Telford Parkun #377 Saturday 14th May 2022 by David Poole

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This was my first visit to Telford Parkrun and I picked this particular Saturday for a very nerdy reason – it was Telford’s run number 377, which is a Fibonacci number. For those of you with the 5K App, you’ll know that this is one of the many challenges – to complete a parkrun whose run number is one of the 14 Fibonacci numbers, up to 610. They’re like hen’s teeth, so I couldn’t miss the opportunity to drive down from Stoke-on-Trent for it. (In just over two years Bushy Park Parkrun, the first ever event, will reach the next Fibonacci number, 987).

I had wanted to do Telford anyway, so it worked out well. I had heard it was a good one and quite fast. The Parkrun starts and finishes in Telford Town Park, the 2015 winner of UK’s Best Park, which is a stunning well-maintained park, well equipped with visitor centre, lake and fountain and climbing wall amongst other amenities. Parking is easy enough on Brown Elm Car Park, with a brisk walk past the Telford International Centre and retail area.

I was impressed with the volunteers. Some Parkruns you go to, you start wondering if it’s still going ahead at 8.40, with no high-vis jackets or signs in sight; until they amble into view with last minute suave. Not so here. When I arrived at 8.20 there was already a huddle of pink-jacketed volunteers, ready for service. The organisation was first class and very efficient with marshals marking estimated finish times, at the start line, to help put the runners in time order, which is always good to see. The RD gave a clear and entertaining address and we were all set to go at 8.59. The RD counted down the seconds to 9.00 and we were off, bang on time.

The course begins with a satisfying downhill stretch that wends its way down to Randlay Pool. Runners circle the pool once, before completing a second, bigger lap that circuits the bottom end of Town Park, as well as the pool. Unfortunately, what goes down also has to come up. What was a great downhill opening becomes a punishing ending as you climb back up the hill to the start. I felt like I’d almost come to a stop at one point. Despite this hill and few other undulations, it is a quick course and solid underfoot. It is very pleasant and tree-lined throughout – I really enjoyed it.

As for the race statistics, 339 finished what is always a well-attended parkrun, with a male to female ratio of 193 to 134, with 12 unknowns.

Congratulations to Nick Bradley, today’s first person backCF397D27-D83D-4A88-B0E0-8B9F0C9085E6 D20CED78-B535-4B61-A92F-8714DD130889 with a PB time of 17.15 - he was one of 36 runners getting a personal best today. It was a tight finish as the other podium placers were only five and seven seconds behind respectively. These were Adrian Puchala and Lee Firmstone.

The fastest lady today was Sabrina Thomas, finishing in 21.08.

The best runner in terms of age grading was Richard L Jones, who ran a lighting 19.19 in the 55-59 category, achieving an age grading of 82.31%. In second was Alan Brookes running 21.00 dead, in the 65-69 age group – very impressive. The female with the best age grading was Naomi Wrighton, who in the 75-79 age group, came through the finish line in 31.26!

Chloë Belcher and Jenny Jackson will be delighted to have ticked off the palindrome challenge, which is where you record a time that reads the same backwards. They came in with times of 40.04 and 32.23 respectively – must say I’m a bit jealous.

21 of the field were doing their first ever parkrun today – well done for making that first step and hopefully you will be back for more, as you couldn’t have picked a better day for it. There were 16 doing the Telford Parkrun for the first time, myself included.

One of those first timers to Telford, had the most Parkrunsunder his belt. That was Vincent Alcock, with a whopping 456. And there were 12 more who’d run over 250.

Special mention to Charlie Costello, local youngster (15-17) who finished fourth in a speedy 17.34 and finished third in terms of age grading. Also, kudos to Seki Adachi, who aged somewhere between 11-14, ran a sub 20 PB of 19.19; superb running.

Well done Claudia Monica Neves Pereira, the person with the longest name today – with a new PB, to boot. Sue Holl and Sam Hall tie for runner with the shortest name. Just seven letters – efficient.

Other mentions to Graham Bell who rang in a time 31.43 in the 70-74 age group and last but not least Louise and Wayne Hissey, fittingly, recorded his and hers identical times of 32.49.

Thank you to all the volunteers who put on a seamless parkrun; as ever these events wouldn’t run without them

 

Newport RC takeover Telford parkrun- Event 376

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Telford parkrun’s event #376 on May 7th 2022 saw a takeover of the volunteer roster by Newport & District Running Club (NDRC), the first time that the club has done a takeover at parkrun since before the Covid-19 pandemic. The response by club members to the request for help with the takeover was overwhelmingly positive, so the roster was easily filled by the time May came around.

