Event #206
The weather fairies obviously worked overtime during the night. The forecast rain, sleet and freezing temperatures were replaced with brilliant blue sky and sunshine. Perfect conditions for our 4th anniversary parkrun.
It was great to see so many runners for the anniversary, some of whom have been with Graves from day one, and others at Graves for the very first time. Of the 241 runners, 24 were Graves first timers and 12 were running their first ever parkrun. You chose a good week to come to Graves – sunshine, music, fancy dress and cake. It’s not always quite like that but it is always friendly and welcoming so do come again. We don’t always run that way round the park either - just on special occasions. For the Graves regulars - was it harder or easier? Difficult to say.
Here are the 12 runners who completed their first ever parkrun. Welcome to Graves! We hope that you come back next week.
| Joseph Hibbert | Edward Throp | David Jenkinson |
| Zoe Horsfall | Flo Tyler | Mark Phillipson |
| Molly Arguile | Alison Holland | Lindsay Lee |
| Jack Ryan | Janine Ryan | Ella Worthy |
We love to share our fantastic park with runners visiting from other parkruns. Welcome to all of this weeks parkrun tourists, we hope you enjoyed our super flat course and wildlife.
| Sarah Statham | Darren Worthy | Cath Davies |
| Marissa O’Brien | Jen Donnelly | John Carter |
| Amy Howell | Simon Howell | James Howell |
| Jane Gawne | Liz Howell | David Gawne |
Congratulations to Claire CADMAN who was running her 50th parkrun, all of which have been at Graves, and to Matt RIMMER who ran his 150th parkrun. New t-shirt on the way for you Claire. Another 100 runs for you Matt.
DJ GREEN (handsome) was run director for our celebration run, and as well as organising everything with great flair, he provided some great tunes to accompany proceedings. He had a brilliant team of volunteers Andy MORRIS • Ceejay HUBBUCK • Dawn JACKSON • Emma PORTUS • Erica BRAMHALL • Everythings Run GREEN • Gail MOSS Gavin EWAN • Geoffrey TWELVETREE • Harriet EISNER • Helen YOUNG • Jane EVANS • Jeremy BRAYSHAW • Jo ECCLES • Judy TOCHER • Keith TURTON • Laura THOMPSON • Magdalena BOO • Margaret Elizabeth DUNCAN • Roger WALTERS • Rosemary FERRILL • Stephen GILMER • Zaheer MAHMOOD. Big thanks to all of you.
Also thanks to the volunteer bakers – delicious treats for everyone.
Well done to everyone in fancy dress and to all the witty and cheery comments. I wonder how many times Wally was lost and found on the corner, and how many banana split comments there were. Looking forward to the photos.
Following the run, it was great to see so many people in the Rose Garden cafe for the annual awards.
Our own Wonder Woman, Jo, began the awards ceremony with a few statistics (more later in the report). Over the past year 2,130 people have run or volunteered, resulting in 9,550 runs, which is the amazing total of 47,750 km, or 1.2 times round the world. Those are fantastic running stats but what is also fantastic is the number of friendships that have developed as a result of parkrun and what a friendly and welcoming community we have become. #loveparkrun
Onto the awards and congratulations to all our winners:
- Male points winner – James STOREY
- Female points winner – Janet GLOVER
- Fastest junior – Joe NEWMAN-BILLINGTON
- Champion volunteers – Ceejay HUBBOCK / Charlie LAST
- Inspirational Runner – Roger KNIGHTLEY
- Fastest canine – Lily (did you see the amazing portrait of Lil, painted by Roger Knightley)
- Run reporting – Jane Evans and Andy Morris
- Fanciest fancy dress – Lucy MARRIS and Roger, her horse (not Roger K or ROGER W)
Certificates of thanks were then presented to our awesome Event Director, Jo ECCLES, and Run Directors Roger WALTERS, Gav NEWHOUSE, Andy GREEN (and Sam NEEDHAM when we next see him!)
