We definitely had the better weather on Saturday. It was a clear day, a little chilly but most definitely the calm before storm ciara hit us on the Sunday. This week 485 people ran, jogged and walked the course, of whom 36 were first timers and an amazing 120 recorded new Personal Bests. Congratulations to them!

Congratulations to Claire Defries who completed her 50th parkrun and also Matthew Guest as a first timer to Stevenage parkrun completed his 100th parkrun.

The event was made possible by 22 volunteers who were brilliant at guiding the runners seamlessly from the start to the finish. They are:

Laura KIMPTON • Michael FLETCHER • Angus KINDLEY • Elizabeth JORDAN • Beverley ATKINS • Tony RANDFIELD • Joe COLGAN • Richard GLAISTER • Matthew PATTMAN • Doug WILSON • Joanne WHITTINGTON • Archie WARRILLOW • Hannah BUTLER • Rosemary BIGGS • Alan FORD • Shelbe MOONBEAM • Mark HOWSEN • Gillian MCFARLANE • Anya BLAXLAND • Layla HAASE • Robert DAVEY • Carol HILL

Some dates for your diaries. On the 29th February we are having the first pacers run of 2020. It is a brilliant way of working with a pacer to achieve a new PB. Currently we have 14 volunteer pacers with 20 mins to 32 mins all covered. If you would like to volunteer as a pacer for 33+ mins, then please contact us.

On the 21st March we are celebrating our 200th parkrun. We are delighted the Mayor of Stevenage will be attendance, fancy dress is optional and I'm sure we will have cake at the finish! After running 5km a little bit of cake doesn't hurt!

March 7th is International Womans Day and in conjunction with This Girl Can parkrun is supporting the day by asking for our volunteers roles to be filled by women as much as possible and to bring a newbie lady to parkrun to run her first ever parkrun.

It promises to be a special day in the parkrun year so over to you parkrunners.

A few of our lady parkrunners and volunteers over the last few months.

Well the New Years Resolutions are well and truly up and running!   On Saturday we had a record attendance of 586 runners.  Truly remarkable and I think this parkrun thing might just catch on!

Of the 586 runners, 73 were first timers and 66 recorded new Personal Bests. Representatives of 36 different clubs took part.  We also had some brilliant milestones as well.  Ricky Sharman, Ella May-Hards, Sharon Anne Boxer, Claire Thrower and Sarah Kelly all completed their 50th parkruns.  Congratulations to all of them!

Our brilliant volunteers this week are:

Ian KIMPTON • Angus KINDLEY • Karen BROOM • Beverley ATKINS • Robin WOODROW • Tony RANDFIELD • Helen HARRIS • Joe COLGAN • Richard GLAISTER • Sally MCBRIDE • Trevor BROOM • Peter CARPENTER • Matthew PATTMAN • Elaine BRAGG • Steve HARRIS • Erica GRAYSON • Charlotte DOBNER • Steven DOBNER • Hannah BUTLER • Rosemary BIGGS • David PATTMAN • Alison SHELLEY • Alan FORD • Shelbe MOONBEAM • Juliette MULLEN • Tamara CLELFORD • Gillian MCFARLANE • Anya BLAXLAND • Layla HAASE • Lois DOBBIN

Many thanks to all of them!

Please remember at the end of the run to please give back your finish token.  We only purchased them recently for a cost of £120.00 and we have already lost three tokens!

For the first Saturday run of 2020, the New Years resolutions to run and get fit were certainly evident.  We had 532 runners of which 56 were first timers and 72 recorded new Personal Bests.  532 is the 2nd highest attendance and only the second time we have had over 500 runners.

Congratulations to Grace Brown, Steven Adams, Andy Coates, Chris Lennon, Mark Godfrey, Tracy Stiles and Karen Thomas who completed their 50th parkruns.  Congratulations to Patrick Norris who completed his 100th parkrun.

We are using new finish tokens, which cost £120.00 and were kindly bought through donations from runners.  We have already lost two tokens through runners taking them away.  Please don't take the tokens, they are not a souvenir and of no use outside of parkrun.

To manage such a large number of runners, we have a brilliant team of volunteers.  This week our brilliant stars are:

Laura KIMPTON • Ian KIMPTON • Daniel SUTTON • Kelly BURGESS • Esperanza CASTRO • Jan FRY • Tony RANDFIELD • Helen HARRIS • Helen COXON • Richard GLAISTER • Matthew PATTMAN • Petra WARNER • Jane MOULDER • Andy WISEMAN • Sarah KINSELLA • Hannah BUTLER • Alan FORD • Peter FITZGERALD • Alan GOODWIN • Shelbe MOONBEAM • Karl SPARKS • Paula SPARKS • April LACEY • Tamara CLELFORD • Jake HAZELDENE • Mark DAVEY

Happy New Year to everybody and see you Saturday!

Well what else can I write about this Christmas day parkrun except WOW!! I thought we would get approx 350 runners for our 3rd Christmas Day parkrun hosted by yours truly. Well THAT figured proved no where near the final figure!! And how!!!

