An Exmouth Running Belles parkrun takeover began with a bright and blustery start this morning as 432 people ran, jogged and walked the course, with a whopping 82 new pbs! 52 first timers also joined us and runners from no less than 38 different clubs took part - it was great to see so many happy faces.

We are a part of the Jurassic Coast. Everyone is welcome at parkrun!

 

Timekeepers.

Today’s first finishers were Berihu Hadera (male), Lynsey Willis (female), Louis Foord (junior male) and Farrah Sansom (junior female). A very well done to you all.

 

Tailwalkers.

The bright red hoodies of Exmouth Running Belles were dotted around the course as runners ran along the seafront with visitors coming from as far as Fife and enjoying calmer weather than we’ve had in a while - long may it continue! 

 

One of our Funnel Managers.

Finish Token Issuers.

Congratulations to Ben Pearson and Hayley Edwards who achieved their 50th parkruns today and big thanks to the 36 volunteers who made it all happen: May ARGYLE, Claire BABBAGE, Kate BAKER, Chris BATEMAN, Darren BRADLEY, Lucy BURGESS, Craig BUTLER, Carley CHILCOTT, Joanne COOKE, Phil DAVEY, Jill DUPAIN, Nigel DUPAIN, Hayley EDWARDS, Louise GRIFFIN, Samantha GRUNDY, Jane HALL, Louise HEMPSTEAD, Susan HILL, Lorraine HORNE, Sam LANDER, Jane MACDONALD, Claire MCCARTHY, Samantha MOORE, Jade OFFORD, Tom PACKER, Jo RENTON, Nick RICHART, Sue ROSE, Cally ROWLAND-LAPWOOD, Janet SEABROOK, Rosemary TATE, Kelly THOMAS, Louise WATTS, Julia WENSLEY, Alison WILKINSON, Esther WORKMAN.

Barcode Scanners.

Number Checker.

Token Sorters.

There was also a cake sale, kind courtesy of the Ocean management, while some local Firefighters ran parkrun in aid of the Prostate Cancer Charity.

Kate.

Today, Exmouth parkrun marked 'International Women's Day' with a great show of Girl Power in action! Fittingly, there was an amazing all-female cast of volunteers, led by May Argyle, making her debut as Run Director. She did a great job.

There was an overall turnout of 531 participants - Exmouth's third highest number ever.
As expected, there was a huge welcome for local runner Jo Pavey - World, European and Commonwealth medalist and 5 times Olympian. Jo has represented Great Britain in every Olympic Games from 2000-2016. And it was fitting on this special day that Jo broke the female course record with a new time of 16mins 57secs, finishing fourth overall and an impressive 3rd fastest parkrun uk lady finisher on the day.

Exmouth parkrun is pleased to support This Girl Can - a movement which aims to tackle the gender gap in sport and physical activity. Before today's run, 1,985 females - either running or walking - have crossed the finish line this year - an increase of 579 over the same period of time two years ago. 45 percent of participants have been women. Today's very successful event saw some women take part for the first time. We hope they enjoyed themselves, (we have a stunning course and the volunteers are always very friendly!) and that they will return so that our gender ratio will be 50-50!

Congratulations must go to today's first finisher, ultra marathon and endurance specialist - Adam Holland. This was Adam's third appearance at Exmouth and he recorded a new personal best over our course with an impressive 15mins 50secs - 45 seconds ahead of Exmouth's own Berihu Hadera.

Adam always stays to support and say hello, wherever he run's.

Today we welcomed 55 first-timers at Exmouth including 17 running parkrun for the very first time, 87 parkrunners recorded new Personal Bests, there were representatives of 42 different running clubs all made possible by 34 amazing hi-vis volunteers. There were 50th parkrun milestone appearances for both Edward Berridge and Philip Quick, 10th parkrun milestones appearances for many juniors, including Jacob Pavey, Charlie Thompson (new PB), Tess Bainbridge, Katie McCabe, Keiran Hurst and Louie Eaton and we welcomed visitors from Southampton, Chippenham, Bristol, Newport, Worcester, Bournemouth and St Andrews.

As always it's all about having fun and we hope you all had a good time!

