International Women's Day parkrun

This Girl Can

This week it was all about celebrating women at parkrun with a nationwide campaign to welcome as many women and girls as possible to parkrun on International Women's Day. 

At Bushy we chose to have an all female team of volunteers, and what a fantastic team they were! Not only did we have a record number of volunteers - 75 in total, we also fielded an all female team of pacers every minute from 21 to 35. It was the first time we have ever had double pacers, both odds and evens running at the same time.

Maria 21 minutes, Liz 22 minutes, Krysia 23 minutes, Justine 24 minutes, Brigid 25 minutes, Zoë 26 minutes, Wendy 27 minutes, Tracey 28 minutes, Eirwen 29 minutes, Carol 30 minutes, Helen 31 minutes, Linda 32 minutes, Carmen 33 minutes, Lorraine 34 minutes, Verity 35 minutes.

Special thanks to all our pacers, many of whom had never paced before. It's a daunting task trying to get an consistent pace amongst a field of over 1500 athletes, not to mention the mud and occasional losing of GPS when you go under trees, so really well done to you all, and to everyone who got PB's.  Andy who organises the pacing rota every month is always in need of people to step up so please contact us if you want to give it a go.  It's great fun and really rewarding to have runners approach you afterward to thank you for their PB's.

Thanks also to the fabulous pacers who stepped in at the last minute when it became clear there were going to be a few gaps in the roster.  An appeal was sent out on Facebook on Friday and all was sorted.  A special mention to Linda (32 mins) a tourist from Edinburgh, visiting Bushy for the first time, who kindly offered to help.

Brigid, Wendy, Lucy our RD, Carol, Linda, Lorraine and Verity

Julie had the task of co-ordinating our largest field of volunteers to date.  We had 75, which is more than some parkruns have runners!

Lucy was our Run Director

Rosanna, another hero who stepped in at the last minute as Lead Bike, especially impressive as little Teddy is only two weeks old

Christine sets up the funnel

Diane, Anna and Helene feeling the love for parkrun

Stella in mid flow at the pre run brief, with Sue holding the sign

Thanks to all the girls and women who made this event possible today.

See our volunteer page for details on getting involved in making Bushy parkrun happen.

A brief history of International Women's Day

It’s difficult to say exactly when IWD began but it can be traced back to 1908, when women marched through New York City demanding voting rights, better pay and shorter working hours.

In 1913 it was decided to transfer IWD to March 8, and it has been celebrated on that day ever since. The day was only recognised by the United Nations in 1975.  The colour chosen to represent IWD is purple.  Maybe next year we should go one step further and all wear purple?

International Women's Day is all about unity, celebration, reflection, advocacy and action, which explains why parkrun has chosen it as a tool to encourage the participation of as many women and girls as possible.

And yes before you ask there is an International Men's Day in November . . .

Visitors

This is Runcorn Rowing Club who had come to London for the Women's Head of the River Race. Unfortunately the Thames was running was too fast, and it was cancelled, but happily they were able to take part in IWD parkrun instead!

The Run

Event number 833. We had a field of 1504 runners with 35 first time female runners and 17 first time men.  Conditions were a little slippery, but nothing compared to the swamp conditions of last week.

First Finishers

I think it's only fitting to start with the women and girls this week

Women

1. Michelle Dillon 18:36

2. Amy Aronson 19:42

3. Liz Fraser 19:58 PB

Girls

1. Riona Stockley 20:04

2. Emiko Salvi 20:13

3. Leonie Kennedy 20:19 PB

Men

1. Kurt Gibson 15:26

2. Luke Van Oudtshoorn 15:40

3. David Lewin 16:52 PB

Boys

1. Luke Van Oudtshoorn 15:40

2. Jacob Atwal 17:59

3. Declan Connolly 18:02

Age grading and PB's

These athletes all got over 80% age grade.  Congratulations to you all, especially Liz Killip (22 minute pacer) who no doubt helped a fair few runners around her to PB's!

A massive 191 of you got personal best times today, well done.  I hope at least some were down to the excellent pacing!

Milestones

These athletes achieved the following milestones this week. Congratulations

250

Simon Wallwork

100

David Morley

Jonathan Stone

Charlotte Small

Glen Ridout

Paula Jones

Jennifer Stone

John Taylor

50

Akin Williams

Sam Coughlin

Lucy Taylor

Lucy Noble

Abigal Shackleton

Nick Spear

10

Joshua Allinson New PB!

