You can’t say that parkrun tourism doesn’t take you to interesting places. The 9am ferry from Lerwick arrives on the island of Bressay laden down with parkrunners from all over the UK, and further afield. The 76th event was no different with a field of 53 participants with a healthy contingent of locals being visited by around 20 visitors made up of athletes from all over the UK. Various clubs were represented, including Billericay Striders, Metro Aberdeen, Charlton Runners and one Lonely Goat.

Beautiful Bressay had enjoyed a proper summer in the week leading up to parkrunday, but the parkrun weather gods had clearly taken their eye off the ball this Saturday morning and left the taps on. The run briefing was delivered in pouring rain, and delivered quickly as no one wanted to be standing about any longer than necessary. Even the local parkrun pooches didn’t look overly keen.

The volunteer roster this week was supplied by the Shetland Rugby Club who were doing a takeover of the event. These guys get a big thumbs up from us, like all the volunteers they kept smiling and cheering us on until the tailwalker crossed the line.

The Bressay course is a really nice one. Scenic, it’s also mostly flat-ish and although it’s an out and back the ‘Out’ is longer than the ‘Back’ which means that when you get to the turning point you’re well over half way. This also means that, by some damn fine planning, the run ends at the Speldiburn cafe who do THE best bacon rolls.

Nice to have something to look forward to, took our minds off the rain.

This wasn’t a day for PBs, although eight participants managed that. For most of us though it was a case of ticking off another Scottish event and having tales to tell of the day we ran one f the UKs most unusual, and definitely friendliest, events.

We’ll definitely be back, hopefully the parkrun weather gods will smile on us next time !!

It was a fairly still morning as 60 parkrun participants set off, of whom 23 were first timers, 14 recorded new Personal Best and in addition we had 10 folk who have not registered as yet. Representatives of 11 different clubs took part. Well done to the 3 parkrunarabs who completed their Scottish Regionnaire Status this morning also we welcomed quite a few children and 4 dogs. Mary Senior from Garcube Harriers was running her 50th different parkrun although has run a total of 167 parkruns so far.

Today’s first time visitors came from Portrush, Whitley Bay, Shropshire, Hertfordshire, Gloucestershire, Cambridgeshire, Falkirk, Dundee, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Carluke, Perth, Sandwick, Brae, Lerwick, Whiteness and Muckle Roe.

The event was made possible by 19 volunteers:

Francesca HUTCHESON • Parker HUTCHESON • Andrew FOX • Hannah BATESON • Ann THOMSON • Lesley ROBERTS • Kathy KELLY • Noel KELLY • Anne BATESON • John BATESON • Ian THOMSON • Ingrid SANDISON • Elizabeth EDWARDS • Wendy BORRILL • Amanda SINCLAIR • Janice BURGESS • Arthur BURGESS • Eloise SMITH • Val TURNER

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 1,025 participants have completed 3,280 parkruns covering a total distance of 16,400 km, including 611 new Personal Bests. A total of 153 individuals have volunteered 1,140 times.

We reached our 1000th new person to try Bressay parkrun today!! Congratulations to our 1000th newbie - Sydney Australian’s own Melvyn Cox who had travelled up specially to do the UK’s most Northerly parkrun. His partner Catherine Cox had celebrated her 100th parkrun at Bushy park (the original parkrun) last week. Celebrations were happening amongst Bressay’s true stalwarts too with a 50th parkrun cake for Kayleigh Gear, Amanda Sinclair’s 25th volunteering milestone and Kristen Saunders doing her 10th Bressay parkrun. It was a great day for exotic visitors with representatives from Boston USA, Sydney Australia, Whitley Bay, Sheffield, Inverness and someone from South England who’d travelled down from Yell this morning. Sadly today also marked the last Run Director shift for Jamie Tomlinson for a while - we’d like to wish Jamie all the best for his Canadian adventure and hope he comes back to us soon. There were 62 people running, jogging and walking the course, of whom 21 were first timers and 6 recorded new Personal Bests (a major feat given the headwind on the last 2km!). Representatives of 7 different clubs took part.