Of course, this wouldn't be possible without volunteers and today we had an amazing all-female cast for this special event. We are very grateful to them all: Catherine ARGYLE, May ARGYLE, Sarah BALDWIN, Chris BATEMAN, Emma BATEMAN, Lisa BERRIDGE, Carole BROWN, Hannah BROWN, Lauren BROWN, Val BROWN, Carley CHILCOTT, Phil DAVEY, Sue DAVEY, Jenny DOBEL, Emily ELLETT, Kaz HANDLEY, Vicky HILL, Hayley JOHNS, Karen JONES, Lorna JONES, Isaac JUDGE, Katherine JUDGE, Lauren JUDGE, Amanda MCCANN, Terry MINTING, Sophie MOORE, Lisa PIKE, Sarah POWELL, Timothy PRATT, Wendy SILK, Karen STEWART, Rosemary TATE, Jo VENUS, Paula Summerfield WALTERS.

Terry.

They say that the sun shines on the righteous and this certainly seemed to be the case on Saturday.  Sun, rain, hail and a nice breeze! but just for a change, no sand blowing off the beach to exfoliate us.  Our RD, Craig, led the briefing just as it started to rain, framing Rebecca, our signer for the day and Craig under a spectacular rainbow.  He reminded us that traditionally, Ladies may propose to the Men on the 29^th February, however no one did to the best of our knowledge.  Also that the next Leap Year parkrun would not be until 2048!  Moving onto more important stuff we were warned that there was still some sand on the course, but not as much as in previous weeks, the council had obviously been busy putting it all back on the beach.  We were also warned at the high winds that would blow us down to Orcombe Point, and good luck with it as we would come round the flagpoles and back towards the lifeboat station!

 

This week we were lucky enough to welcome Rebecca Aust, who was supporting Deaf Get Active this week.  Not only signing at the briefing, but running as well.  We had a number of deaf parkrunners this week running with her which was great to see.

Then we were off, just as the rain turned to hail.  As we turned at the Octagon, I forgot to wave to our Communications person Phil, who had promised to watch the start on the Exmouth webcam whilst eating his breakfast on holiday in Spain in a nice and sunny 21 degree heat in t-shirt and shorts! There's dedication for you!  Phil did run a 10k race event later in the evening in his parkrun 100 black-tee just to feel better! There's no parkrun in Spain - yet!

Making our way towards the lifeboat station we unusually had to pass on the road side going towards Orcombe Point as directed by our fabulous marshals.  The lifeboat was out sitting on its ramp.

As expected the wind did help us to Orcombe point, but hindered us on the return journey!  However the wind must have been good for some as two or three mad surfers could be seen in the waves just off the beach.

A fairly uneventful passage to the Jelly Baby Marshal, Nick at the Cavendish Hotel turn, although the waves were threatening to breach the sea wall at this point.  Especially with high tide at around 9.30am.  Then a wind assisted final run back to the finish line.

No PB for me this week, however Thanks to Scott, our 25 minute pacer as I managed to keep with him til Orcombe Point.  However 35 other parkrunners did manage to achieve PBs.  54 first timers (Craig ended up doing the First Timers briefing twice!) Well done to you all and a big Thankyou to the Exmouth Harriers who took most of the volunteer roles this week. They were all brilliant.

We are very grateful to the volunteers who made this event happen: May ARGYLE, Rebbecca AUST, Kate BAKER, Lisa BERRIDGE, Darren BRADLEY, Craig BUTLER, Oli CLARKE, Phil DAVEY, Nigel DUPAIN, Kaz HANDLEY, Tom HANDLEY, Louise HEMPSTEAD, Linda HOE, Scott JAMIESON, Karen JONES, Tristan KELSALL-SPURR, Sam LANDER, Grant LEE, Jane MACDONALD, Amanda MCCANN, Adam James MILLER, Simon MINTING, Steve MORGAN, Catherine Ann Thurlow NEWMAN, Timothy PRATT, Nick RAMM, Jenny REAY, Nick RICHART, Karen STEWART, Les TURNER, Alison WHITE, Des WHITE, Lisa WHITE.

See you next week where all our volunteers are women, supporting International Women’s day #IWDparkrun. Bring a female family member, friend, work colleague, or even a neighbour, who may like to take part. We are also very accessible for all abilities, whether you run, jog, walk, including wheelchair friendly, as one of our friends, Katherine Ruth Last (pictured above) can confirm!  Remember just to be registered with parkrun first if you want a timed result and #dontforgetyourbarcode on the day!

Tim.

 

After last weeks cancellation due to storm Dennis, this week 437 people ran, jogged and walked the course, of whom 63 were first timers and 41 recorded new Personal Bests. There were representatives of of 39 different running clubs taking part.

