On the first weekend of the summer holidays we had 124 runners and an impressive 31 volunteers, thanks very much to all of you! We also had visitors from Leicestershire and Darlington, very nice to see, and we hope they liked our course as much as we do. There were 33 PBs and 21 first timers.

After a week off from Junior Parkrun, 106 children came to Upton House today. The weather was extremely hot and sunny for our run.

Junior Parkrunners don’t mind this and are happy to run in any weather. The trees gave us some shade from the sun for part of the course but it didn’t help once the children ran back out onto the gravel path. It was so hot that some children took their shirts off and there were some very sweaty adults too!

Everyone did really well to finish in this hot weather and we hope everyone enjoyed their run. Maybe we should ask the marshals to come with big water pistols to cool us off on hot days!

Big thanks to all our high-viz heroes who make our Parkrun possible.

Sophie Ream Age 9.

A sea of colour adorned Upton Country Park as 132 children visited Upton House Junior parkrun on Sunday to meet Stormy Stan the Lifeboat Man and his friends from RNLI.

Stormy Stan was a big hit with the runners, helping Deanna with a fun Swim-Safe themed warm-up as the children exercised to the four stay-safe themes of “Stop and Think” and ”Stay Together”, “Float” and “Call for help” before embarking on the 2 kilometre run around the Park.

RNLI crew and staff joined the parkrun volunteers to line the route to give their support and high-fives to the runners, whilst the children celebrated the work of RNLI by wearing the organisation’s colours of Red, Yellow, Orange or Blue.
Stormy Stan was on hand near the finish line for a final high-five at the top of the hill as the children launched their sprint finishes, including 34 of the competitors who achieved new personal-best times.

Many of the children were also fascinated to meet staff of the RNLI and crew members in uniform and ask questions about the amazing job the RNLI do providing safe areas for us all to enjoy the water and our beautiful beaches here in Dorset, and around the country. Just like junior parkrun, the RNLI rely on volunteers to keep us safe and their brave teams of lifeboat crews and lifeguards provide an essential safety role around the UK and Ireland.
21 of the runners were first-timers to Upton Junior parkrun, including the first-placed boy Charlie Cox. First-placed girl was Isabella Garavina who raced to a new Personal Best time.