Event 325 started on a cool autumnal morning. The park is looking gorgeous as the leaves are starting to change. The sun never quite broke through the mist which meant for perfect running conditions for our runners whilst not too chilly for our volunteers.

Earlier this week, I was a very nervous Run Director as the volunteer roster was looking quite bare. I was hoping the launch of the new milestone t-shirts may encourage more parkrunners to step up and volunteer. If the appeal of the pink high-vis vest isn’t enough of a lure, maybe the temptation of a new milestone t-shirt would be? To read more about the milestone t-shirts available click here.

Please do volunteer for us, we need 8 volunteers for a safe run, 16 volunteers for a run that will be counted and today we had 28 amazing volunteers (we will never turn away a volunteer but may encourage you to volunteer at a future event):

Adrian GRIMSHAW • Neil EVANS • Alyssa GRIMSHAW • Thelma GARNER • Meryl GRIMSHAW • Tiernan GRIMSHAW • Alex MORRISON • Anna THOMAS • Vic GARNER • Ian JONES • Colin JOHNSTONE • Anna FORD • Daniel SMITH • Jane CROZIER • Richard GAYLE • Duncan GOUGH • George CLARKE • Katrina MORRISON • John RICE • Bridget HALLETT • Sarah BROCKLESBY • Martyn POOLE • George DENHAM • Andrew FIELD • Richard FOWLER • Casey RAYMENT • Jackie RICE • Neil HARRISON

Today we were seeing red, as Barbara Sullivan invited friends to wear Red for her 100^th run at parkrun today. In true style, they all ran together as a group and an army of red crossed the line with Barbara in the lead. Congratulations Barbara! Congratulations also to Matthew Rawling, a prolific runner with 81 junior parkruns under his belt, he has now completed his 10^th 5k parkrun. Well done Matthew!

We had 45 first timers with us today, a dozen of whom were completing their very first parkrun. Welcome one and all, we hope to see you again soon. Well done to the 50 folks who achieved a PB today. One PB that’s worth a mention, is Stephen Kerr today’s first finisher. Stephen visited us once before 2 years ago and had an improvement of almost 90 seconds, which is the distance between him and today’s second finisher! Phenomenal effort and today’s highest age grade of 77%. It was lovely this week to receive an email to see we had a VI guide (George Clarke) joining us with his runner, he must have done a wonderful job as Steve Seaton also achieved a PB today.

It's great to see some post event feedback on our Facebook page. Comments this week included:

Bridget Jean Jones - Thanks to all the volunteers. You are amazing. I was a tourist from Walsall Arboretum parkrun . Great to try new parkruns.

Lesley Pymm - Thanks to everyone. We were touring from Perry Hall parkrun and really enjoyed the run. Interesting course and very friendly.

Nicola Ruth - Really enjoyed visiting today from Chippenham parkrun, was a bonus being 1st in my age category too.

 

Later on in the month we have our Halloween event on 30^th October. We invite everyone to wear their scariest costumes whether you are running or volunteering.

Until next time, stay safe.

Meryl Grimshaw
Run Director

Pomphrey Hill parkrun
Event number 325
16th October 2021

This week 257 people ran, jogged and walked the course, of whom 45 were first timers and 50 recorded new Personal Bests. Representatives of 33 different clubs took part.

The event was made possible by 28 volunteers:

Adrian GRIMSHAW • Neil EVANS • Alyssa GRIMSHAW • Thelma GARNER • Meryl GRIMSHAW • Tiernan GRIMSHAW • Alex MORRISON • Anna THOMAS • Vic GARNER • Ian JONES • Colin JOHNSTONE • Anna FORD • Daniel SMITH • Jane CROZIER • Richard GAYLE • Duncan GOUGH • George CLARKE • Katrina MORRISON • John RICE • Bridget HALLETT • Sarah BROCKLESBY • Martyn POOLE • George DENHAM • Andrew FIELD • Richard FOWLER • Casey RAYMENT • Jackie RICE • Neil HARRISON

Today's full results and a complete event history can be found on the Pomphrey Hill parkrun Results Page.

The male record is held by Patrick MARTIN who recorded a time of 15:37 on 4th February 2017 (event number 156).
The female record is held by Victoria KENNY who recorded a time of 17:49 on 11th September 2021 (event number 320).
The Age Grade course record is held by Caroline LAVIS who recorded 91.77% (25:31) on 1st January 2020 (event number 304).