Today we had visitors from a number of places including Bracknell, Manchester, Ashton Court, Swindon, Gloucester, Cambridge and Norfolk.

We had 26 First timers to parkrun. Welcome, we hope to see you all again soon!

We also had a number of milestones including:

Sophie Coombes who completed her 10th parkrun and Sarah Hales and Debbie Marriott who both completed their 50th.

This event was made possible by 27 amazing volunteers:

May ARGYLE, Sarah BALDWIN, Chris BATEMAN, Derek BLACKBURN, Margaret BLYTH, Darren BRADLEY, Oli CLARKE, Phil DAVEY, Jill DUPAIN, Nigel DUPAIN, Neil EDWARDS, Sharon GROVES, Gill HODGE, Karen JONES, Sue-Ellen LEE, Stan MASON, Clare MEDLOCK, Steven MEDLOCK, Terry MINTING, Laura NEWBERY-BUTCHER, Timothy PRATT, Sam REAY, Nick RICHART, Nathan SHEEHY, Karen STEWART, Alan SUTHERLAND, Lisa WHITE.

And a special mention to our Event Director, Chris, who had left all the Marshal equipment at home so drove back to collect it!

If you would like to have a go at volunteering, please look at the future roster page and email our VC at exmouthhelpers@parkrun.com or sign up with the volunteer matrix at the Ocean cafe.

We will be joining other parkrun events around the world on 7th March in celebrating and supporting International Women's Day. We want to encourage as many women as possible to join us whether that will be running, jogging, walking or volunteering.

Today's full results and a complete event history can be found on the Exmouth parkrun results page.

We hope to see you all again next week!

Oli.

Calm before the Storm ‘Ciara’

 

Such a contrast of weather last the weekend, although Saturday was perfect conditions for a parkrun. It was mild, clear, the sea was calm and we also had some of that elusive sunshine with lots of happy, smiley, people turning up from far and wide for another fun filled start to a Saturday morning. We feel very blessed here at Exmouth parkrun with our renowned fast and flat course suitable for all abilities and very accessible for everyone.

The usual early morning set-up crew and our ED and RD Chris had everything in order, course checked, ready and waiting to greet all the volunteers and parkrun participants in plenty of time for First Timer/Visitor brief and then onto the main brief, providing important and useful information to all those taking part. Some still need to be reminded to shush so that everyone can hear the announcements being made before anyone can start.

Today there were many milestone achievers, Andrew Beake and Richard Johnson both making their 50^th parkrun appearance while Sam Ingram (new PB), Robert Gibson (with his special balloon) and James Durston all making their 100^th parkrun at Exmouth today. Very well done to you all. There also were many visitors, some running Exmouth parkrun for the very first time, from Exeter, Seaton, Cheltenham, Plymouth, Taunton, Killerton, Tewkesbury, Tamar Lakes, Poole, Aylesbury, Sutton, Winchester, Royal Tonbridge Wells, Coventry, Braunstone, Hamilton Lake, Burnham & Highbridge, St Albans, Brueton, Heartwood Forest, Kingsbury, Houghton Hall, Arrow Valley, Newport and Clapham Common. Apologies if I’ve missed anyone! A warm welcome to you all. There were several Pacers on the course today helping those who wanted to try for a new pb sub25, 30, 35 and 40 minute finish. I’m sure some of you made it!

Over to the start, we were off, the first right-hand turn at The Octagon is a little tight, being careful not to run out on the road, the Marshals will shout at you making sure we remain safe, and off we go along a fairly narrow and busy section down to the Harbour View café and slipway on the outward bound towards Orcombe Point passing the beach side of the Lifeboat Station. The views out across the bay are absolutely magnificent and on a clear day you can see along the coast to Berry Head at Brixham and take in the freshness of the sea air. Many dog-walkers were out on the beach with an outgoing tide enjoying their morning exercise along with Wind Surfers and also rowing boats from the Exmouth Rowing Club. There were also a group of lady early morning swimmers by the Lifeboat Station who had already been in for a cool dip giving us encouragement as we passed by.

 

As we made our way down past the Lifeboat Station towards the Orcombe Point turn Flagpoles, many of the speedy parkrunners were already making their way back up the course. At this point we must all be aware to keep to the right on both sides and avoid a head-on incident. We also need to remember there are many other users out on our course including walkers and cyclists all going in different directions enjoying their morning out up and down the sea-front promenade.