Run Statistics – for those that like their numbers (I certainly do)
We had 23 PBs this week well done to every one of you.
| Theresa Barks | 2:44 | Jenny Sumner | 2:04 | Heather Allen | 1:56 |
| Beth Chilvers | 1:33 | Adam Worthy | 1:31 | Nick Allin | 1:15 |
| Susan Lilley | 1:13 | Tom Aukland | 1:02 | Bea Marshall | 39s |
| Simon Ross | 27s | Bethany Gladley | 25s | Helen Sear | 25s |
| Owen Swift | 23s | Barbara Jenkins | 22s | Simon Devilly | 11s |
| Thomas Meager | 10s | Paul Mullens | 9s | Becci Palmer | 7s |
| Neil Schofield | 6s | Justine Clark | 5s | Khadija Alam | 4s |
| Joanne Lumley | 3s | Ruth Dils | 1s |
Extra kudos for Simon Ross who achieved his sixth consecutive PB, Bea Marshall, Helen Sear and Justine Clark managed their fourth consecutive PB – great work.
The top age graded result this week, was from ‘half marathon princess’ Helen Eberlin (VW65-69) with 79.73%. Pat Goodall (VW60-64) was second with 79.29%
Finishing positions
| Male | Female | ||||
| Position | Name | Time | Position | Name | Time |
| 1 | Phil Skelton | 18:12 | 1 | Nicola Birch | 21:36 |
| 2 | Andrew Gawne | 18:20 | 2 | Suzanne Bridges | 22:55 |
| 3 | Joseph Hibbert** | 19:30 | 3 | Deborah Richards | 23:00 |
* New PB
**Graves first timer
3rd placed Joseph Hibbert is also a parkrun first timer, great start Joseph.
Points tables
These have only just re-started after the end of our 3rd year and are currently dominated by those accruing volunteer points – another excellent reason for you to offer your services to volunteer (100 points for the first 3 volunteering occasions each year).
| Male | Female | ||||
| Position | Name | Points | Position | Name | Points |
| =1 | Roger Walters | 200 | =1 | Jane Evans | 200 |
| =1 | Andy Morris | 200 | =1 | Jo Eccles | 200 |
| =1 | Gavin Ewan | 200 | =1 | Dawn Jackson | 200 |
| =1 | Erica Bramhall | 200 | |||
| =1 | Ceejay Hubbuck | 200 | |||
A few more stats about our third year:
- Average number of runners per event = 191
- The most runners we had was 294 (event 199, 27/02/2016) and the minimum was 109 (event 186, 05/12/2016)
- The fastest times in the year were:
- Male: Gregan Clarkson, event 163, 20/06/2015, 16:53
- Female: Helen Mort, event 160, 30/05/2015, 19:18
- Most frequent first place finishers:
- Male: Phil Skelton 15 times, Ashenafi Erkolo 10 times, Joseph Newman-Billington 7 times
- Female: Rebecca Walker 5 times, Jennifer Rich and Lucy Broom 4 times
- 19 males were finished in first place, 32 females finished in first place
- Most frequent runs:
- 46 James Storey, 45 Simon Nightingale, 44 Paul Chapman and Janet Glover
Most frequent Junior runners:
| Runner | #Runs | #Volunteers | |
| 1 | Issy WAUGH | 23 | 5 |
| 2 | Heather RIMMER | 21 | 15 |
| 3 | Bobbie WAUGH | 21 | 1 |
Points tables
Male – top 10
| Position | Name | Number of runs | Number of volunteers | Points total |
| 1 | James STOREY | 46 | 0 | 4353 |
| 2 | Simon NIGHTINGALE | 45 | 0 | 3667 |
| 3 | Marc VESTEY | 37 | 2 | 3489 |
| 4 | Mike MCDADD | 35 | 1 | 2829 |
| 5 | Julian DEAN | 42 | 0 | 2755 |
| 6 | Paul CHAPMAN | 44 | 3 | 2679 |
| 7 | James HOGG | 31 | 0 | 2621 |
| 8 | Phil SKELTON | 25 | 1 | 2487 |
| 9 | Tom VALENTINE [ Jnr ] | 25 | 3 | 2458 |
| 10 | David EGAN | 35 | 0 | 2426 |
- For runners who ran 10 or more times, the best average points per run were from:
- Ashenafi Erkolo 100.00 average (10 runs), Phil Skelton 99.48 average (25 runs), Joseph Newman-Billington 99.43 average (14 runs)
- There were 1,170 male runners totalling 5,632 runs or 28,160 km.