Near perfect weather resulted in the attendance record going along with us running out of finish tokens too!! [Don't worry we have the a brand new set ready to use on NYD and they go up to 600]. Previous course record set on NYD this year and was 441, now that figure is a stonking 453!!

It was fraught at times as we only had 2 scanner volunteers and long queues built up at the scanning points, so thanks all for your patience at the end.

The volunteer team pulled together to ensure things ran as smoothly as possible in the circumstances and I thank them all for their efforts. Name check time: Thomas Suka, Beverly Atkins, Eperanza Castro, Adri Strydom, Johannes Strydom, Richard Henry, Shelia Leavy, Chloe Emmerson, Tony Randfield, Matthew Pattman, Helen Harris, Andy Garrett, Oliver Cuzner, Diane Cuzner, Rosemary Biggs and Alan Ford.

We had 85 first timers and 48 people achieved PB's.

A great atmosphere was had all morning with plenty of people in fancy dress, oh I have to thank Caroline Musgrove for the Quality Street chocolates she donated.

Roll on New Years Day when it's DPD = double parkrun day.

Until then parkrunners.

Oh a couple of unpublished pics from the day below too.

Stevenage parkrun
Event number 185
21st December 2019

Our last parkrun before Christmas saw 302 people turn out in rather wet and muddy conditions to run, jog and walk the course. We had 24 first timers and 37 recorded new Personal Bests. Big pat on the back to all those who who took part, extra mince pies for you come Christmas day now!

The event was made possible by 16 volunteers:

Chloe MARSHALL • James MARSHALL • Jack MARSHALL • Ken MARSHALL • Thomas SAUKA • Chris LEIGH • Beverley ATKINS • Nicola HATHERLY • Tony RANDFIELD • Joe COLGAN • Matthew PATTMAN • Doug WILSON • Rosemary BIGGS • Alan FORD • Hazel JONES • Mark DAVEY

We had tourists from near and far- Letchworth, Norwich and South Africa! We hope you all enjoyed our course and will be back!

We saw a number of milestones being met yesterday- Carolyn Linsell ran her 100th parkrun, Debbie Blantern ran her 50th parkrun on her 50th birthday! (A lot of planning and logistics must've gone into that one!) And Wimpole tourst Steve Elliot donned our 50 Cape for his 50th run. Well done to you all!

Remember we are holding a Christmas day run, the usual 9am start, dress up highly encouraged!

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

7th December 2019

The mild December morning provided perfect conditions for the 304 people who ran, jogged and walked the beautiful course at Fairlands Valley Park. Twenty-two of the people were first timers and an impressive 46 recorded new Personal Bests. Representatives of 29 different clubs took part, and parkrun tourists came from nearby Letchworth and as far afield St Neots, Penzance, Billericay and Somerset. The tourist from Somerset, John Kennedy, was a former Stevenage parkrunner.

Run Director Tony Ranfield preparing to brief the crowd

The event was made possible by 19 enthusiastic volunteers:

Phil DEAVES • Daniel SUTTON • Ems SOUTHERINGTON • Elizabeth JORDAN • Tichaonezvi J. RUREDZO • Jackie HOLLYWELL • Robin WOODROW • Tony RANDFIELD • Helen HARRIS • Matthew PATTMAN • Elaine BRAGG • Doug WILSON • Jane MOULDER • Alan FORD • April LACEY • Richard CLARKE • Niamh SKINNER • Mark DAVEY • Robert DAVEY

As the Tailwalker, April ensures that no one comes last!

If you are interested in volunteering for any of the roles, some of which can be combined with completing the event, simply email stevenagehelpers@parkrun.com.

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

Kasia Poczatek celebrated her milestone 50th parkrun

The first three male finishers were: Joe Cronin (18:25), Steve Hallas (19:11) and David Ackerley (19:26). The first three female finishers were: Jessica Earp (20:30), Abigail Pez(22:24 PB) and Courtney Lendon (23:03 PB).

The male record is held by Ian KIMPTON who recorded a time of 15:07 on 3rd September 2016 (event number 15).
The female record is held by Annabel GUMMOW who recorded a time of 17:39 on 17th November 2018 (event number 127).
The Age Grade course record is held by Yuko GORDON who recorded 92.85% (22:51) on 10th November 2018 (event number 126).

Stevenage parkrun started on 28th May 2016. Since then 7,878 participants have completed 51,350 parkruns covering a total distance of 256,750 km, including 10,217 new Personal Bests. A total of 515 individuals have volunteered 3,625 times.

On a related note, you may be interested to know that Paul Sinton-Hewett, the founder of parkrun was recently awarded the prestigious Albert Prize by the RSA for his building what has become a global participation movement.

Paul Sinton-Hewitt, founder of parkrun, honoured with the prestigious Albert medal

You can read more about here and listen to Paul’s interview on the popular podcast for parkrunners ‘Freeweeklytimed’.

Have a great week and see you next Saturday when the parkrun Director will be David Scott.