Pomphrey Hill parkrun started on 1st March 2014. Since then 11,103 participants have completed 79,053 parkruns covering a total distance of 395,265 km, including 13,966 new Personal Bests. A total of 1,118 individuals have volunteered 7,623 times.

 

Waking up on International parkrun day to pouring rain in Bristol, you can be forgiven for looking out the window and saying “not today thank you”. For those that wanted to run, walk or jog with friends at Pomphrey Hill playing fields, they braved the wet weather and hit the park in good spirits. Steve welcomed all his volunteers with a smile and a huge thank you, this week they included:

Brian ADAMSON, Sally BARTRAM, Sarah BROCKLESBY, Anne BURGE, Steven BURGE, Ian CROZIER, Jane CROZIER, Mike DIMOND-JONES, Sandra DRAKETT, Lee DYER, Thelma GARNER, Vic GARNER, Adrian GRIMSHAW, Alyssa GRIMSHAW, Meryl GRIMSHAW, Tiernan GRIMSHAW, Richard HELLIAR, Valerie HELLIAR, Steve MOODY, Casey RAYMENT, Trudy REED, Anna THOMAS, Adam TOON, Nick WHITE

At the pre-run brief, Steve also sang to us which cheered everyone up no end – if you missed this delight, you can find it again here! Whilst folks didn’t join in his rendition of ABBA’s “Dancing Queen” the spontaneous applause showed folks appreciation for his efforts of dancing in the rain.

Heading to the start there was no sign of the rain and wind letting up, so we were very happy to get running straight away. Seeded in approximate finishing order really helps here, as it helps those running about the same pace to make companiable conversation if they choose to. I wonder if the runners who gathered on the startline of Bushy Park time trial had conversation as they were running 17 years ago? They certainly took the time to enjoy a coffee afterwards while they awaited their results. All those years ago results were out on Wednesday or posted in the local paper, this week results texts and emails were received at 11.15 on the same day.

23 different countries around the world now host parkrun events, with 730 locations to choose from in the UK alone. It’s free, for everyone and hopefully forever. Events welcome everyone who wants to join us and these include a variety of folks:

• Runners completing their first ever parkrun such as Marc, Ashley, Lee, Reuben, Imogen, Andrew, Judith, Nicola and Darcie – welcome, we hope to see you again soon.
• Runners completing their first Pomphrey Hill parkrun such as Sarah, Stephen, Chris, Georgina, Jamie, Joy, Mark, Martin and Tim – our tourists, many thanks for visiting we hope you come back to see us again.
• Runners completing milestone runs who this week included Sally Curnick and Michelle Hart completing their 50^th parkruns – congratulations ladies.
• Runners going for a Personal Best (PB) such as Ed, Alfie, Wendy, Samantha, James Perrett, Louise, Kate, Mark, Alec, Simon, Paul, Dave, Paul, Kevin, Katie, Abby, George, Nicola, Johnny, Alasdair, Owain, James Pheasant, Sean and Linda.
• Everyone else running 5k on a Saturday morning because “it’s parkrunday”.

Whatever your motivation and reason for running, to know you’ll receive a warm welcome is one of the things that makes parkrun just so magical.

As it’s parkrun’s birthday, why don’t you give yourself a special treat? Why not login to your parkrun profile via the results email you received. Check your ICE details are correct and up to date, is your nearest and dearest now a Mrs instead of a Miss? Have they changed their contact number? Are your medical conditions listed to help volunteers in the event of an emergency? Please do take the time to check all this information and print out a fresh set of barcodes. Each A4 print out has 6 copies of the barcode for you to store somewhere safe. So that you never forget your barcode why not put a copy in the car, in your wallet, in your running jacket, inside your running shoe or stick a copy in a phone case (remember we don’t accept barcodes on mobile phones). Run Directors remember a lot of kit each Saturday to put on a safe parkrun, all you need is your barcode.

Now it’s October we’ll be hosting a Halloween parkrun event where we encourage folks to dress up in their Halloween costumes on Saturday 30^th October – that’s 4 weeks away so no excuses folks!

Until next time, run safe!

Meryl Grimshaw

Pomphrey Hill parkrun
Event number 323
2nd October 2021

This week 190 people ran, jogged and walked the course, of whom 18 were first timers and 24 recorded new Personal Bests. Representatives of 24 different clubs took part.