Lucy scanning Ann, one of the tail walkers

Emma packing away the funnel for another week

And then off to the Pheasantry for token sorting with Sue. I reckon there was some multi-tasking going on today . . ?

Carol (30 mins) and Duncan demonstrating our new social distancing policy

That's it for this week.  What a fantastic morning we had.

Happy International Women's Day

See you Saturday

Wendy Stokes (27 mins)

Don't forget you can now follow us on Instagram
intagram.com/bushyparkrun

Twitter at www.twitter.com/bushyparkrun
and for Bushy parkrun on facebook
www.facebook.com/bushyparkrun

and for parkrun UK on facebook at
http://www.facebook.com/parkrunuk
Interested in volunteering at Bushy parkrun? Please e-mail bushyhelpers@parkrun.com

Want to give feedback? Have anything to say or want anyone mentioned in future run reports? Please e-mail bushyoffice@parkrun.com

“Oh you can’t say nothing to the pouring rain”

Weather/conditions: Soaking wet with paddy fields appearing at regular intervals

Apparently it’s now the meteorological spring and not only that, it’s been “a very wet winter”. I know it was wet at Bushy on Saturday but we still went ahead and down here we’ve had none of the floods we’ve seen in the west or further north. On Saturday it was wet and filthy but it was good fun. I think Ray and Ian were loving it as they set up the funnel and the scanners and I could see a people doing a few Gene Kelly moves on the way to the start. During the run itself it only took a few strides for everyone to give in and get sloshing around with the bog-snorkellers. By the time we got to the copse at 2k it was clear the going was very heavy and that if you weren’t an amphibian you’d be left behind. The last 800m were a bit tough mudder. If you wanted to avoid the worst of it a significant diversion was required so it was good to see that most people had given up and were happy to schlepp through the sloppy stuff. As we hit the camber and the last 200m some people were waving, others were drowning. The funnels were a welcome sight – if not exactly dry land.

Despite the dreadful weather, the Leap Day collection for the YMCA Foodbank in Hampton had plenty of donations – thanks to all. We’ll do it again!

Zoe and Duncan looking after the donations

Some Stats

1029 ran, jogged or walked on Saturday;

74 volunteers made it happen – what a turn out on a day like that - thanks to all.

Just 2 runners made it above the 80% WFA mark in the mire. Hats off and special swimming badges to-

Milestones – congrats to all.

300: Glennis Pye

250: Mark Davies

200: Chris Dunn, Andy Morgan, Claire Seckington

100: Nick McNally, Gearoid Lavery, Jakub Czeczotka, Alex Dixon, David Jones, Tarekegn Abeku, Ray Ladwa, Tony J Mansfield, Samantha Parker

50: Daniel Hotten, Graham Wheeler, Oliver Morgan, Rob Henry, Jessica Hotten, Paul Harvey, Duncan Hyde, Stephen Maddock, Kate Trafford-Jones, Dave Kahn, Katie Clare, Wasana Boonpeng-Mackeown, Ellie Hyde, Mary Galashan

Wally’s back for no. 501 – good man

Jakub (r) came over from Hackney to do his 100th pr along with Bruce

It was that sort of morning

Fashion corner special – clockwise from top left
Graham’s hat caught my eye
Anne was down from Stoke and I apologise for ambushing her
Caroline was over from Norfolk with her friend, Heather from Banstead Woods
Henry Carter and his psychedelic leggings made a splash

Clockwise from top left-
Jennifer, Vicky and the speedy kids from Liverpool – great to see you
Run director and MC, Simon: “Parkrunners, I love you all”
Zoe, Lynn and Andrew down from Shepshed
Dave and Fiddy – the latter named after the famous malt

“We need a bigger boat.”

See you next Sat.

Kevin Quinn

Don't forget you can now follow us on Instagram
intagram.com/bushyparkrun

Twitter at www.twitter.com/bushyparkrun
and for Bushy parkrun on facebook
www.facebook.com/bushyparkrun

and for parkrun UK on facebook at
http://www.facebook.com/parkrunuk
Interested in volunteering at Bushy parkrun? Please e-mail bushyhelpers@parkrun.com

Want to give feedback? Have anything to say or want anyone mentioned in future run reports? Please e-mail bushyoffice@parkrun.com

Where's Wally?

