On a rather murky, damp Sunday morning 50 runners gathered for our 33rd run. We had 5 new runners with us - Abigail and Alice did their very first junior parkrun! Douglas earned his half marathon wristband and Marlon was awarded his from a few weeks ago.

Despite the weather, it was great to see so many smiling faces approaching the finish. The rain did nothing to slow you down either - 12 new PBs were recorded today!

A big thank you to all the volunteers who helped to put the run on today. Baby Henry’s contribution to the warm-up was invaluable!

We sincerely hope to be running again next week and as I write this (Monday lunchtime) that is the plan. However, the situation regarding the Coronavirus pandemic seems to change and worsen daily. We will be guided by parkrun HQ and government advice as to whether or not to go ahead. We will keep you updated via our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/Stratford-upon-Avon-Rec-junior-parkrun-397560620861292/

Let’s finish on a positive note: this Sunday we had just one unknown runner out of 50. This is fantastic that so many people are remembering their barcodes. But let’s try and get up to 100%. Parents - phone cases, purses and wallets are great places to keep a spare copy of your child’s barcode. If you’re driving to us then put a copy in the glove box.

Hoping to see you all again next Sunday!

Simon Williams

Please take our very short survey and let us know what you think of the two different courses we have used so far.

https://forms.gle/mvyZtVfEJctSBe1h8

We had too many volunteers at the final junior parkrun of 2019 - so one of them shot videos instead. Can you spot yourself in them?

Ready, steady, SLO-MO!
All the action at the start - captured in slow motion. https://vimeo.com/382296017

Racy Pacers
The fastest runners whizzed past the camera - and Jenson and Maisie were awarded armbands for doing their 21st and 50th parkruns. https://vimeo.com/382235966

The endurance squad
The (mostly) younger runners win the prize for keeping going for the longest! https://vimeo.com/382293883

A silly warm-up
This should be the first video, but we're saving the funny one until last. Obviously, doing a warm-up isn't silly at all. But it looks a bit daft (in a fun way) when the video is sped up and set to comic music. https://vimeo.com/382296807

Videos by Simon Pipe, who used to be old enough to know better, but is now even older and is allowed to be as silly as he likes.

We had a rather pleasant autumnal day for our 19th Stratford upon Avon Rec junior parkrun. Sadly, the previous day had not been quite so kind. The heavens had opened and there were some rather large and rather muddy puddles to circumnavigate. Big thanks to Simon Teale for arranging some diversions and minimising the amount of muddy kit that needs to be washed. We do try and help you sometimes, parents!

We had 58 runners today, of whom 5 were doing their very first junior parkrun with us. We witnessed two PBs from Georgia Baxter and Rowan Kavanagh-Godwin. Congratulations on dodging the mud so well!

We were also visited by a large group of volunteers from Coventry who are in the process of setting up a junior parkrun there. I do hope they enjoyed their time with us and saw how much fun our junior parkrun is. As there were so many volunteers we had to borrow some hi-viz jackets from our parent 5k, Stratford upon Avon parkrun. Thank you, Simon Teale and Natalie Dellar, co-Event Directors of SuA parkrun, for allowing us to use your kit.

One of the most manic times for a run director is when all the volunteers turn up with their varying levels of experience, some of whom you know well, others you have never met before. With today’s record-breaking roster it was even more manic than usual so massive thanks to Sue Teale and Lara Bakewell for all their help coordinating everyone!