This week we held our second virtual 5k event and our participant numbers were up by almost 30%, thanks to everyone who took part and keep spreading the word, even to non-parkrunners, we would love to get more people involved.

I took a trip down to Ross and ran a slight variation of the summer course, running adjacent to the beautiful river Wye. The ground was firm and there were no token water features on course to sap the energy from tired legs. It would have been an easy run if it hadn't have been so hot ( not that I am complaining one bit)

The route was busy with dog walkers, cyclists, runners and families all enjoying the open space on offer. Vitamin D levels have been topped up yet again, thank you mother nature for the big yellow ball in the sky.

Our parkfun event attracted 26 people this week, some of whom ran on the hottest day of the year. We had 11 males take part, 15 ladies, so this week the girls won!  The first 3 male finishers were Gavin Jones, Steve Rooke and David Warrington, well done guys! The first ladies were Izzie Claxton, Catherine Finlay and Lucia Demkova, fantastic times all round. Whilst we love to celebrate the speedy runners for pushing themselves week after week, we have admiration for everyone who is starting out, returning from injury, running for fun and all the reasons in between. You guys rocks!

Our runners completed the distance on home turf in Ross-on-Wye, Much Marcle, Walford, Hom Green and the Forest of Dean to name a few. Kevin Minton decided to test out the Ross-on-Wye parkrun route, the original and the best.   Some participants chose to include the event in a longer run , like Rachel Woods who smashed out her 2nd ever (and fastest) 10k and Nadege Rutter who completed a gentle 6.7km walk whilst recovering from achilles tendonitis, get well soon! Fab achievements and flying the flag for the ladies this week.

4 barkrunners completed the course, they have all been in contact thanking their humans for allowing them to be part of the event. They have requested extra belly rubs, a paw massage and extra sofa time. Of course, I have now passed these request on...!

Thank you again and we are already looking forward to event #3.  Thanks to Run Director Nigel, who passes the (lack of) responsibility to Lynn Latham for next week.

Please see the results below :

 

The weather had improved dramatically and things were looking a lot more positive for Ross-on-Wye parkrun in March... then we had the curveball.  Absolutely nobody could have predicted what has happened, what is happening and what will be happening in the future months. We know a lot of people are missing both the physical and social side of parkrun and we hope these new virtual parkfun events we keep us all connected.

21 parkfun parkrunners took part in our first event this week, along with regular barkrunner Oscar.  The weather has cooled down making running a little easier than previous weeks. The drier weather has taken more people off the roads and exploring stunning trails around their homes, and we welcomed news of the relaxed lockdown.

Congratulations to Gavin Jones, David Warrington and Leo Lockwood as first male finishers this week. Well done to the ladies too, Lucia Demkova, Izzie Claxton and Catherine Finlay. Hayley Lovatt completed her first buggy run this week, we hope your mini passenger enjoyed it. Well done to Karen Walsh who ran her best time in a while this week. Lynn and Nigel passed each other on their run and managed to snap a socially distant selfie.

Short and sweet this week, please feel free to send photos in and we can share in the run report.

Please see results below

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1SltUlXFrMOFYb1BEhkLf_s2EfRJpgkH7YL-n4SG_Gbw/edit#gid=0

15/02/2020- Ross-on-Wye inaugural parkswim, 0 attendees
22/02/2020- Ross-on-Wye inaugural parkcanoe, 0 attendees
29/02/2020- Ross-on-Wye inaugural parkdive, 0 attendees

It seems that none of you are keen on these alternative events, so today saw the return of:  Ross-on-Wye parkrun event #17 - 07/03/2020

It's been a wet old month with Ciara, Dennis and Jorge taking their toll on the Wye Valley but we've finally made a comeback, with the new alternative course at Broome Farm- parkmountaineering!

69 of you turned out for the alternative, hard-fought course complete with mud (lots), alpacas (some), delightful downhills (many), squashed apples (plenty) and gruelling uphills (a couple) but everyone gritted their teeth and made some sterling efforts, anybody hoping for a PB should probably wait until the usual course has dried out a bit.

Amongst the field were representatives of 12 different running clubs and 19 Ross-on-Wye first timers. Despite the slightly hillier than usual conditions, we saw almost everyone cross the finish line either jogging or running and 100% with smiles on faces!

For anybody who didn't attend the event and wants and insight into how I found the course:Alpacas behind us at the start line and lambs to our right (we like exotic supporters.)

On your marks, get set, go...

Orchard 1; net uphill but not soul destroying, muddy but fairly firm underfoot. Next, a nice bit of downhill track leading to Orchard 2: lots of downhill! Squashy apples underfoot, some mud but mostly firm. Was running at a similar pace as a young lady- we agreed we had started too fast and that neither of us were wearing appropriate footwear as we were both in road shoes.

The track zig zags down around the perimeter of orchard 2 and into little orchard 3, descending to a little stream where the wettest ground was, but other than being a little bit slippery, it wasn't terrible! Orchard 4; gradual uphill as we follow the perimeter of the orchard around back towards the alpacas. A left hand turn and a sharp, slippery uphill through the last orchard, across a grassy meadow and then following the farm track back to the start line ready for lap 2. Rinse and repeat but into the finish funnel by the alpacas! Only my 5th different parkrun location, but I can definitely say the toughest I've done (but I'm a wimp.)