The event was made possible by 24 volunteers:

Ian CROZIER • Adrian GRIMSHAW • Steven BURGE • Anne BURGE • Alyssa GRIMSHAW • Thelma GARNER • Meryl GRIMSHAW • Tiernan GRIMSHAW • Anna THOMAS • Vic GARNER • Nick WHITE • Valerie HELLIAR • Richard HELLIAR • Sally BARTRAM • Sandra DRAKETT • Jane CROZIER • Trudy REED • Lee DYER • Brian ADAMSON • Sarah BROCKLESBY • Adam TOON • Steve MOODY • Casey RAYMENT • Mike DIMOND-JONES

Today's full results and a complete event history can be found on the Pomphrey Hill parkrun Results Page.

The male record is held by Patrick MARTIN who recorded a time of 15:37 on 4th February 2017 (event number 156).
The female record is held by Victoria KENNY who recorded a time of 17:49 on 11th September 2021 (event number 320).
The Age Grade course record is held by Caroline LAVIS who recorded 91.77% (25:31) on 1st January 2020 (event number 304).

Pomphrey Hill parkrun started on 1st March 2014. Since then 11,028 participants have completed 78,540 parkruns covering a total distance of 392,700 km, including 13,878 new Personal Bests. A total of 1,110 individuals have volunteered 7,569 times.

 

I'm not sure if you'd already heard, but parkrun had a brief hiatus that ended a few weeks ago. As I prepared to take the reins this week, I took a look back to see when I was last Run Director - that turned out to be 28th December 2019! During the intervening 637 days, there had been a good number of events; 18 in fact, despite the fact that far more weeks have elapsed. Once at Pomphrey, the actuality that everything felt normal and routine is an outstanding testament to all the hard work that volunteers put into the event every week. I would like to extend a special thanks to all my volunteers today, as well as all the core team - past and present - who have steered the ship over the last 91 weeks or so.

Amongst the runners today were 16 first timers, including 7 completing their first ever parkrun. I love that people are still discovering our community every week, and hope you all enjoyed the run.

There were also some celebrations, as Ian Crozier completed his 250th event - 230 of those have been completed at Pomphrey Hill, so he really must enjoy running Up Pomphrey! Well done also to Jack Smith and Grace Claridge who completed their 50th run milestone.

There are a huge array of photos from the ever-present Gary, you can see them all here:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/garywoodruff/albums/72157719908153886

Until next time, hopefully a little sooner than 637 days!

Adrian
Run Director

Pomphrey Hill parkrun
Event number 322
25th September 2021

This week 206 people ran, jogged and walked the course, of whom 16 were first timers and 37 recorded new Personal Bests. Representatives of 21 different clubs took part.

The event was made possible by 24 volunteers:

Laura GILBERT • Lee WEST • Stu WILKIE • Ian CROZIER • Adrian GRIMSHAW • Alyssa GRIMSHAW • Meryl GRIMSHAW • Tiernan GRIMSHAW • Jackie THORNE • Claire LEWIN • Anna THOMAS • Sian JONES • Jane GREENAWAY • Kim POPE • Sue UPFIELD • Jane CROZIER • Philip RILEY • Toni WALSH • Gary WOODRUFF • Kerri VAUGHAN • Charlie HISCOX • Mike DIMOND-JONES • Isabella VAUGHAN • Dave G

Today's full results and a complete event history can be found on the Pomphrey Hill parkrun Results Page.

The male record is held by Patrick MARTIN who recorded a time of 15:37 on 4th February 2017 (event number 156).
The female record is held by Victoria KENNY who recorded a time of 17:49 on 11th September 2021 (event number 320).
The Age Grade course record is held by Caroline LAVIS who recorded 91.77% (25:31) on 1st January 2020 (event number 304).

Pomphrey Hill parkrun started on 1st March 2014. Since then 11,010 participants have completed 78,350 parkruns covering a total distance of 391,750 km, including 13,854 new Personal Bests. A total of 1,109 individuals have volunteered 7,545 times.

This week's Run Report has been written by Lynsey Miles, a former member of the Core Team at Pomphrey and a current member of the Core Team at Curly Wurly.

Event 321 go!!!

Aaaha me hearties........ (This is all the pirate speak I can muster...)

Those who know me will know I started my parkrun (and in fact my overall running) journey at Pomphrey Hill. Back in the olden days when the finish was on the grass on the right, where the playing equipment is now, and the RD's used to stand precariously on the stone wall to do the briefing.

