Here is the thing about parkrun. A bunch of people get together and do something together for fun. It’s something we could do on our own, but it is better with others. We don’t need to be watched doing it, but it is much better when you bring your Mum and Dad with you or Dad stands with the kids and cheers on Mum, how wonderful to know someone watching is proud of you. Truth be told, we don’t need an army of volunteers to point us in the right direction or ensure our safety, but it is nice know you are being looked after. Parkrun is more than a 5k run, an attempt at a PB or beating that guy who always seems to sprint past you on the line each week. It's about community, its about family, to be honest it just feels right. This all feels particularly relevant right now as we enter a period of uncertainty across the globe. I think if this country can harness the power of parkrunners, we’ll be alright.

As for parkrun, we await guidance and rules from HQ later this week, but we want you to be aware that the Lingwood parkrun team will do everything we can to deliver your weekly dose of feel good at parkrun. We may have a few less volunteers, Mum and Dad might not be able to come and watch for a few weeks and the village hall may be closed now but we’ll do our best to keep it going.

I think we all had a feeling of it being the last one for a while (and if it is I am honoured to have been the Run Director) as the mood felt rather joyous. From good natured heckling in the pre-run briefing to our runners all cheering each other on. We counted 111 (Cricket buffs among you will know this as a Nelson, if you like your cricket – allegedly named this after Norfolk’s finest who had one leg, one arm and one eye) runners, joggers and walkers on Saturday which is up there as one of our biggest turnouts. Thank you all for coming to our run. It was a family affair at the top with the Bray boys doing what the Bray boys do best, run bloody quickly and taking the top two spots. Chapeau lads. Jasmine Sargeant was our first lady finisher, with a really speedy time indeed, well done you! Other notable results were not one Bethell best, not two Bethell bests but three Bethell bests as this week saw Samantha, Matthew and Ben all get PBs. All in there were 29 personal bests at Lingwood this week, good work all.

We had four pacers out on the course on Saturday wearing the number 24,26,28 and 30 tabards of responsibility.  Now, pacing is hard. Really hard. It is basically witchcraft to able to get it spot on, but the good news is that only one our pacers is a witch  (the finder general has been alerted Mark so watch out….) as the other three failed in the parkrun ducking stool test (I think Rob was stood next to the finish line for nearly two minutes waiting for the 30 minutes to be up).  It is of course easy, and very enjoyable, to mock the pacers, but they are good sports for doing it and helping others achieve their target times.

And of course no parkrun run report would be complete without mentioning our pink panthers. We had a full house of volunteers including our Swiss army volunteer, Gisle, who seemed to have a different noise maker for each runner! I want to specially mention Ivan Block as well who completed his 25^th Volunteering so wins not only a snazzy purple t-shirt but also the respect, admiration and thanks of anyone that has or will run parkrun. Thanks buddy. And thank you to all the other volunteers on Saturday who are listed below (if you want to volunteer, please email lingwood@parkrun.com or pop a message on our FB page or go round to Sophie and Owens house, the address is 27 High Stree……… actually, they are more than likely to be out at the pub, so probably best to just email us):

Ian SADLER • Martin TRUELOVE • Kate TRUELOVE • Ivan BLOCK • Lesley GEORGE • Gisle LUND • Eden SPACKMAN • Flora CLOVES • Mark OLLETT • Robert DYE • Catriona GEORGE • Emma CHILDERHOUSE • Gavin FLOOD • John ELGOOD • Tina ELGOOD • Richard BETHELL • Margaret BETHELL • Gary CUTHBERT

So that was Saturday parkrun. Hopefully we will see another this coming week, but if not, understand we wouldn’t cancel lightly, we want to ensure everyone’s safety and it is only a run after all (except in the last few 100 metres or so when you are chasing a PB and then it becomes something very, very different indeed!).

 

Hopefully the impact to you all will be minimal, but be safe, be well, be kind, but above all be ready to parkrun again very soon.