Some of you may have noticed a scattering of Wallys and Wendas out there this week. We were there to pay tribute to the redoubtable Wally Garrod on reaching his 500 milestone. Wally is really what parkrun is all about - having done his first one aged 69, he has been a regular and consistent performer ever since and a Bushy man at heart with 479 runs at the cradle of parkrun and a few tourist trips thrown in. More of Wally later and the celebrations and why he is such a special guy.

22 Feb dawned with the aftermath of Storm Dennis still resonating round the country with rivers gaining some of the highest levels recorded. The Thames is high, the Severn higher still so spare a thought for all those frustrated parkrunners not getting their fix, let alone all the poor people suffering flooding events. Next up will be Storm Ellen... But at Bushy 1,478 peeps shook off any water drops and lined up at the start. 1,500 or so is now looking like our new normal. 257 were First Timers to Bushy - a healthy group of tourists given the time of year and 63 of those were doing their first ever parkrun. Welcome to the parkrun Club! Your life may not be the same again. Hats off too to the 59 volunteers who helped it all happen.

Where's Wenda?

If you want a look at the start of our parkrun, Keith Riding has put together a little video. Catch it here. Best moment for me is when Ray COWARD presents Wally with his 500 Club shirt - you don't know the strings that had to be pulled to make that happen...

Milestones

10 Club

Four juniors this week: Rebecca JONES, Isaac ROXBURGH, Rachel HAMMETT and Florence VICKERS will be receiving their pristine white shirts soon.

50 Club

Five this week. Congratulations to Julie REYNOLDS, Tom WATERSON, Clare TURNER, Christina MERRYFIELD and Jenny GILBERT.

100 Club

Just two this week: Ken WILSON and Edward CHUCK  who made the pilgrimage to do his 100th run.

250 Club

Two also this week. Step forward Peter DUNKLEY and Mark WHITELING. Green shirts being knitted now.

500 Club

Just one this week - some chap called Wally GARROD (VM80-84)

Ray and Jan guide Wally home

Wally did his first parkrun in event #6 aged 69 on 6 November 2004. He finished 15th in a time of 24:38. He managed to secure his only Bushy PB some 13 weeks later in event #19 in 2005 - in a time of 24:13. But we all know parkrun is not about PBs. It's about being part of a global community. Doing your best yes, but also taking part whether that be a runner, walker or volunteering or a mixture of all three. Wally is certainly part of the Bushy community and much loved and respected by those that know him. Indeed Wally has now become the 111th member of the worldwide 500 Club.

Here is Wally in March 2014 sporting his new 250 top (old style)

Wally came to parkrun late in his running career. But he has had a long career as a runner with Ranelagh Harriers before 2004. He has a 10 mile PB of 59:49 and a Marathon PB of 3 hours 1 min 52 secs. One thing we noticed running with him on Saturday was his competitive instinct is unbowed. At the 4km mark, looking behind him, he was asking Ray, "Where's John - must beat John". John being his friend and fellow Ranelagh Harrier John Hanscombe who is also now a legend at Bushy and an octogenarian member of the 500 Club. And Wally is such a tough competitor. Despite suffering pancreatic cancer and having a double heart bypass operation, he was determined to reach his 500 milestone. Indeed only a few weeks ago Wally had a bad chest infection and did not look at all well, but despite the cold and damp conditions, he still got off his sick bed to run/walk to ensure he made his milestone this week.

I think it only leaves us to post a few photos of day which capture the celebrations perfectly.

Wally with Anne who baked this superb celebratory cake

Some right Wallys and John

Wally obviously had to get the letter "W" - well done Diane! John looks suitably impressed

Some of Wally's achievements

29 Feb - Leap into Action Day

Just a quick reminder that as next week's parkrunday is 29 Feb - Leap Day - and this won't happen again until 2048, we have a special Leap into Action Day - we’re asking parkrunners to donate to our local foodbank.

On the poster below, items above the line are especially useful whilst items below the line are always welcome.

Please bring your donations to the volunteer station before 9am on Saturday morning.

Many thanks!

See you Saturday!

Andrew Howarth

 
Don't forget you can now follow us on Instagram
intagram.com/bushyparkrun

Twitter at www.twitter.com/bushyparkrun
and for Bushy parkrun on facebook
www.facebook.com/bushyparkrun

and for parkrun UK on facebook at
http://www.facebook.com/parkrunuk
Interested in volunteering at Bushy parkrun? Please e-mail bushyhelpers@parkrun.com

Want to give feedback? Have anything to say or want anyone mentioned in future run reports? Please e-mail bushyoffice@parkrun.com