 

After the flagpole turn point at Orcombe, (rather a sharp turn today!), we head begin the return leg back up past the Lifeboat Station, this time moving around the outside of the building, taking care move back onto pedestrian footway on our way towards the new sea-front development getting a different perspective and view of the coastline, passing the Harbour View café/slipway and the HM Coastguard observation tower, along past the Octagon and up to the Cavendish turn around an orange cone where the jellybaby Marshal stands by the shelter (a favourite for all the much younger participants). From here there’s a short distance back passing the Octagon into the final finishing straight and into the finish funnel greeted by the Timekeepers and Funnel Managers keeping you all in order (ensuring no funnel ducking business!) as we move along the funnel to collect our well earned position Finish Token. Note: Don’t forget not to take Finish Tokens home (property of parkrun) and if you don’t want a time or you’ve forgotten your personal barcode (such a pain, but who’s fault is that!), the finish token can be placed in an orange cone when you exit finish funnel clearly signed.

 

The next step (after you catch your breath) is to take your finish token and personal barcode across the road to the Ocean where the Barcode Scanners are waiting to greet you. Remember you will be crossing the pedestrian footpath where other parkrunners will still be moving up along the course and also the road is usually quite busy, so please be careful, especially with small children and babies in buggies. After you’ve all been scanned, there’s time for a little relaxation and if you wanted plenty of opportunity for a chat over refreshment or even a good breakfast after all the exercise.

Exmouth parkrun are a very friendly bunch and there’s always an opportunity to chat with some of the core-team and volunteers and remember, if you are interested in volunteering at future events, the volunteer matrix will be there available for you to add your name. Please also email to confirm your A.number barcode as quite often there are people with the same name and the original parkrun registration may not be at home parkrun Exmouth. We also have many visitors who like to volunteer certain roles so always helpful to know your barcode number before we can add you to the official online volunteer roster.

 

Today there were 476 parkrunners who crossed our finish line, 57 who ran Exmouth parkrun for the first time including 26 first time parkrunners. 45 different running clubs were represented. We had some really speedy runners out on course today, 98 achieving new personal best times with special mention going to Hannah Taunton (GB para-athlete) and regular visitor from Taunton (we think Hannah likes us a lot!), who returned a very impressive new 5K personal best time and also a new course record in 17:07 absolutely smashing her own previous course record set back in March 2019. The First Finisher today was an ‘Unknown’ athlete (someone either running just for fun or had forgotten their personal barcode, or maybe both!). The first Junior Male 15-17 category was Oliver Capps in 17:37 and First Junior Female 11-14 category was Isla Bryson 19:51 with a new PB. Well done to you all, we hope you enjoyed your parkrun with us today.

 

Of course all this would simply not be possible without our amazing 31 super hi-vis heroes who make it all happen. A big Thankyou to them all, they were: May ARGYLE, Sarah BALDWIN, Rich BARNETT, Chris BATEMAN, Edward BERRIDGE, Jason BERRIDGE, Lisa BERRIDGE, Darren BRADLEY, Craig BUTLER, Phil DAVEY, Sue DAVEY, Richard DE LA RUE, Jill DUPAIN, Nigel DUPAIN, Linda HOE, Lorna JONES, Ruth KENNEDY, Nick MILLINGTON, Poppy MOORE, Sophie MOORE, Richard MORRIS, Sarah PICKERING, Lisa PIKE, Colin PRATT, Timothy PRATT, Nick RICHART, Nathan SHEEHY, Wendy SILK, Karen STEWART, Rosemary TATE, Emily WEBB.

 

Two points of order to be mentioned, with an increase number of participants has seen an extra busy amount of traffic moving up and down the sea-front near the start/finish area looking for somewhere to park and arrive for briefing and the start on time. Please allow extra time to park, there is plenty of room roadside parking up and down the promenade pay and display and also the main pay and display car park just a bit further along from the Ocean behind the new sea-front site development area. Please look out for other parkrunners arriving on foot, especially those with small children pushing buggies and why not consider car-sharing where possible. Not only helps with the environmental impact and costs less to park. Secondly, Personal A.number Barcodes, we will not enter any results for participants who forget to bring their barcode for any reason so please don’t ask or email in. Every participant (children included) must have their individual printed barcode and present it to the barcode scanner with their finish token. We operate a strict parkrun code of practice ‘No printed personal barcode – No timed result’ policy. We cannot accept barcode images saved on mobile phones or other devices. It is your responsibility alone to ensure you remember to bring your barcode, not parkrun or any of our volunteers who have already given up their own personal time and chance to run so that you all can. Simples!

 

Phil.