***Appeal for funds to support Telford parkrun***

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As you all know one of the fundamental principles of parkrun is that it is free for all, forever! However parkrun wouldn’t be possible without donations which help to purchase the kit needed for the events to function.

We know how important your results are to you and in recent weeks we have been having multiple issues relating to worn out and missing finish tokens and the 6.5 year old laptop we use to process your results. We urgently need to replace the laptop and purchase a new set of finish tokens.

We can’t do this without some much needed funds, so we are making a rare appeal to the Telford parkrun community to ask for donations so that we can continue to provide accurate results in a timely manner.
Whether you donate £1 or more, every bit will go towards keeping Telford running.

How to donate:
parkrun volunteers are not permitted to handle money, but there are two ways that you can provide funds which go directly towards helping the Telford event.
1. Online. From the “About Us” section of the Telford parkrun website click on the "donate to parkrun" button in the middle of the screen about half way down the page. https://www.parkrun.org.uk/telford/aboutus/
2. By cheque, please email: accounts@parkrun.com explaining that you intend to make a donation for Telford parkrun.
Thanks in advance for supporting all Telford parkrunners.

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Run Report 02/03

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Telford AC

Telford AC


Despite the recent warm weather, event #288 got off to a rather damp start but that didn’t deter the 579 runners who assembled on the start line. Of the 579 finishers, 54 were first timers to Telford parkrun – 31 of whom were running their first, and hopefully not last, parkrun. It was my first run at Telford having made the near-150 mile trip down from Hull. I chose to run at Telford as two of my friends were running the Groundhog Marathon at Telford Athletics Club at 10am – whilst they elected to run 150.5 laps of an athletics track, I thought two laps of Telford Town Park would be a more sensible idea!

Having set off at 6am and arrived at 08:50, there was little time to get a warm up in, but after a warm welcome from the volunteering team it was straight to the start line. Having unfortunately arrived too late to listen to the first timers brief, I had to ask the 18:30 pacer what the course was like. Although he assured me it was flat, I was soon surprised by the fast downhill start, followed by a short, sharp incline which was tough on the legs. While most of the course is flat, you must watch out for the uphill finish!

Saturday morning saw a huge number of PBs with 102 runners recorded their best time on the Telford course – congratulations to all!

Five runners hit milestones this week; with Annabel HORNE and Katie GOUGH completing their 10th runs, Caroline RIGBY finished her 50th parkrun, and Holly RIGBY and Tony PERREN joined the 100 club. Congratulations to all!

Male Placings:

Richard MCKENNA (VM40-44) of Shrewsbury AC was first over the line in 16:20, which was also a new PB.

Christopher ASHFORD (VM35-39) of Birmingham Running Athletics and Triathlon Club was second in 17:37.

Alex HOGGARD (SM25-29) of Selby Striders was third in 17:37.

Female Placings:

Claire MARTIN (VW40-44) of Telford AC was first to finish in 19:53.

Emily GAPPER (JW11-14) of Wenlock Olympians was second in 21:06.

Jolanta STANEVICIENE (VW40-44) (Unattached) finished third in 21:50.

The following runners recorded the best Age Grade scores;

Richard MCKENNA (VM40-44) was graded 84.80% for the time 16:20 (1st overall).

Pete SAVILL (VM65-69) was graded 82.60% for the time 20:30 (35th overall).

Robert LLOYD SMITH (VM45-49) was graded 80.43% for the time 17:38 (4th overall).

As ever, a big thank you to all the volunteers who enabled the event to go ahead;

Chris BAGSHAW, Phoebe BARNETT, Gareth BELLAMY, Lisa Kathryn BLAGDEN, Kevin BRIERLEY, Nicky BRIERLEY, Jim BUCKLE, Jessica CROZIER, Andrew CROZIER, Kim FAWKE, Dean GAPPER, Elysia GAPPER, John GARMSON, Dylan GILLETT, Andrew HARROP, Alex HOGGARD, Ian David HOPKINS, James INGRAM, Steven JONES, David MANSBRIDGE, Claire MARTIN, Eve MORRIS,Rob MOSES, Mark MOUNTFORD, Robert NORMAN, Paul O'BRIEN, Tony PREECE, Maggie PREECE, Alison PREECE, Charlie PREECE, Joel REED, Amelia REYNOLDS, Shannon RYAN-DAVIS, Paul SANDERSON, Lesley STEPHENSON, Branka SUKARA-FIELDING, Nigel TATTON, Adam TATTON, Lauren TUNHOLMER,
Saturday saw the Telford Athletic Club takeover, with the club providing many of the volunteers. If you’d like to have a go at volunteering, the roster for the next few weeks is available at; http://www.parkrun.org.uk/telford/futureroster/ or you can email; telfordhelpers@parkrun.com

Finally, I’d like to thank everyone who welcomed me to the event – I hope to see you again sometime in the future!

 

Telford parkrun 275

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On a clear winter morning (much more pleasant than last week!), 369 people turned up to run, jog or walk Telford parkrun #275.
46 people were first timers at Telford parkrun, including a large turnout of tourists from Northampton Road Runners. In total, runners of 28 different clubs took part, and 69 runners recorded new personal bests. Well done to everyone!

One of those personal bests was first finisher Jack Pickett from Wolverhampton & Bilston AC in a speedy time of 16.21. First lady was Tracie Trueman in a time of 20.17, which was also her milestone 50th run.
Congratulations to other runners celebrating a milestone today. Darren Pickett ran his 100th parkrun, and Steven Langford, Tony Barnett, Liz Holbrook and Debra Lees also completed their 50th!