The morning of May 7th brought beautiful sunny weather, and the volunteers gathered early at the arena in the Town Park, and preparations built as 9am approached. The course was set up, the marshals were briefed and took position, the pacers donned their bibs, and the first-timers' welcome was completed. 

Just before 9am, Kim Fawke, Event Director and Run Director on the day, gave the 299 massed participants their pre-event briefing and notices, including announcements of milestone runs. Congratulations go to Fay Rayward, Elsa Mackay, Mike Bate-Durward (all of Lawley RC) and Lisa Hardy, all of whom were doing their 50th parkrun - well done! The other milestone on the day was Neil Fairbrother of Newport & District RC, who, as well as pacing 30 minutes and writing this report, was running his 250th parkrun.

At 9am, everyone was set on their way, cascading down the hill past the high ropes and arena, before circling the lake on the “small lap”, passing the Wonderland dinosaurs, and then completing the “large lap” via the Silkin Way and returning up the hill to the finish. The marshals were all enthusiastic in their support for the runners, and a lot of cries of “thank you marshal!” could be heard around the course.

16 minutes, 45 seconds after the start signal was given, Daniel Turner of Lawley RC crossed the line as First Finisher, followed just over a minute and a half later by Phillip Hall of Shropshire Shufflers, who clocked 18:22. The third runner was unknown. Kate Ball, in 13th place overall, was the fastest female runner, and her time was 19:39, a new PB.

In total, 48 people got a new PB during the event, and 31 were doing a parkrun at Telford for the first time. Of those, 17 people were doing their very first parkrun, regardless of location - well done! It was also great to see a number of tourists visiting from other parkruns, such as Newtown, Wolverhampton, Isabel Trail, Leamington, Chipping Sodbury, Delamere, Wycombe Rye and Bognor Regis, to name just a few.

Well done to everyone who took part, and huge thanks go to all of the volunteers! 



 

Run Report by Tourist Frankie Wellings- 14.03.2022

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I am visiting my in-laws in Shrewsbury this weekend and having only done Telford parkrun once before, I fancied giving it another go.  So I set my alarm nice and early but was awake well before it went off. I think it was the excitement of running a course I haven’t run for 3 years!

Arriving in the park, I went in search of the toilets and asked another runner if she could point me in the right direction.  She was very helpful and told me we were allowed to use the toilets in the local pub.  As tempting as it was to have a quick half in there, I resisted!

Next I spoke to a very friendly, helpful man who told me we could leave our coats in the boot of the car parked by the finish funnel.  Looking at the names on the roster, I think it was Andrew Crozier, co-RD, I spoke to. He also gave me the very useful tip of not putting all my oomph into the final hill too soon but to use the 2 lamp posts as markers.  Thank you very much, great tip!

As we stood on the start line, the chatter soon turned to silence as today’s RD, Dawn Colyer, welcomed us and explained it was her first time being RD. She asked us to be nice and not laugh at her. Absolutely nothing to laugh at, she gave a very clear and informative brief so well done Dawn!

The majority of today’s volunteers were from Lawley Running Club and what a friendly, encouraging bunch they were too. There was an assortment of cow bells, tambourines, cheers and lots of applause as we weaved our way around the course.  Another friendly person who spoke to me (but I didn’t have enough breath to speak back) was the lady 27:30 pacer. I saw her ahead of me before getting to the amphitheatre and wondered if I could catch her. The cheer of the marshals and spectators gave me a boost and I realised I was closing the gap. As I ran past her, she called out with a very friendly “keep going, you can do it”. 

My home parkrun is Basingstoke in Hampshire which is a mixture of grass, tarmac and shingly track through a wiggly wooded section.  It was a pleasure today to have solid ground underfoot for the entire course.  There seems to be a lot of down hill and I was thinking “this has got to go up at some point” but apart from the finish and an incline in the middle, the rest seemed to be flat.  I’m not complaining!

There were 439 participants today, including 34 first timers, 22 of whom were doing their very first park run.  The first man home was Daniel Galloway in 15:25 earning himself a shiny new PB and a very impressive 87.57% age grade. Second was Jack Cole in 16:33, also earning himself a shiny new PB. Hot on Jack’s heals was Daniel Turner who was the third man home in 16:39.

The ladies were led home by Megan Tibbetts in 21:41, closely followed by Natalie Morris in 21:54 and third lady was Camilla Stewart in 21:57.

