This week's Run Report is written by James Dorrell, one of our Duke of Edinburgh's Award participants.  Take it away James...

A welcome change from the rain and wind of late, saw the sun shining on a cold and frosty start to event number 307. However, this brought with it some icy patches across the course, with the finishing tarmac stretch looking very slippy.

So, in order to try and get the go ahead without having to cancel the event at short notice, the volunteers were recruited and any other available helping hands to spring in to action and start clearing the ice by spreading salt and rubbing it in with their shoes. We would like to thank all those involved in clearing the course successfully enough to be able to go ahead as other parkruns in the region like nearby Eastville had to cancel. The comments on our facebook page were very appreciative of the volunteer's efforts.

We would like to thank all the volunteers who gave their time in the chilly conditions.  If you would like to volunteer then please add your name on the volunteer board or sign up via email pomphreyhillhelpers@parkrun.com  It can be a great way to spend a Saturday morning. See if you can spot the tourist from Newcastle who photo bombed our volunteers photo.

The event was made possible by 35 volunteers: Adrian GRIMSHAW • Karen DYER • Meryl GRIMSHAW • Jackie THORNE • Chris THORNE • William LEE • Catalina LEE • Vic GARNER • Ian JONES • Andrew KING • Victoria BURCHILL • Rose BURCHILL • Ris SCOTT • Yvonne LOGAN • Stephen JENKINS • Sue UPFIELD • Mike KIMBER • Stephen LOGAN • Gill WHITEHEAD • Duncan GOUGH • Adrian DAWSON • Lynn DAVIS • Helen SPILSBURY • Kieran HUGHES • Martyn POOLE • Hannah JONES • Tracey ALDER • James DUNNE • Gary WOODRUFF • James DORRELL • Mandy ROBINSON • Nancy SHELTON • Laura SEWELL • Laurence FAY • Eve SHELTON-RICHARDS

Congratulations to those achieving their milestones. There were three runners who ran their 100th run - Stephanie Freeman, Vyki Shaw and Phillip Hinchey. Also, a special well done to Adrian Grimshaw who did his 300th run and 150th volunteer stint.  That’s a great ratio of 2 runs to 1 volunteer!

Thanks James.  I will just finish with a few comments from our visitors book:

'Visitors from Leicester - home parkrun is Market Harborough.  Enjoyed the country feel and an excuse to walk up the hill!'

'A last minute diversion from Eastville meant our group of six Chippenham runners got to shout Up Pomphrey! together.  Thanks to the marshals for making it happen!'

'Visitors from Alice Holt, Surrey.  Lovely route and very friendly - thanks!'

Kieran and Tracey were visitors from Longrun Meadow parkrun and junior parkrun in Taunton.  They were super helpful, arriving early to help with course set-up, and then staying around to help with putting things away again.  They also commented 'Great course and very friendly - thank you'.  Here they are at the First Timers Briefing with Catalina:

That's all from us for another week.  We look forward to seeing you again next Saturday!

William Lee, Run Director

Pomphrey Hill parkrun - Event number 307 - 18th January 2020

This week 418 people ran, jogged and walked the course, of whom 59 were first timers and 49 recorded new Personal Bests. Representatives of 47 different clubs took part.

The event was made possible by 35 volunteers.

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 Charlotte Emily TAYLOR-GREEN who recorded a time of 18:00 on 27th October 2018 (event number 243).
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 10,485 participants have completed 74,154 parkruns covering a total distance of 370,770 km, including 13,300 new Personal Bests. A total of 1,070 individuals have volunteered 7,100 times.

After what happened today, the run report had an obvious theme! Event 306 was filled with heroes! It all started with the team of volunteers doing the initial course setup. At this time of year, the start of the setup is in the dark. But we do get to see some great sunrises if the circumstances are just right.

 

The next batch of heroes arrived promptly at 8am to begin work making various parts of the course cleaner and safer to run on especially the tarmac path and slope. Based on the feedback, loads of people were very grateful for your hard work. Thank you!

Heroes come in all shapes and sizes. This particular hero woke up with his back in spasm and still came to be tail walker. Thank you Martyn! Maybe next time stay at home?

If you want to be a high viz hero, you can either sign up on the volunteer board or email us at pomphreyhillhelpers@parkrun.com. It can be fun!

Seems that quite a few people are keeping up with their New Years resolutions, quite a sizeable number of people for Pomphrey Hill. Over 400 people attended which is considerably larger than our pre-Christmas average attendance which was around 300.