Stunning scenery throughout the orchards, will be absolutely beautiful in the summer, and shaded from the sun too! Mixture of smells included sweet cidery apples, rotten vinegary apples and poo. Was anybody else lucky enough to fall over in the mud at the top of the last hill or was that just me?I have recommended to the core team that we would like sledges for the downhills and a chairlift for the uphill in the future...

For anybody who's interested, here's the satellite map of my route from strava:

It was nice to see many of you sporting purple in recognition of international women's day, a very special day for us to recognise the amazing achievement of all the women in our lives and across the world (shout out to the mums who get another day later on this month, March is the one for you!) And of course, a massive shout out to Cat, our RD this morning!

A MASSIVE thank you to Mike Johnson of Broome Farm who approached the core team to offer his orchards to us for our Saturday morning antics, after having spent time looking at alternative locations this really was a godsend!
As always thanks to the hi-vis heroes who make the event possible, with a special shout out to St Mary's School who supplied 16 marshals for the event, seen sporting fabulous "this girl can" t-shirts. Many thanks to all for a great effort on this Saturday morning, shout out to the core team who were at Broome Farm making sure it was ready for us from 6am!

The 31 volunteers who made this event possible were:

Catherine FINLAY • Martin Edward HEATH • Tom EDMONDS • David HAWORTH • Adele ROYLE • Lynn LATHAM • Nigel LANE • Cat LANE • Helen LANE • Mary WALTON • Marjorie MACKRELL • Steve BEDFORD • Simon LENNANE • Martha FINLAY • Daisy WOODMAN • Oliver BILLINGTON • John WAINE • Ness WAINE • Toby ROYLE • Lara COLLINS • Rowan AVERY • Charlotte COLBERT • Gracie PRICE • Sophia TOOTELL • Catriona ROBERTSON • Sasha EDMUNDS • Morgan JOLLY • Charlotte KINGSTON • Rebecca HONEY • Cameron HILL • Sarah MILLINER •There were a number of tourists with us this morning from far flung reaches such as Severn Bridge, Hereford, Pontypool and Belton House, hopefully you enjoyed the maiden voyage of our B course.

Some big recognition to Andy Ormiston who was celebrating his 100th parkrun today- congratulations, our only milestone this week!

Keep an eye on the facebook page for updates on where future runs will be, as Cat said during the run brief; the core team will always try and be in Ross at the sports centre on the standard course, but will hopefully have to cancel less often with the option of course B!

We look forward to seeing you all walking, running and jogging at a parkrun again soon!

 

Footnote from the EDs 

We had some brilliant feedback this week

-Killer course

-Less fun than than childbirth

-Last hill should have had a sign at the top saying summit!!!

But seriously, a great time was had by all. One of our favourite sayings certainly applies to this course, "If it doesn't challenge you, it doesn't change you"

 

How many times have we tried and failed to get to visit Ross on Wye parkrun? 2019 we tried, we had to re-arrange New Year’s Day Double plans and again no success in January. I have actually lost count but I have had some lovely communication with the core team and today was the day to meet them as the course had dried out sufficiently to host a run. Our frustration though is nothing compared with that of the fantastic core volunteer team at Ross who have suffered such a wet winter but still are so fantastically enthusiastic. I promised to write the Run Report when I eventually got there so here goes!

Our group of runners are called the TearAways, an inappropriate name for a social fun running group with members from South Worcestershire and North Gloucestershire. We were at Ross today as one of our runners, the lovely Jen Sigournay, chose the venue to celebrate her 50th parkrun.

It was a lovely morning as we congregated in the old tennis courts area for the first timers instructions followed immediately by the main briefing, given by the lovely Cat. Runners were welcomed from Chipping Sodbury, Eastville, Lydney and Arrow Valley as well as the TearAways. We were warned about the water hazard across the cricket pitch and that the normal route required amendment but we did not care because it was on! There was a shout out for Jen and even for my birthday as well as a deserved warm applause for the volunteers. A TearAway, Linda Wheeler had volunteered to be tail walker, and loved to show off her tail!

I introduced myself to Cat, confirmed I would do the Run Report and we were off! The ground was wet and muddy in places so was going to be a tougher run than last week at Yeovil on a hard surface. I jogged alongside Jen and a few other TearAways and settled into my normal rhythm, chatting to other runners, thanking the marshals (hugging the ladies) and even having a sing or two. Anyone know who sang ‘One more night’ from the 70s, which for some reason was in my head!
Anyway, we completed the half lap and then started the first full one, entering the cricket field with a fab view of the town of Ross-on-Wye above us.

Jen was finding the soft going tough after recently twisting her ankle, especially across the cricket field but soldiered on helped by supportive comments from other runners and marshals. She is in her late 30s and was however getting a little concerned that others from their comments, thought the 50 balloon related to her birthday! We were then on the last lap, running round the playing fields and before long the home straight with the TearAways waiting to give Jen a well deserved guard of honour.

98 runners completed the parkrun, with special shout outs for Rob Nicholls, from Spirit of Monmouth RC first home by a distance in 19:08, with TearAways, Ed Rollinson second and Mark Davey giving our running group two top ten finishes for the first time ever. First female, in 9th overall was the young runner Izzie Claxton. 12 runners recorded PBs, well done all. Best age grading % was Rob with 68.21% and then Steve Bedford with 66.98%. 30 of the runners were from the touring TearAways.
Volunteers, you were brilliant and thanks for being there from 7am to get this event on for all us runners. We will return to have a go at the original course when the good old English weather allows!