Event number 76
24th October 2015
On Saturday October 24th, we welcomed 153 runners to Dunorlan Park for the 76th Royal Tunbridge Wells parkrun, your weekly, free, timed 5k run.

Oddly, we had exactly the same number last week. The week before that, it was 135, and the week before that was the same – 135. 153-153-135-135 … hmm … what does this mean? … is something spooky going on (it is Hallowe'en next week, after all)? ... after much thought, all we can say is that we have absolutely no idea!
Anyway, this week's Run Director, Rob Campbell was on top form as he gave the pre-run briefing in his inimitable style. Taking pride of place in the announcements was news that Ryland Atwood has joined the 50 Club, having run his 50th parkrun last week - all but one of these at Royal Tunbridge Wells.

The weather started – and remained dull and grey but thankfully dry, and although the grassy sections were damp, the surface was firm with just the odd divot / rabbit-hole to watch out for. These good conditions were reflected in a sizeable crop of PBs this week – 28. I didn't manage one but did achieve a best 2015 time, exactly a minute off my PB. Oh well … so near, yet so far away!
A strong club presence was contributed by members from Blackheath & Bromley Harriers AC, Bromley Veterans AC, Crowborough Runners, Gloucester AAC, Harwell RC, Horsham Joggers, Medway & Maidstone AC, Paddock Wood AC, Rugeley & District AC, St Mark's Runners, Tonbridge AC, Tunbridge Wells Harriers, Vegan Runners and Wadhurst Runners - all in all, we welcomed no less than 32 first timers to our event.
This week’s statistics:
Number of volunteers - 17
Number of runners - 153
of which;
parkrun tourists - 25
First timers - 7
Personal bests - 28
Unregistered runners / forgotten barcodes - 13
Sadly, runners who forget their barcodes or have not registered do not receive personal finish times. Registering only takes a few moments and once registered you will get a finishing time at any parkrun event – so long as you don't forget to bring your barcode (#DFYB)!

Thanks are due to this week's volunteers: Steve BARNFIELD (Barcode Scanning and Results Processor), Faris BOUAMRA (Finish Tokens), Rob CAMPBELL (Run Director, Pre-Event Setup and Results Processor), Jessica CARSWELL (Finish Token Support), Jake DODSON (Marshal), Louise FITZGERALD (Funnel Manager & Pre-Event Setup), Nick FITZGERALD (Timekeeper & Pre-Event Setup), Judy GUEST (Barcode Scanning and Token Sorting), David HARMAN (Run Report Writer), Zena HASSELL (Marshal), Simon JONES (New Runners Briefing and Post-event Close Down), Mia LULHAM (Marshal), Gus MALONE (Photographer), Liz ORR (Backup Timer), Joe WATTS (Pre-Event Setup and Tail Runner) and Richard WOODFIELD (Marshal).
Our team of volunteers are vital and parkrun would not be possible without them. New volunteers are always welcome! Why not check our volunteer roster to see which roles are vacant at future events?
Current standing in the Men's annual points table:
Chris MULLALEY (Unattached) 1923 pts.
Charles BOWLEY (Unattached) 1630 pts.
Kelvin DESMOYERS- DAVIS (Unattached) 1629 pts.
Current standing in the Women's annual points table:
Zena HASSELL (Unattached) 2131 pts.
Erin MARKS [Jnr] (Unattached) 1792 pts.
Heather CROKER [Jnr] (Unattached) 1778 pts.
Thanks to Gus Malone for taking this weeks photos - if you took some too and would like to share them, please upload to the event Flickr page.

As always, we would love to hear how you got on at our event so please post your comments on our Facebook or Twitter pages:
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Finally, the next two weeks see two special parkrun events.
31st October: Something only slightly less terrifying than the alarm clock going off at 08:30 on a Saturday occurs – Hallowe'en descends on Dunorlan Park! Ghouls, ghosts, spectres, phantoms, vampires, banshees, demons, werewolves, zombies, spooks and poltergeists will be haunting the course – and that's just the runners! However, if you somehow make it to the finish line unscathed, there will be sweet and savoury treats, kindly made by our culinary wizards Judy, Gloria & Sofia! Further details can be found here.
7th November: On the eve of Remembrance Day, we will be joined by the charity Fields in Trust (previously known as the National Playing Fields Association) to celebrate Dunorlan Park’s memorial garden's protection as one of Fields in Trust’s Centenary Fields. This programme works in partnership with The Royal British Legion to safeguard green spaces to honour the memory of those who lost their lives in World War I. After the run at 10am, a Centenary Fields Dedication Ceremony will be held at the Victoria Cross Grove (past which our course runs), the park’s memorial garden, with the unveiling of the Fields in Trust plaque. Full details of the event can be found here.