Congratulations to the 62 people who all earned themselves shiny new PBs. It’s such a great feeling and on the very rare occasion I get one (today included!) it puts me on a high for the rest of the weekend. I hope you are all still very pleased with yourselves.

Thank you for making us so welcome today Telford parkrun, you are one of the friendliest ones we have ever been to!

 

Run Report – 07/03/2022

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telford start 5 march

 

 

 

 

 

 

Contrary to the signage, this wasn’t a queue for the Exotic Zoo; Saturday at 8:55 what else would bring a gathering of over 400 runners and volunteers together other than a fabulous parkrun. 

 A well-deserved round of applause for the volunteers,  a cheer for a birthday and a mention for milestone preceded event 368 on a chilly but sunny Telford Town Park. 

The route itself was great underfoot with a continuously smooth pathway with little evidence of mud and puddle despite recent storms. There was surprisingly a variety of ups and down, paths between lakes and hidden gems revealing the rich historical past of  the area. 

Checking the overall results, at least 160 females took part on this International Women's Weekend  plus over 20 of the volunteers supporting this run were females.  Well done girls! 

I was pipped at the funnel by my daughter who, attending her first parkrun, claimed the arbitrary position 368 at event 368. She rewarded herself with a parkrun discounted post run ice cream with dinosaur sprinkles.

The park itself is bursting with activities for families and I would recommend a venture around the trail following the information boards.  The staff at the Visitors Centre were very helpful with advice on nearby attractions. In contrast to the town park, Telford has surrounding retail outlets, a large shopping centre and a hub of diverse restaurants all of which showed a promising location to visit. 

We stayed at Premier Inn next to the Railway station, a 20 minute walk to Telford Town park although similar accommodation was available close to the parkrun. 

 

 

Tourist ‘t’ / Triskaidekaphobia (fear of 13) [Run Report - 13/11]

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Welcome to the 317th day of the year, in the Gregorian calendar, the unknown parkrun number of the year, as location varies.

48 days, and up to and hoping 6 parkruns remain until the end of the year!

Weather and ‘other’ depending!!  Our thoughts are with our Australian park runners.

 

The 1st ‘parkrun’ (UK Time Trails) event began at Bushy park on 2nd October 2004 with 13 lucky participants and 6 volunteers

-- they held their 354th event on 30th April 2011, 662 participants and 15 volunteers

-- and today they held their 851st event with 1160 participants, 63 volunteers.

 

This wonderful parkrun was approximately 165th in the UK and approximately 205th parkrun in the world

 

It is hosted at Telford Town Park.  This area has a LOT of history.  We would highly recommend that if possible, visitors plan extra time to maybe go around the route again and have time to look and read the information boards.   Try and make time to spend exploring other areas, in the park and close by.  The course route is interesting, as it starts on a down, and has the most ‘down’ we have ever known.  There are of course resulting ‘slight inclines,’ it is an interesting course.

 

This event began on 16th February 2013 with 178 participants and 18 volunteers.

Celebrated its 100th event on 28th March 2015 with 314 participants and 23 volunteers

Celebrated its 200th event on 6th May 2017 with 484 participants and 34 volunteers

Celebrated its 300th event on 15th June 2019 with 558 participants and 32 volunteers

Its busiest event has been its 329th on 1st January 2020 with 718 participants and 40 volunteers

And its cosiest event was its 6th on 30th March 2013 with 99 participants and 18 very committed volunteers on probably a very cold day!

 

For our 13th day of the month we had a lovely lucky dry autumnal day.  Being from ‘up north’ we very much appreciate a dry parkrun as many have unluckily been very heavy rain lately!

 

Luckily we had early volunteers to set up the course.  The clearing of dinosaur dung can be time consuming we understand.

 

Luckily at the first timers briefing we were warned that there were dinosaurs on the course, (a new one for us) however unluckily the number of participants or volunteers eaten on the course was not revealed!

 

Our run director of the event Andrew CROZIER gave the introduction, announcements and guidance.  As it was the 13th of the month no Triskaidekaphobia (fear of 13) however was shown!

 

With Sara PASKIN and Claire ASLETT-ROUND our timekeepers we were on our way…

 

Luckily those starting out on their own milestones were

 

* Dawn COLYER, Simon COLYER, Adam BLUNDELL, Justin TENCH, Nerys JONES, Katie CHILDS, Ann JUKES set off for their 10th parkrun.

*Oliver RODWELL, Harry WARRELL PB NAME not only completed their 10th parkrun they gained a PB too!

(All over 19 years old so unluckily no change of logo, juniors receive the acknowledgement and the option of their wonderful coveted white t-shirt!!)

