Curly Wurly on tour. Again,

The thing with having a parkrun route on a flood plain is that when it rains, it floods, funny that……

So after a week of is it on, is it off – a few of the Curly Wurly (Somerdale Pavilion) Core team and their friends decided to go touristing, again. Luckily in Bristol we are literally spoilt for choice of parkruns within an hours drive so having narrowed it down to three choices we asked the sensible folk of a certain dubious Facebook group to decide for us and the resounding consensus was Tetbury Goods Shed, decisions were most definitely not made based on recommendations and suggestions of which breakfast items to have.

Having realised our original plan of car sharing in a Fiat 500 wasn’t going to work as our original 3 people had grown to 8 so we split up. I took one car and dutifully looked up the travel directions on the webpage, clearly noted the part about “don’t follow the exact postcode as it takes you down a dead end” looked at the alternative postcode but google maps seemed to show it really far away. Thought of going for the third option of just using “Tetbury Goods Shed” as the final destination – looked good on the map, what could go wrong?

Anyway 40 minutes later, having followed the sat nav and gone down the dead end……. We arrived, ridiculously early. A quick mooch around to look at the surroundings and the obligatory photo op, we said Hi to some of the extremely friendly team of volunteers, took some more photos and assessed the “facilities” – wow! These were pretty awesome.

Again being the sensible one of course, I had previously checked on the Facebook page to see which route they were on, and to see that trail shoes would be helpful, half of us decided to heed this advice; some didn’t, some slipped and fell over in the mud……

The first timers briefing was concise and friendly, the main brief was prompt and very well-articulated. Mention of milestones and several volunteer milestones were celebrated too. The whole organisation on the day was flawless, plenty of smiley happy marshals, and the hi fives were awesome. The out and back course was a delight – perfectly wide enough and plenty of room. Not realising it was on an incline, and generally getting back into fitness I had a plod at the back of the pack, on the way back realised it was descending nicely and feeling in general really good. Back to the finish and rudely beaten to a sprint finish by my running buddy, I had realised, not only had I ran the entire 5k, but that I had taken 2 minutes off last weeks’ time and got under sub 40.

Already feeling particularly smug, we stayed at the finish to see the rest come in, had a nice chat with several people who noticed (and were also wearing) Doynton Hard Half marathon finishers t-shirts, had to admit that only one of us had actually run it, the rest of us were marshalling it.

And then we went into the café….. I could go on about this forever, but as I already have waffled on for ages I’ll keep it brief. The food was amazing, I think between the two tables of us we sampled most of it and it was really, really good.

In summary – awesome parkrun, great course, great facilities, fantastic volunteers and divine food. Seeing as we did the alternative course we will just have to come back again and do the usual one when its back on, and have breakfast again.

Thank you for having us, we will be back soon.
Lynsey and the Curly Wurly gang

This week 142 people ran, jogged and walked the course, of whom 42 were first timers and 42 recorded new Personal Bests. Representatives of 26 different clubs took part.

The event was made possible by 29 volunteers:

Alan MCADAM • Rachel MCADAM • Eileen HODGSON • Ruth WATKINSON • Peter HODGSON • Vanessa CAMBRIDGE • Jane PRITCHARD • James COX • Lynsey MILES • Nea SNEDDON-JENKINS • Laura FINCH • Nick MOORE • Sally PATTERSON • Lisa PEILL • Lou DAWSON • Bex KANDIYALI • Catherine CHIDLEY • Holly BELL • David THOMPSON • William PEILL • Kimberley MONAHAN • Ada-Grace WITCHELL • Pippa-Rose WITCHELL • Roger PEILL • Nuala MONAHAN • Paul BARRON • Maggie MARRIOTT • Paul HOLBROOK • Bernadette BELL

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

The male record is held by Alex BAMPTON who recorded a time of 16:24 on 24th August 2019 (event number 15).
The female record is held by Erica MARTIN who recorded a time of 19:20 on 24th August 2019 (event number 15).
The Age Grade course record is held by Mary DERRICK who recorded 89.20% (21:45) on 21st September 2019 (event number 19).

Tetbury Goods Shed parkrun started on 18th May 2019. Since then 2,061 participants have completed 4,166 parkruns covering a total distance of 20,830 km, including 787 new Personal Bests. A total of 214 individuals have volunteered 1,011 times.

Whilst offering respite from recent heavy rain, the frosty morning was quite a shock to my system and it took my muscles a little while to warm up this morning. Thankfully, the welcoming run director was running a tight ship with a great bunch of volunteers and the run started on time. I was pleased to learn during the briefing that the flat out and back was scheduled for this morning, although I look forward to returning to try the hillier route in future. I am grateful to the event team who have developed this alternative route, especially as I have several friends who were unable to participate in their chosen parkruns due to ice on the routes, making them unsafe.

Congratulations to Nigel Crunden on his 50th parkrun and Gerard Newman on his 100th. There was also a big birthday being celebrated, not least due to the fantastic breakfasts and cakes being served in the Goods Shed Café.