Wow!! What a fabulous morning we had for our Triple Celebration parkrun. So many things to celebrate that it took me some time to get through the usual run brief.
First, our 1st Year Anniversary.  Can you believe that it was a year ago that parkrun in Lingwood arrived.  I remember our very first day and we were really pleased to see so many people; no less than 141 people turned up.  We have then settled into a steady number of 80-100 every week and it has been wonderful to see so many people both from Lingwood and from further afield join us on a Saturday morning.  This week,however, we blew that number out of the water with a total of 199 runners.  It was a beautiful morning, the sun was shining and the atmosphere was as equally warm and welcoming.  We challenged all the runners to run the course backwards and despite a few runners nearly heading for a fourth lap - it all went without a hitch and no-one got lost or went the wrong way.   We might make our reversing the course an anniversary tradition for future years.   Gail Henry made a fantastic cake which resembled our course and shared this with all the runners and volunteers.  What a fabulous cake it was ...... Thank You So Much Gail.

Our first finisher was William Fennell who bagged himself a PB and so did our second finisher, Simon Wright.  In fact, in total we had of an amazing 53 PB's being achieved on Saturday.  I think running the reverse direction must be easier (that or the drier weather and lack of a named storm).  One special PB mention must go to Amelia Mason who has run 44 times at Lingwood and, since joining parkrun when we started, has knocked a huge 10minutes off her finishing time.

Our second celebration was International Woman's Day.  We had a special flag and selfie frame that I managed to catch a few of our lady runners in. Ralph made a special effort for International Woman's Day and also raised money through donations in Hug a Mug Cafe.  Well done to Ralph who looked very fetching in his flowery ensemble.

Our third but by no means, least celebration was the C25K Group running their first 5k after completing the 9 week training course.  They have trained through rain, wind, freezing conditions and no less than three storms and still came out of it smiling.  Each and every one of them should feel very proud of their achievement.

Finally, no run report is complete with out a giant shout out to all our volunteers who make Lingwood parkrun so great.  Without their contribution, we just couldn't be the great place we are.

 

We had it all on Saturday, wind, rain and hail. Not content with Storm Dennis last week we enjoyed Storm Jorge this week. The conditions were very poor, but luckily I had a nice and warm jacket on to watch the drowned rats run around the course!! This picture says something about the conditions just before the start........

Normally the start of the run is quite exciting, a few sprints starts and general jostling before the first bend. This week was no exception, Florence the (my) black Labrador (the one with the high vis) got a bit too carried away! For those who listen to the brief, us Run Directors are always sure to mention that dogs MUST be on a short leash, unfortunately Florence was not. She also shot off like a missile and headed straight for the pack of people running by. And as if pre-programmed she managed a direct hit on Event Director Phil!! She sent him flying, prefect pre-half-marathon preparation for Phil! Luckily apart from some filthy running gear, no harm was done!! On a lead next time Florence.......

Down to business, this week 86 people ran, jogged and walked the course, of whom 15 were first timers and 6 recorded new Personal Bests. Representatives of 14 different clubs took part. We had 4 unknown's this week as well, please don't forget to bring your barcode!! If you haven't registered please visit https://www.parkrun.org.uk/lingwood/ and register to get your barcode.

Our PB roll of honour this week included: Bevan Mills, James Farley, Kirsty Sinclair, Jess Marsh, John Crosby & Alex Ellerington - well done, good running all of you!

Just as a reminder, this week at parkrun is going to be very special. Firstly its our first birthday and so we are running the course the other way round!! It wouldn't be a birthday without CAKE!! Secondly it's International Women's Day, so we would like everyone to bring along as many female friends and family as possible!! Wear something purple for the day if you can! Thirdly its the Lingwood Leg-it's couch to 5K graduation parkrun - lots of cheering of encouragement!!

See you at the weekend!