We had various milestones. Congratulations to Viv Johnson, Dominic Hinchey and Lesley Barry.

Though not an official milestone, Maggie Cook did her 200th parkrun. Well done Maggie!

So many people helped make this parkrun so memorable for Lesley. I don't think she realised the number of people who wanted to be involved or the lengths they would go to... Lesley is truly a Wonder Woman.

 

I would like to finish with the words of David Bowie from Heroes

We can be heroes

For ever and ever

What d'you say?

 

Danny Smith

Run Director

Pomphrey Hill parkrun
Event number 306
11th January 2020

This week 415 people ran, jogged and walked the course, of whom 38 were first timers and 38 recorded new Personal Bests. Representatives of 36 different clubs took part.

The event was made possible by 41 volunteers:

William GANLEY • Lee WEST • Tabitha COLLINS • Ian TILEY • Michaela CHARLESWORTH • Hollie HARMER • Neil EVANS • William LEE • Catalina LEE • Anna THOMAS • Ian JONES • Rose BURCHILL • Hayley FRANKLIN • Ris SCOTT • Elisabeth HIPPE-HEISLER • Daniel SMITH • Richard BREAKSPEAR • Sandra DRAKETT • Stephen JENKINS • Sue UPFIELD • Shelagh FISHLOCK • Martin GRAHAM • Pat DAVIS • Philip RILEY • Darren KELLAWAY • Ryan KELLAWAY • Isla KELLAWAY • Mike HARRIS • Sarah BROCKLESBY • Stuart WILLIAMS • Lee GAWLER • Martyn POOLE • Michele COOK • Gary WOODRUFF • James DORRELL • Mike DONOGHUE • Michelle HART • Laura SEWELL • Gena FRANCKE • Carole PUGH • Ian BOOK

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 Charlotte Emily TAYLOR-GREEN who recorded a time of 18:00 on 27th October 2018 (event number 243).
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 10,428 participants have completed 73,736 parkruns covering a total distance of 368,680 km, including 13,251 new Personal Bests. A total of 1,064 individuals have volunteered 7,065 times.

This week's run report has been written by one of our regular runners, Martyn Poole.

Another year, another parkrun and things are back to normal with 390 running our very muddy 3 lapped parkrun. Although we have been lucky not to have any more rain this week, Mr Hill was still as muddy as ever but even worse than this was the downhill tarmac section which became increasingly slippery and caked in mud. Do not worry though parkrunners, as a solution is in place! At 8:00am next Saturday, 11th January, Pomphrey Hill invites you to a Tarmac Hill Scraping Party (similar to the well known Barking Parties) and while it’s not the sort of party you would expect, I urge you to come along and help out. There is a shiny volunteer credit in it for you!

Talking of volunteers, we had 26 Hi-Vis Heroes who are mentioned below. As a runner myself you kept me going with smiles, shouts and claps of encouragement so give yourself a well-deserved pat on the back.

Andrew KING • Becky BRESSINGTON • Catalina LEE • Ella BURCHILL • Evie TUCKER • Gary WOODRUFF • Hollie HARMER • James DORRELL • Kevin RICKERBY • Leanne FORD • Lucy POTTER • Martyn POOLE • Michael FRANCIS • Mike KIMBER • Nikky COX • Philip MCWILLIAMS • Philip RILEY • Ris SCOTT • Rose BURCHILL • Ruth BRITTON • Sam WELLS • Stephen JENKINS • Tina HOWE • Trudy REED • Victoria BURCHILL • William LEE

Thank you all for your help today, parkrun would not be possible without your valuable help. If you would like to help out and give something back, please click the link below to see what roles are available on which dates.
https://www.parkrun.org.uk/pomphreyhill/futureroster/ Then please email the team at pomphreyhill@parkrun.com and they will add you to the Future Roster.  Thank you.

From the 390 participants this week, we had 37 first timers and 22 of you recorded new PBs and we had representation from 31 different clubs.

Stats (Because I love stats)

Nick Castle was our leading male runner with a time of 16:32 for his 77th parkrun and to my shock, this was the 3rd time he has run a 16:32 time which incidentally is his PB. Jessica Bruce was our leading lady who came in with an impressive time of 20:43 for her 154th parkrun.