 

* Ben HOCKING, Mark BRAGG, Stuart HEELEY, Tracy BILLSBERRY, Jane TENCH set off for their 25th parkrun.

* David BALLINGER and Emma HALL, set off to complete their 50th parkrun.

* Kate DOLAN and Darren FAWKE set off to complete their 100th parkrun

and

* Richard BRADSHAW and Bridie JONES set off to complete their unofficial 150th parkrun milestone

 

A  lucky step closer to theirs were

* Samantha ASTBURY, Ollie HUXLEY, Simon CHESTERS completed their 9th, so happy planning for your 10th!

*  Simon TUDOR completed their 24th, so happy planning for your 25th!

*  Marie WATTON, Charlotte HOPPER, completed their 49th, so happy planning for your 50th!

*  Etsuko KOSHIKA, Amanda SANDS, completed their 99th, so happy planning for your 100th!

 

**Congratulations** as all completed successfully.

 

Luckily Kevin BRIERLEY, Darren OWEN-JONES, Nicola WRIGHT, Lindsey JONES, and Jane TENCH helped participants achieve goals by pacing to a set time.

 

Around the course we had many marshals to guide, encourage and help keep us safe, amongst them were Viv ORME, Kim FAWKE, Mike SPRASO, Elsa MACKAY, Niki GARCHA-DAVIES, Steve LILL, Craig FOSKETT, Sarah LINCOLN, Fay RAYWARD, Susie BROWN, Mark BODEN, Deborah HOPKINS, Sophie WYATT, Juliet SMITH, Caroline RIGBY, Maureen MORGAN, Simon DAVIES, Neen FELTON, Joanne NEWNES, Kavi JANI and Mark NEWNE.  There were also some very well behaved 4 legged helpers too!

 

The course was lovely.  Full of history, woods, and old railway track, ponds, ducks, even some blackberries flowering!!

The only disappointment was, as with many parkruns, parkrunners telling other parkrunners or members of the public to move out of the way of those speedier participants!  Some members of the public were stood out of the way for us all to pass, so were reminded it is their walk too, and the speedier ones can easily run around us all.

 

At the end of all the participants is our Tail Walker, no one is officially ever last at a parkrun and this week our wonderful volunteers were Dawn CHURM, Tony BARNETT and Phoebe BARNETT.  This week only friendly dinosaurs were on the course as no participants or volunteers were eaten or harmed during this event… That we know of, as barcodes are only collected at the end, who knows …

At the finish we were greeted by the timekeepers and music!

Nicky BRIERLEY, Leigh HOLT, Amy ALDRIDGE, Emma CROSS kept people in order as we collected our tokens from Alison CUTTER, Ann SOUTH and went to be scanned by Neil WOOD, Diane WOOD, Corran RODERICK, Paula JOHNSTON, Poppy EDWARDS-JONES, Neil WOODFINE and Jessica CROZIER.

 

Volunteers at the end realised we were visiting and had our names to volunteer at juniors the next day.  They reminded us of a 10am start (now unusual) and as it was held in a slightly different location, gave us the directions.  Really kind and helpful of them!  Very much appreciated.

After the event Jennifer WILLOTT gave up their time to sort the tokens into order ready for the next event.

Other volunteers included Lindsay CROZIER, Viv BARNETT, Jack INGLIS, Matthew WRIGHT, Hope WYATT and Phoebe WYATT.

Volunteers took the information from the timekeepers, scanners and processed them for the results to be available to all.

 

Luckily Phil THOMPSON, Megan TIBBETTS, Mitchell STANLEY, James TOHAMS, Jimmy PREECE, Liam THOMPSON, Charlie PREECE, Aisia MARLOW, Julie SMITH, Clare GRENNAN, Luke SWINBOURNE, Rajesh WADONI, Georgia TAYLOR, Nathan SMITH, Rachael SHUKER, Andrea BRAZIER, Lee BOWDEN, Stephanie DARLINGTON, Zoe HUMPHRIES, Stacey BROSTER, Sally BLAKEMAN, Jonathon FINNIGAN, Lisa BOWEN, Oliver FERRIER, Victoria OXTOBY, Rachel NEALE, Peter NEALE, Debbie BARRY, Kerry ROGERS, Tim WOLVERSON, Jo BROWN, Lucy JONES WILDE and Shannon RICHARDS, joined us for the first time

Many of whom where the lucky graduates from couch to 5k, **WELL DONE**

 