 

I wish someone could switch the wind off or at least turn it down a bit!
It's hardly let up for the whole of February and despite not having a storm named after it the wind on Saturday felt stronger than ever. Well done to the 90 brave souls who completed 3 and a bit laps around the Village Hall fields and it was clear from your faces at the finish just how hard everyone had had to work.
Before parkrun started a small band of core volunteers turned up to finish laying cinder on the course in the back field. Barring any unforeseen circumstances, or rain of biblical proportions, that should see us through until next winter.
Huge thanks to Sophie, Bridget, Emma, Owen, Marc, James, Kate, Martin and Phil for getting out of bed an hour earlier to lay the cinder and take about 6 inches off the height of Ben Lingwood

It was a pleasure to welcome Laura Lawrence and a group of other tourists from Thetford parkrun who were running our course in memory of Lisa Marie and raised £168 for Blood Cancer. A huge well done to Laura, Jane, Peter, Mick, Sue, Joy and young Riley and thanks to everyone who donated to the collection.

James Williams celebrated his 50th parkrun with a first finish in a time of 19:25 and first for the ladies was Angela Ransome in a time of 24:17.
Also joining the ranks of runners with 50 parkruns under their belt was Jerry Sinclair.
Congratulations to all three of you.
Not suprisingly PBs were hard to come by this week, so hats off to Mark Ollett (22:30), Ben Bethell (24:25), Sharon Duneclift (35:38) and Andy Trohear (51:15) who managed just that. Ben did seem to be using pacer Owen as a windbreak for 2 laps and was then chased by a T.Rex for the 3rd (PS. that's an in-joke about the running style of one of the core team and nothing to do with the wildlife that populates our parish ;-))
Well done to everyone who took part and thanks to this week's high-viz heroes without whom.....

Finally for now, next Saturday is an opportunity to run or volunteer at a unique parkrun with February 29th falling on parkrunday for the first time. The next year when this will happen is 2048, so be there at the same place, same time, as you wouldn't want to miss out and have to wait another 28 years!

#loveparkrun #dfyb

With the impending arrival of Storm Dennis potentially threatening to cancel my first Run Director stint, I woke up Saturday morning and nervously opened the curtains.  Thankfully, it looked like Dennis wasn't a morning storm (person) and wasn't too menacing, however, the course still needed to be checked.  After inspecting the course with Phil it was looking good and we were confirmed as on and my debut could continue.

 

We had a good number of volunteers and due to a slight user error one volunteer was making the near 800 mile round trip from their holiday in Cornwall to scan barcodes!!  Apologies to both Stephen and Robert for any confusion!

So onto the important stuff, milestones, birthdays, PB's etc....Joining the 100 club was Caroline Fernandez who generously provided sweets & cake, thank you very much and congratulations, a great achievement.  Cordelia Spackman earned her purple volunteer t-shirt, thanks for your support.  Not to be outdone by his sister on the announcements, it was Eden Spackman's 11th birthday.  Under parkrun rules, you no longer need a responsible adult to run with, so run free Eden!

Whether or not is was the wind or the need to run faster to get into Hug-a-Mug before the wind came, there were nine PB's so congratulations to Simon Partridge (also first finisher), Steven Barber, Zak Barber, Bevan Mills, Daniel King, Alfred Nicholls, Jasmine Sargeant (also first female finisher), Andy Mole and Sarah Bane.

There were also six making the visit to Lingwood for the first time, so a big welcome to James Williams (second finisher), Roger Shaw, Anne Blokhus, Sharon Duneclift, Tina Goldbolt and George Bircham we hope to see you back at Lingwood soon.  Special mention to both Sharon & Tina as it was their very first parkrun, apologies to whichever one of you was in the firing line of my wayward penlid!

Many thanks to all the volunteers, you're amazing and we can't run these events without you, and the other Run Directors (you're not too bad either!) for your support on my first stint as a RD.

Before the run on Saturday there was a combined 32,605 previously run parkrun km's on the start line, that's just over 1 and a half times the length of the Great Wall of China!  Impressive stuff from all 85 of you who ran!

If anyone would like to join the merry band of volunteers (like these below), please drop us an email at lingwoodhelpers@parkrun.com it'd be much appreciated.

 

Thanks again & see you on Saturday for #52