Of our 22 PB’s Bill Clark set our highest of the day coming in 32nd with his new PB at Pomphrey at a time of 22:56, well done Bill! There was a new runner who did better though, Aaron Spells running his first ever parkrun clocks an impressive time of 19:40. The runner today with the highest number of runs is Mel Warren with an impressive 368 parkruns!

Today I have an extra special stat to let you know, our 69th finisher completed Pomphrey Hill’s 73,000 parkrun.  Christine Barr of the Hogweed Trotters who came in with a time of 24:50.

Run 305 Milestones!

Mandy Fricker and Monika Blackwell both ran their 50th parkrun today finishing only 3 places from each other which was a nice sight to see at the finishing line. 49 of Mandy’s runs have been here at Pomphrey while the remaining 1 was at Chipping Sodbury. Her last PB was only back in September 21st with a time of 34:33. Monika has completed 42 at Pomphrey with the others being Eastville, Chipping Sodbury and Severn Bridge where her overall parkrun PB is set at a time of 33:34, just 9 more seconds off your Pomphrey Hill time and we can change that Monika!

John Walsh and Greg Rowland completed their 100th parkruns, John running 87 at Pomphrey while Greg only has 24 but is more touristy. Greg’s PB was set at Poole (something I was unable to do) while John’s was at Chipping Sodbury.

We have two volunteer milestones today, Phil Riley who was Marshal at the top of Pomphrey celebrated his 25th while Trudy Reed who did the First Timers Brief and is also one of our RD’s completed her unofficial 75th, well done to you both and thank you for your time and effort.

Our resident cameraman has taken yet another under his wing, you may have spotted young Evie who has taken some brilliant pictures under Gary’s tutelage.

'Knowing Me, Knowing You' with Charissa Scott!

Charissa or Ris is one of our Co-Event Directors and she shares this responsibility with Anne Burge. She has completed 65 runs at Pomphrey Hill and 153 in total. Ris got her last Pomphrey Hill PB back in 2016 but her best time was at Little Stoke.

How many parkruns have you run?
153; 65 at Pomphrey and 21 at Little Stoke before that. I've also run at 53 other events.

How did you start your parkrun journey?
I retired from playing rugby, registered at parkrun, took my barcode to Ashton Court on 16 August 2014 and the rest, as they say, is history.

How long before you did your first volunteer role and what was it?
6 weeks later, I had a race on the Sunday though I have no idea now which race it was. My first volunteer role was Finish Tokens on 27 September 2014.

When did you first become an RD?
2017's Club Day (1 July) was my first solo RD day and it was very busy!

How many have you done since?
Today was my 24th RD, there will be cake at my next, my 25th, which will be 15 February.

What are your words of wisdom to anyone wishing to start taking part in parkrun?
Just go along and enjoy it. For me parkrun is no longer about PBs week in week out (though those are lovely), it's about being part of a community who support and stretch each other to be better, healthier (mentally and physically) versions of themselves.

What would you say to new runners who may have been put off by things like bad weather?
The best thing about running (or cycling) outside in bad weather is how amazing the hot shower/bath and dry clothes feel afterwards.

Any parkrun plans for 2020?
I'm cycling from John O'Groats to Lands End (JoGLE) this spring. I'll start on the start line of Thurso parkrun and complete my challenge at the finish line of Lands End parkrun two weeks later, with a parkrun (TBC) half way through. So a parkrun-JoGLE-parkrun sandwich: cycling 1610km and parkrunning 15km.

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 Charlotte Emily TAYLOR-GREEN who recorded a time of 18:00 on 27th October 2018 (event number 243).
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 10,390 participants have completed 73,321 parkruns covering a total distance of 366,605 km, including 13,213 new Personal Bests. A total of 1,056 individuals have volunteered 7,023 times.

Martyn Poole

Thanks Martyn, great run report!

Future Event - Tarmac Hill Scraping Party
As Martyn said above, we need to scrape off all the mud, leaves and detritus which has accumulated on the Tarmac Hill before the 11 January event to make it safer. 

Please meet at the Pavilion at 8:00am and bring stiff bristle (yard style) brooms and snow/wide-head shovels. If we have time, we'll also tidy up the edges of the path by the Pavilion too. As a thank you, volunteer credits will be given out as well as warm doses of community spirit.

Thanks in advance, please let us know below or by emailing in at pomphreyhill@parkrun.com if you can help.

Until next time,

Ris Scott
Co-Event Director