Female – top 10
| Position | Name | Number of runs | Number of volunteers | Points total |
| 1 | Janet GLOVER | 44 | 3 | 4229 |
| 2 | Renee ROBINSON | 39 | 0 | 3388 |
| 3 | Rebecca WALKER [ Jnr ] | 31 | 1 | 3136 |
| 4 | Rachael NEEDHAM | 30 | 2 | 3046 |
| 5 | Eileen NEEDHAM | 33 | 6 | 3031 |
| 6 | Janet CHAPMAN | 31 | 7 | 2858 |
| 7 | Julie DAVIS | 32 | 2 | 2783 |
| 8 | Jane EVANS | 31 | 29 | 2732 |
| 9 | Helen Mary EBERLIN | 27 | 3 | 2576 |
| 10 | Claire CADMAN | 37 | 0 | 2426 |
- For runners who ran 10 or more times, the best average points per run were from:
- Rebecca Walker 97.94 average (31 runs), Nicola Ross 96.10 average (10 runs), Rachael Needham 94.87 average (30 runs)
- There were 963 female runners totalling 3,918 runs or 19,590 km.
Volunteers
We averaged 18.2 volunteers per event equating to 10.5 runners per volunteer.
8.89% of males volunteered compared to 10.80% of females.
- Males averaged 4.59 times volunteering compared to 4.49 for females
- Four of the Graves regular Run Directors appear in the top 10 volunteers, the fifth is the 7th highest volunteering male
- In the top 10 volunteers, Charlie Last (35 times) and Ceejay Hubbuck (26 times) have volunteered without running. Another 19 people have also volunteered without recording any runs.
Gav’s notes
He’s back………………………
Speed/Hill training returns to Graves park this Tuesday 19th April @18:30, by the usual parkrun start area. You've all had a bit of a rest after the half marathon, so everyone should be raring to go!
In the meantime here's a quick FAQs section to shed some more light on the sessions for the uninitiated:
Q. Are these official parkrun events, do I have to be registered, do I need my barcode?
A. No to all. This is essentially an informal running group, which meets in Graves park, and consists primarily of parkrunners, but anyone can come along.
Q. How fast/fit do I need to be?
A. If you can make it round Graves parkrun, you'll be fine. You work to your own effort level during the intervals, and you can take a breather at any point. The idea is that the group encourage each other, and I 'gently' encourage everyone.
Q. Can I come along if I didn't go last year?
A. Of course, new people are always welcome to pop along
Q. Do I have to come to all the sessions, will I miss anything vital if I don't attend the first one?
A. All you'll miss is a fun workout. I explain the format of the sessions at the start of each week. Last year we had people come along for the first time in the last few sessions and enjoy it.
Q. What do I need to bring?
A. Your running gear, a drink if needed.
Q. How long do the sessions last?
A. Around an hour
Q. What if I can't quite make the start time?
A. You can join in at any point. I'll try to reveal in advance the hills we'll be running, and we generally stick around one or two spots for the whole session, so just come along and find the group.
Q. Will these be held every week?
A. Not quite, however they will be on most weeks, and I'll give plenty of notice at the sessions, in the run report, and on the Grave's parkrun facebook and twitter feeds if there's a break.
Q. Will that stick be back?
A. Of course! It's had a rest over winter and is ready to go! (as is the feather)
See you there!
Editor’s note: for the majority of people who attend these sessions, they become the highlight of your week – I for one cannot wait for that endorphin rush during and post-training !
Notices
Tuesday 19th April –Gav’s hill and speed sessions will be starting. We meet at 6.30pm in the usual place and then do what Gav tells us for about 45 minutes. Everyone is welcome and it doesn’t matter how fast or slow you are. You do what you can, at your own pace. It is good fun – honestly! See Gav’s notes for more information.
As usual, the event would not run anywhere near as well without the wonderful group of volunteers that Graves parkrun attracts. Please remember it’s easy to volunteer, just leave a message on the Graves parkrun Facebook page or e-mail the Graves team on: graveshelpers@parkrun.com or See our volunteer page for details on getting involved in making Graves parkrun happen.
Any suggestions or tips, please e-mail gravesoffice@parkrun.com
Thanks to Gail Moss for the use of some of the photographs in this report