Today offered me so much more than a run in the park. I chatted to some lovely people. Some were members of the local running group – Tetbury Dolphins Running Club. I heard stories of how couch to 5ks had progressed to 10ks, half marathons and beyond and how parkrun has played an integral part in those journeys. I have a book recommendation – ‘Girl, Woman, Other’ by Bernadine Evaristo. The book follows the lives of 12 characters in the UK over the course of several decades and I am looking forward to reading this Booker Prize winning work and I learned of a podcast ‘How to Fail’ by Elizabeth Day. I don’t know what I’ll make of these but it’s great to have found out about them and had the chance to chat with fellow runners - all on our own journeys, sharing in parkrun.

This week 130 people ran, jogged or walked the course. 39 of whom were first timers at Tetbury Goods Shed and 6 who were venturing to parkrun for the very first time. At the other end of the spectrum, there were also 6 runners there who have completed over 250 parkruns each. There were 27 pbs for the course today.

Today’s event was made possible by 28 volunteers who braved the cold to enable the parkrun to go ahead safely for all. Thank you to:

Paul BARRON, Bernadette BELL, James COX, Lou DAWSON, Stuart DENNIS, Gill Mary ELLIS, Katy HAZELL, Marc HINTON, Mary HINTON, Taryn HOBSON, Peter HODGSON, Chris HOPKIN, Matilda LUCKETT, Keith MONAHAN, Nuala MONAHAN, Kimberley MONAHAN, Nick MOORE, Sally PATTERSON, Lisa PEILL, Roger PEILL, William PEILL, Jane PRITCHARD, Anne ROUSE, Darren SHEPPARD, Darcy SHEPPARD, Jacqui SNEDDON-JENKINS, Pippa-Rose WITCHELL, Ada-Grace WITCHELL

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

The female record is held by Erica MARTIN who recorded a time of 19:20 on 24th August 2019 (event number 15).
The male record is held by Alex BAMPTON who recorded a time of 16:24 on 24th August 2019 (event number 15).
The Age Grade course record is held by Mary DERRICK who recorded 89.20% (21:45) on 21st September 2019 (event number 19).

Tetbury Goods Shed parkrun started on 18th May 2019. Since then 2,019 participants have completed 4,024 parkruns covering a total distance of 20,120 km, including 745 new Personal Bests. A total of 212 individuals have volunteered 982 times.

The Tetbury Goods Shed parkrun is really on a roll (though we hope not literally for the runners dodging the tree roots), with 148 people, quite a few dogs, and a baby buggy or two turning up on a chilly damp January morning for the 36th run. For those hoping for the challenging hilly route, it might have been just a tiny bit disappointing, as heavy rain and mud earlier in the week meant we stayed on the dairy-free “out and back” alternative route for one more week. Some of us, however, were secretly relieved!

Take a close look at the stats, and you can see too that we are hosting a lot of first timers. In fact, over one third of the runners last week were doing their first parkrun at TGS. A big shout out to them for giving our parkrun a try, and please come back. It gets easier with time! We also attract people from all over. Your event writer met two visiting runners later in the morning – they were on the Chipping steps trying to find their way back to the car park – and heard how much they’d enjoyed the friendly atmosphere and hearty breakfast at the Goods Shed parkrun.

With the first snowdrops coming up, it won’t be long before we’re back on the hilly route when it dries out. Thanks to all who are running with us in mud season meanwhile, and thanks especially to our wonderful volunteers, who are always so friendly and encouraging, and to this week’s Run Director Pete Hodgson, who keeps us all in line.

This week 148 people ran, jogged and walked the course, of whom 52 were first timers and 31 recorded new Personal Bests. Representatives of 28 different clubs took part.

The event was made possible by 22 volunteers:

Stuart CAMPS • Victoria GIBSON-ROBINSON • Peter HODGSON • Vanessa CAMBRIDGE • Katy HAZELL • Laura FINCH • Scott CORNELL • Lisa PEILL • Lou DAWSON • Jenny WARNER • Catherine CHIDLEY • Tom FRYER • Holly BELL • Robert WATTS • Nicola IND • Kimberley MONAHAN • Lucy ANDREWS • Ada-Grace WITCHELL • Pippa-Rose WITCHELL • Nuala MONAHAN • Maggie MARRIOTT • Bernadette BELL
Today's full results and a complete event history can be found on the Tetbury Goods Shed parkrun Results Page.

The female record is held by Erica MARTIN who recorded a time of 19:20 on 24th August 2019 (event number 15).
The male record is held by Alex BAMPTON who recorded a time of 16:24 on 24th August 2019 (event number 15).
The Age Grade course record is held by Mary DERRICK who recorded 89.20% (21:45) on 21st September 2019 (event number 19).

