status as an official ‘parkrun GP practice’. Stalwart parkrunner (and age graded record holder Susan Linklater also celebrated her birthday with us this weekend. It was great to see a high turnout of 71 people and many of them NHS Shetland employees.

In drastic contrast to last week’s deluge, glorious sunshine awaited the 29 first timers who have probably left with a blissful (albeit slightly unrealistic) impression of how good Bressay parkrun weather is. With a record breaking 24 volunteers, as well as the 71 participants, even the big ferry (MV Leirna) had to do a double run to get everyone over for the 77th event. Many thanks to the ferry crew for the extra efforts!

Local SNP Candidate Tom Wills was one of the 24 enjoying their volunteering duties today. Bressay parkrun hopes Tom has inspired the other 9 MSP candidates to come along and try the parkrun either by volunteering or completing the route.

Our visitors hailed from Elgin, Glasgow, Kent, Dalkeith, Manchester, Brighton, Dublin, Derbyshire, Inverness, and even Singapore! Of the 71, just 3 recorded new Personal Bests as there was still a strong wind again them on the way out. Representatives of 10 different clubs took part.

The event was made possible by 24 volunteers:

Kate WILLS • Clare Fran TAYLOR • Ann THOMSON • Kathy KELLY • Noel KELLY • Anne BATESON • John BATESON • June MOULDER • Derek ROSS • Babs ROSS • Elizabeth EDWARDS • Amanda SINCLAIR • Norrie LYALL • Moraig LYALL • Catherine BROWN • Julie JOHNSON • Janice BURGESS • Mandy PHILLIPS • Arthur BURGESS • Tom WILLS • Andrea SANCHEZ • Jim RATTER • Emily WILLIAMSON • Lois PHILLIPS

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

The female record is held by Jenny BANNERMAN who recorded a time of 18:17 on 20th October 2018 (event number 39).
The male record is held by Steve DAYE who recorded a time of 16:39 on 2nd February 2019 (event number 53), and by Matthew O'CONNOR who also recorded a time of 16:39 on 22nd June 2019 (event number 72).
The Age Grade course record is held by Susan LINKLATER who recorded 87.67% (23:07) on 6th October 2018 (event number 37).

Bressay parkrun started on 20th January 2018. Since then 1,076 participants have completed 3,404 parkruns covering a total distance of 17,020 km, including 622 new Personal Bests. A total of 169 individuals have volunteered 1,187 times.