Luckily Steven LANGFORD, Dominic FARLEY, Ollie HUXLEY, Harry JEFFERSON, Ben TOPPING, Daniel WORPOLE, Natalie MORRIS, Ben TONG, Corran RODERICK, Samuel YARNALL, Paul MUSGROVE, Simon CHESTERS, Lawrence NEWTON, Finley EWINGS, Jon MANNERING, David THORNTON, Harry BOWNASS, Peter STOKER, Ian JAMES, Sam LAWRENCE, Tonisha O'GORMAN, Martin BETTS, Ross SMART, Steven COBURN, David HUGHES, Deborah MOORE, Siddhartha O'GORMAN, Harry WARRELL, Dawn COLYER, Christopher O'GORMAN, Matthew EWINGS, Tom WEAVER, John MANNING, Peter FOULKES, Lee WILLIAMS, Will ALLAWAY, Nicholas BURN, Anthony REEVES, Sid IMENTRY, Seren EVANS, Samantha ASTBURY, Justin CLARKE, Sue HOLL, Fiona MCMULLAN, Lauren WEALE, Jackie POOLE, April MUNDAY, Oliver PARKHILL, Ada-Maria JIPA, Laura WILLIAMS, Wendy WILLIAMS, Matthew BRYANT, Helen BRYANT, Anthony WILSON, Dan FAULKNER, David ATACK, Emily HILL, Lisa BUTLER, Martin KNOWLES, Jayne MEAKIN, Amy BARR, Samuel DOLAN, Sophie PHILLIPS, Charlotte WYLE, Donna BREADEN, Susan SMITH, Hayley ABEL, Sharon LEACH, Graeme CORTEN, Rebecca HUGHES, Julia YEATES and Chloe EVANS marked the occasion with New PB’s!!

 

The 13th lucky finisher was Reynold WILLIAMS

The 113th lucky finisher was Wendy Elizabeth EVANS

The 213th lucky finisher was Nerys JONES their lucky 10th parkrun, unluckily not under 19 so no snazzy white tshirt.

The 313th lucky finisher, Gaynor WILLIAMS

The 413th unlucky finisher, forgot their barcode so us unknown

 

Unluckily no 513th to 713th slightly down from their 300th celebration and an amazing New Years double in 2020 of over 700! participants.

 

Keeping with our theme, taking part in their 13th event at this 13th event was lucky for Karl MOORE, Gary WHITE, Lina FUSCO, Rebecca ANDREWS, Claire LEAVY, Gerard SHIRLEY, Adrian HOBSON, Harrison MCEWAN, Sharon LEACH, and Jayne POWELL, they all ‘fare tredici’ as it is known in Italy.

 

Luckily there were 451 successful participants included regulars,

4% tourists (luckily the unofficial winner of the furthest distance was from the Wirral, thanks to the modal fair!)

*Congratulations if you now have an ‘T’ for your ‘A to Z’

or a 354 for your Winston index

16% achieved a personal best,

4% who kept their identity a secret or forgot their barcode (keep a back-up in the car, sock or other, is often a good idea.  We have collected many friends over the years backups!) and

7% joined us for the first time, we hope you enjoyed it and to see you again.

 

To date …

-- there have been 15,932 different runners on the course

-- they have completed 133,596 (number of runs) runs.

-- the average attendance is 8.4

 

If you would like to see a full list of results please click here https://www.parkrun.org.uk/telford/results/354/ (Volunteer names at the bottom of the list)

 

We were lucky as a lovely group of volunteers looked after the lucky successful participants. **Thank you** to the 56 amazing volunteers, co-ordinated by Kim FAWKE.

This week, of those running, walking or other…

5 people have gained their 10 volunteers award

19 people have gained their 25 volunteers award, approximately 2.5% of those registered

10 people have gained their 50 volunteers award … 1%

6 people have gained their 100 volunteers award … 0.31%

2 people have gained their 250 volunteers award … 0.023%

0 people have gained their 500 volunteers award … 0.0012%

 

Only 9% of participants have gained a volunteer award, **Congratulations to Wendy DOBSON who have earned this prior to a milestone!  Well done and thank you to those who either gave up their own run or lie in to make so many ‘run, walks, milestones and skips’ possible.

 

If you would like to be part of the volunteering group, please e-mail telford@parkrun.com.

It can be very fun and rewarding, it can be a great way to grow your social circle and full training is given, including the FREE use of a hi-vis jacket!!

 

Thank you to our lovely, friendly helpful hosts.  We hope you all had a lovely start to your Saturday the 13th  and a safe journey home.

 

( - :  R J M n C  : - )

 

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