Tetbury Goods Shed parkrun started on 18th May 2019. Since then 1,980 participants have completed 3,894 parkruns covering a total distance of 19,470 km, including 718 new Personal Bests. A total of 210 individuals have volunteered 953 times.

From Paul Robinson, Sarah Blackstone

After a last-minute change of plans yesterday, we looked around for a parkrun close to home (Bristol) that we hadn’t yet completed in order to keep our current tourism streak going. We had both heard very good things about the parkrun here at Tetbury from other runners as we travelled about and this was not too far away to make the journey this morning.

A question on one of the Facebook pages about the conditions on the trail confirmed that either Trail or Road shoes would be ok here – we both chose road shoes and generally it was ok, although the extra grip on the muddier bits may have been nice.

We also saw on the official TGS Facebook page that they were running the alternative route today and that there were available toilets, plenty free parking and breakfast available at the Start / Finish area. We noted the call for foodbank donations so came armed with tea and biscuits for that cause. A not to early start this morning and we arrived at the parking in good time, investigated the facilities and said hello to the volunteers.

Before long, it was time for the new runners briefing, a good crowd of tourists from other parkruns gathered alongside a family brand new to the parkrun experience, welcome to parkrun, hope you all enjoyed it.

The general safety briefing was next, led by todays RD Peter, detailing any known hazards along the route (tree routes and muddy bits), milestone achievements, a shout out to our fellow visitors and of course a big thank you to all the volunteers, without whom this and all the other parkrun events worldwide would not be able to take place.

Bang on 9am there was a flurry of bright, shiny new Christmas trainers and we were off, around the goods shed, around the carpark and onto the old railway line. The path was not overcrowded, and it didn’t take long to find a comfortable place amongst the other runners.

As we went along the number of muddy bits increased slightly, but not enough for us to slip or slide. The marshals, big, small and furry, were all encouraging and cheerful and a welcome sight, with ample opportunities for high fives. Before long the faster runners appeared on their return journey and that meant the turn around point shouldn’t be much further away. The return felt like it had a very slight welcome downward slope, which helped us both make the third mile our fastest of the day. The trim trail came back into sight, and then the carpark, before the goods shed and the finish was within reaching distance.

An efficient finish process saw us out by the scanners in no time and onto the table of cakes, kindly brought by Elaine and Sally who were celebrating the brilliant achievement of 25 volunteer days each. Look out for them soon in their snazzy new purple t-shirts.

Next was the real reason we come and parkrun, the post parkrun breakfast experience

Last Parkrun of the decade and 3rd highest ever attendance at Tetbury Goods Shed parkrun.

A misty and mild start to Event 34 in Tetbury. Ongoing soggy conditions underfoot meant the RD had already decided on the ‘out and back’ route along the disused railway line. The mix of man made and natures earthy paths were enjoyed safely with the great support from some of the much valued volunteers - a big thank you to all volunteers.

Runners and walkers, some accompanied by dogs and buggies, were greeted with high fives and smiles from enthusiastic young volunteers along the way - all helping to make parkrun such a great community event.

This 28th December event fell nicely in the middle of the festive period. This may well have contributed to a good turnout, with friends and relatives joining regular Parkrunners. So there were good number of parkrun ‘tourists’ today including visitors from California and The Bahamas! Some runners from a neighbouring parkrun came along too as Cirencester course wasn’t open.

These bolstered numbers meant that lots of first timers had some fantastic support. Let’s hope today was the first of many happy ‘parkrundays’ to come for you FT’ers.

A great festive event, well done all - Tetbury Goodshed like other parkruns is all set to go from strength to strength in 2020 and beyond.

This week 161 people ran, jogged and walked the course, of whom 83 were first timers and 35 recorded new Personal Bests. Representatives of 39 different clubs took part.

The event was made possible by 26 volunteers:

Martin MATTHEWS • Eileen HODGSON • Jon MURGATROYD • Peter HODGSON • Chris HOPKIN • Jane PRITCHARD • Katy HAZELL • Claire AVERY • Nick MOORE • Sally PATTERSON • Lisa PEILL • Lou DAWSON • Catherine CHIDLEY • Keith MONAHAN • Darcy SHEPPARD • Darren SHEPPARD • David BALL • Helen DONNELLY • William PEILL • Emma CAUSER-HOLBROOK • Roger PEILL • Nuala MONAHAN • Maggie MARRIOTT • Bernadette BELL • Kirsty MCKENZIE • Gillian WALKER

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

The male record is held by Alex BAMPTON who recorded a time of 16:24 on 24th August 2019 (event number 15).
The female record is held by Erica MARTIN who recorded a time of 19:20 on 24th August 2019 (event number 15).
The Age Grade course record is held by Mary DERRICK who recorded 89.20% (21:45) on 21st September 2019 (event number 19).

Tetbury Goods Shed parkrun started on 18th May 2019. Since then 1,873 participants have completed 3,588 parkruns covering a total distance of 17,940 km, including 654 new Personal Bests. A total of 200 individuals have volunteered 898 times.