Many of you will also know that I am also a little bit fond of dressing up so when I found out that they were doing the International Talk Like A Pirate Day again at Pomphrey I absolutely knew I had to come. Facebook reminded me of the same day 4 years previously so I knew I had the costume. I soon managed to dig it out amongst the ducks and unicorns and to my surprise I could still get it on despite the extra lockdown lbs.

Some awesome costumes were worn by many and a great time was had by all.

My favourite pic however has to be this of Martyn Poole and Steven Burge. Classic!!!

The run was started in the new (ish) start place by the cricket nets by Captain Ris who was on fine pirate form as she read the run brief in true pirate speak - a copy of it can be found at the bottom of this Run Report.

She started us all off with a 3-2-go!! - Where on earth had 1 gone? It was a very sunny and pleasant day for all 254 parkrunners and the 24 volunteers. I loved all the encouragement and the music at the top of the tarmac hill. A special mention goes to Liam Worgan who was celebrating his 100th parkrun so a very well done to you!

I loved coming back to Pomphrey and by writing this run report this is my 50th time volunteering there. Next unofficial milestone will be to get to do 100 runs there too which isn't actually too far away.

So I will be back again for another fabulous event. but in the meantime bye for now.

Lynsey

Pomphrey Hill parkrun
Event number 321
18th September 2021
This week 254 people ran, jogged and walked the course, of whom 35 were first timers and 33 recorded new Personal Bests. Representatives of 22 different clubs took part.

The event was made possible by 24 volunteers:

Janet JENKINS • William LEE • Catalina LEE • Ris SCOTT • Dave HORNE • Stephen JENKINS • Lynsey MILES • Trudy REED • Duncan GOUGH • Andrew BANFIELD • Sarah BROCKLESBY • Sally CURNICK • Mark COX • Martyn POOLE • Andrew FIELD • Barbara FIELD • Gary WOODRUFF • Steve MOODY • Nancy SHELTON • Michelle HART • Nick LEIGH • Mike DIMOND-JONES • James C. • Richard GARDINER

Today's full results and a complete event history can be found on the Pomphrey Hill parkrun Results Page.

The male record is held by Patrick MARTIN who recorded a time of 15:37 on 4th February 2017 (event number 156).
The female record is held by Victoria KENNY who recorded a time of 17:49 on 11th September 2021 (event number 320).
The Age Grade course record is held by Caroline LAVIS who recorded 91.77% (25:31) on 1st January 2020 (event number 304).

Pomphrey Hill parkrun started on 1st March 2014. Since then 10,994 participants have completed 78,144 parkruns covering a total distance of 390,720 km, including 13,817 new Personal Bests. A total of 1,107 individuals have volunteered 7,521 times.

 

Ahoy!

Ahoy me hearties! Ye be well come to me good ship Pomphrey!

Now avast and hark what me say! I nay want you bum-squabbled!

This be a run, it not be a race.

Me be the scurge of these seas but other ships do sail them too. Buoy up the local sailors and greet them with an “Ahoy”!

T' course be 3 laps. Ye go that way, past me small sea, up the rigging that some seadogs may call Mr Hill up to the crow’s nest. Be wary on t’ first passage up t’ rigging as it be busy an ye nay want a black spot! Ye then go past the school an down the tarmac slope. Ye take a sharp corner, stay the course and go past the land lubber Pavilion. Then go past the carriages an ye will be back ‘ere at the start. Ye do that 3 times. Then ye go to the finish by the small sea.

Ye will stay on the left. If ye needs to overtake, ye will steer to the right. T' finish be on the right.

Ye will proceed using as much of my ship as ye can, and stay social distanced, ye nay want the pox!

Me will nay have spitting or high-fiving on me ship, ye will nay behave like scurvy dogs!

When at finish, ye will move through the funnel and hold out yer hand for a token.

Tokens be not treasure! Me crew will keel haul any scurvy dog that tries to hornswaggle away me tokens – leave them in the bilge buckets!

Ye will find the scanner crew and get your barcode and me token scanned. Me crew follows the parkrun code, so nay printed barcode, nay time, nay exception!

Lads and lasses under 11, ye must stay within cutlass reach of yer adult.

Ye may have 1 ship’s dog, on a short lead or one buggy. Ye will start at the back.

Be ye ready? Batten down the hatches and clear the decks!