For me, this was my 34th run at Telford parkrun. I now live in London, but my parkrun journey began at Telford 5 years ago and coming back here always feels like my "home" run. A scenic run on gravel or tarmac paths, not too hilly (apart from that pesky "slope" at the end!), and there aren't many other places you get dinosaurs roaring you on to the finish! It's lovely to see familiar faces, and it was great to run with my dad for the first time this week, since he caught the parkrun bug a couple of months ago! I couldn't keep up with him though as he smashed his PB (again). I look forward to visiting again over the Christmas period.

As ever the runners were supported by a cheery team of 40 volunteers. This week's volunteers were from Telford Harriers, a huge thanks to all of you.
Without volunteers the event wouldn't happen. If you would like to volunteer please check out the future roster page and let the team know if you would like to help out. It's great fun and training is provided for all roles!

Keep parkrunning!

Ellie

 

Telford parkrun 270

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Telford parkrun marked it's 270th outing with a strong turnout of 552 on a blustery but pleasant November morning. Amy Aldridge took on the reigns as run director helped ably by our newest addition to the core team in Leigh Holt.

On a day which saw representation from stalwart running groups such as Wrekin Road Runners and Lawley Running Club to the online groups Lonely Goats and UKRunChat it was Dominic Gardner of the Telford AC who crossed the line first in a brisk 17:02 with Wenlock Olympian Emily Gapper claiming first female honours in 21:20. Rounding off the run were our wonderful tail walkers Wendy Cartwright and Joanne Jackson.

Amongst 61 first timers our first time briefer Peter Rawlings welcomed 26 tourists to Telford Parkrun including runners from Barrow-in-Furness, South Cheshire and Boldmere. Wolverhampton regular Stephen Morris marked his Telford debut with an impressive 29th place finish in 21:00 and Avril and I had the tremendous pleasure of meeting Roderick Hoffman - a Parkrun tourist who was notching up a scarcely believeable 249th different Parkrun course (in a total of 320 runs). He has ran parkruns as far afield as Australia and San Francisco and we are delighted he was able to add Telford to his ever expanding list - on behalf of everyone at Telford Parkrun we wish him good luck and congratulations for his 250th next week at Severn Bridge.

We also celebrated some milestones today with Richard and Joanne Banfield both hitting the 50 run mark - a figure now also shared by Gary Watton, Susan Gill and Jennifer Harrower. We also had a runner join the centurion club as Natalie Dimmock racked up her 100th run. 82 PBs were recorded ranging from Stewart Farley at 18:02 to Cassandra Wainwright at 48:54 in only her second ever Parkrun, shaving an excellent four minutes off last weeks time - a huge congratulations to everyone who had reason to celebrate today.

As ever the run was made possible by a merry band of volunteers. In addition to those mentioned already we had Mike Sparson, Darren Fawke, Rosemary Mercantas, Joanna Edwards-Jones, John Williams, Margaret Jackson, John Jackson, Tony Coffey, Sarah Green, Nathan Green, Chris Fawke and Joanne Aston out on the course cheering runners round on marshal duty. Welcoming the runners home were our timekeepers Peter Rawlings and Amber Worthington, funnel managers Tink Brasenell and Peter Welch and our finish token team Paula Johnston and Robin Glover. Scanning the barcodes were Sarah Taylor, Kevin Cain, Jim Buckle and Joe Brierley with Max Smallwood on hand to record any of those pesky barcodes that just wouldn't scan. As always a big thank you goes to our volunteer co-ordinator Kim Fawke and a super special shoutout to Jenny Aldridge whose sparkly new Super Boost powered ourselves and the rest of the runners up that dreaded slope of opportunity. Thank you Jenny!

We would also like to extend some love to our four-legged friends who brighten up the run every week. From Golden Retrievers to French Bulldogs we had our usual eclectic bunch - here are Chester and Wispa feeling pleased with themselves at the end of their run! Chester is a rescue dog and is chalking up some super impressive times!

All in all, another hugely enjoyable morning at a Parkrun that continues to go from strength to strength. On a personal note, next week sees us begin our quest to conquer the Parkrun A-Z with a visit to the good folks at Jersey so until next time, enjoy Telford #271 and don't forget your barcode.

Avril & Pete

 

Telford parkrun #267 – 13th October 2018

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With many of us avidly watching facebook for updates in case Calum caused a cancellation it was a pleasure to arrive at the park and see a throng of hi-vis ready and raring to go… even if the rain was causing most of us to find shelter! Special note to the core team for making sure the route was safe for us all.

We had a small band of first timers to the course for the initial briefing – I have to apologise to the lovely volunteer I alarmed for my hopping with some exclamations, how many people could be ‘lucky’ enough to be stung twice by a wasp and all before 9am in October!?

For those that know the route there was a slight change in the finish due to other events in the park, but no chance of getting lost in such a well marshalled course – they aren’t joking when they say every turning has a marshal, thank you  Despite the persistent rain you all were cheerful and supportive every time I passed, even the mini-marshals seemed to enjoy themselves.

This course for me takes one of the top spots for enjoyability – picturesque surroundings, and strangely feels like there’s much more downhill than up (I haven’t worked out how that is possible when you start almost next to the finish).

In total 354 parkrunners walked, jogged or ran of whom a 25 achieved new PBs, well done all!
Milestones were achieved by 1 into the ’100 club’, 2 into the ’50 club’ and 1 into the ’10 club’ – I’m sure they’ll be looking forward to proudly wearing their respective black, red and white shirts before long.
We were joined by 15 first timers who hopefully enjoyed themselves so much they’ll return and maybe even catch the tourist bug, as I was one of 9 tourists.
Final note always has to be a thank you to the hi-vis heroes of which we had 37 volunteers, we really couldn’t enjoy our run without you!

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