Our volunteers are the very best and we would like to thank them all - especially the Cafe Crew who were run ragged with the flurry of hungry but happy parkrunners. Today’s ‘high vis heroes’ are as follows:

Mervyn LINKLATER • Kate WILLS • Leanne GEAR • Rosie MORGAN • Kathy KELLY • Noel KELLY • Janice HAMER • Anne BATESON • Kayleigh GEAR • Kenneth GROAT • Derek ROSS • Maureen BURKE • Babs ROSS • Elizabeth EDWARDS • Amanda SINCLAIR • Susie FOX • Janice BURGESS • Jamie TOMLINSON • Emily GIFFORD

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 1,002 participants have completed 3,220 parkruns covering a total distance of 16,100 km, including 597 new Personal Bests. A total of 149 individuals have volunteered 1,121 times.

Fortunately the fog began to lift as our 64 parkrun participants set off along the course today, of whom 19 were first timers and 18 recorded new Personal Bests. The visitors came from Horsham, Nottingham, Edinburgh, Newcastle, Glasgow, Ireland, New Zealand and beyond! Representatives of 8 different clubs took part. The prams were out again with the milder weather and less wind in Bressay than anywhere else in Shetland today. Donna Mainland was commended for managing to run with one child on her shoulders, one on her hand and another in a buggy - fantastic! Charlotte Black has recently returned from the West Highland Way Ultra marathon and coincidentally bumped into a parkrun tourist who had handed her a jelly baby during her almost 22hr long challenge last weekend. Well done Charlotte! Next week we look forward to possibly welcoming our 1000th newbie to Bressay parkrun - a real milestone for our event and we are now only 19 newbies away from it.. Who will it be though? Definitely bring a friend next weekend!

The event was made possible by 17 volunteers:

Mervyn LINKLATER • Kate WILLS • Sophie WHITEHEAD ROBERTSON • Ann THOMSON • Kathy KELLY • Noel KELLY • Anne BATESON • John BATESON • Maureen BURKE • Babs ROSS • Elizabeth EDWARDS • Amanda SINCLAIR • Louise ANDERSON • Susie FOX • Janice BURGESS • Emily GIFFORD • Martin HENDERSON

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 88.63% (22:52) on 29th June 2019 (event number 73).

Bressay parkrun started on 20th January 2018. Since then 981 participants have completed 3,158 parkruns covering a total distance of 15,790 km, including 596 new Personal Bests. A total of 148 individuals have volunteered 1,102 times.

Bressay parkrun no. 72 report – In search of the midnight sun

This run report comes from Simon, parkrun tourist from Manchester.

My favourite time of the year is around June 21, the longest day. Since I was a child, I have wanted to see the midnight sun. I have never got round to arranging to do so but this spring I was planning a trip to Norway for the weekend of 22 June to run the Tromso midnight half marathon. Not wanting to miss parkrun, though, I was also looking at running parkrun in Oslo before flying to Tromso for the half marathon at 10.30pm. However, travel plans became a bit too complicated and I decided on a trip to Shetland instead for the summer solstice.

And what a fine decision that was too. We arrived in Lerwick Friday morning on the ferry from Aberdeen and had time to explore the town that day. On Saturday we got the 8 am ferry to Bressay to allow more time on the island. On the ferry we met Marjorie Winter, who not only was celebrating her fiftieth run but also the birth of a granddaughter on the Friday. 

Having arrived on Bressay at 8.10 am, thatallowed us to explore a little. Usually we like to walk the course after running a new parkrun. This time we walked to the finish area before heading back to the start to meet the rest of the runners on the 9 am ferry.  

Fifty five runners set off and they were all seen home by Mandy, the tail walker. There were other visitors from Hastings, Horsham, Rickmansworth, Leeds, Bushy Park amongst other places. The highest age grade came from the first finisher, Matthew O’Connor, who equalled the course record previously single-handedly held by Bressay parkrun stalwart Steve Daye. 

After the run it was time for tea, cake and chat at the Speldiburn Café and before long it was sadly time to head back for the 11.30 am ferry as we had to check out of our hotel. 

I may not have seen the midnight sun (I was peering out from our hotel room at 11.25 pm on Friday evening, saying “It’s still a bit light over there”) but I had a memorable trip to and a lovely weekend in a beautiful part of the world. I wish we had gone for longer now.

A big thanks as ever to all the Bressay hi-vizhero volunteers who made the parkrun magic happen on Saturday. You can be a hero too and offer to volunteer and earn a 25 volunteer t-shirt after 25 volunteer stints. 

I wish Bressay parkrun every success, with plenty of volunteers, runners and good weather. I shall be recommending a visit to Shetland and Bressay parkrun to all parkrun tourists.

Simon Harrop