An amazing morning at Walthamstow Parkrun made possible by 20 volunteers this morning. These runs cannot happen without our Pink high vis Heroes. New volunteers always welcome.

TAIL WALKER - Volunteer role where you add to your run & Volunteer total.

The event was made possible by 20 volunteers:

Alex PICKERING • Sharron ROONEY • Steve PEACOCK • Anna ROMAN • Daniel PHELPS • Paul STARES • Adam BURTON • Sue LOUISE • Janine DURRANT • Lynne DURRANT • Darren LAMB • Jodie LAMB • Jamie LAMB • Katy AMBROSE • Derek JUDGE • Andrew JACOBS • Holly LAMB • Antony SMITH • Allison MCINTOSH • Claire LOVELL.

We had a huge turnout of 166 people ran, jogged and walked the course, of whom 36 were first timers and 24 recorded new Personal Bests. Representatives of 17 different clubs took part.

First Female:  Rachel Morison in a time of 20:53 a new PB, Well done.

First Male:  David Wilson in a time of 18:47.

Random runner of the week - Holly picked number 34  which was Sam Hunt who recorded a time of 24.04,  he has completed 42 parkruns, today was his second visit to Walthamstow.  Results page

Today we also celebrated one of our regular runner's 300th Parkrun,  Penny completed her 300th run in a time 37:19, she has completed 281 of her runs at Walthamstow starting on the 9th March 2013 at Walthamstow parkrun's 7th run in a time of 36:57, which is an amazing achievement to still be able to run near the time that she started her parkrun journey over 8 years ago.  Well Done Penny.

Penny completing her 300th Parkrun. Which equals 1,500,000 metres/ 932 miles. An awesome achievement!

Congratulation's Penny

Caricature of Penny by another of our regulars Ellis

Have a great week everyone.

See you next week.

Walthamstow core volunteer team.

Walthamstow run 369 welcomed 141 runners and walkers to the course this morning with a large group of 28 first timers. The first male home was Joshua Rees in 17:37 and the first female home was Anna Roman in 23:06. Well done to both of them. Coincidentally it was also Anna's 100th parkrun today along with Richard Selby, both of whom received a much prized certificate from the Run Director! Congratulations to the 22 runners who recorded personal best times.

Many Walthamstow parkrun runners are volunteers at tomorrow's Vitality Central London Half Marathon and a number of our regular runners are taking part including our Event Director Sharron Rooney, a regular runner John Gamble and today's Run Director Steve Peacock (me! - I must be mad). I'm sure there will be others too. Good luck to everyone running Vitality or any of the other events taking place this week.

We'll be back same time and place next Saturday when Gerry will be your Run Director.

Have a good week everyone.

Thanks to today's 13 volunteers who ensured the run could go ahead.

Sharron ROONEY • Leoni MITCHELL • Steve PEACOCK • Maureen BARRY • Janine DURRANT • Lynne DURRANT • Darren LAMB • Katy AMBROSE • Mo ALLEN • Derek JUDGE • Kieran YEATES • Karen SIBLEY • Jonathan BLAKE

After last week’s slightly soggy parkrun, it was great to see that the sun had put its hat on and came out to play for the 140 people who ran, jogged and walked around the Peter May centre this morning.

We were particularly pleased to see the sun today as we had Will Haydon from Waltham Forest Council filming some of our regular parkrunners for a campaign the council is doing to show Waltham Forest residents what sporting facilities are on offer in the borough, and to encourage people to get out there and take part in communal activities. And what better place to do so than parkrun?! When the resulting film is complete we will put a link up to it on our website and on our facebook page so that you can all see it and hear from our parkrunners about what parkrun means to them.

First timers

32 people had already made the decision to get out and join in for the first time at Walthamstow parkrun, and of these first timers, 10 were doing their very first parkrun ever! A huge warm welcome goes to:

Thomas Rajaona, Louie Molloy, Declan Andrews, Marco Duva, Ronan Redding, Kynan Redding, Ryan Price, Ian Atkins, Laichan Chau, Nicki Johnson, Anibal Santaella Sanchez, John Rainbow, Sara Erviti, Marianne Capes, Rizwaan Malik, Louise Sheppey, Felix Gott, Tim Woodman, Robbie Drye, Molly Critchley, Sophie Wilkins, Robin Lomax, William Bowry, Oliver Kenney, Hein Gunnewicht, Christopher Ward, Owen Edwards, Chris Day, Jason Nourse and John Punt.

Some of these first timers at Walthamstow are old hands at other parkruns, such as Chris Ward (pictured below) who had come all the way from Ellesmere Port, and who I think just edged Mark O’Leary from Macclesfield as the furthest parkrun tourist! We hope you both enjoyed your time with us this morning.

First finishers and PBs

Our first finisher this week was Patrick Brown who ran barefoot around the course in 18:32 minutes, whilst our fastest female runner was Sally Harrild in a time of 21:55 minutes. Patrick tells me that he enjoys running barefoot and he thinks that it strengthens the feet and he has had fewer injuries since taking up barefoot running, so maybe I should give it a go!

The conditions underfoot must certainly have been very good today because no fewer than 28 of you recorded new Personal Bests! A huge congratulations to:

James Glossop, Gareth Marshall, Kevin Ryan, Wilkie Hollens, Darren Fryer, Ben Dolman, Mo Allen, Stuart Grey, John Parkinson, Simon Nash, Diana Kennedy, Stephen Cole, Pablo Gonzalez de la Pena, Steve Burr, Lorna Ross, Rowan Barrington, Mika Sembongi, Jake Rajaona, Frieda Johnston, Mark O’Leary, Adriana Stankova, Phillip Marshall, Tom Myers, Kate Myers, Julie Marsh, Sue Malherbe and Jean Norton.

Those with new PBs included Jean Norton who has recorded a new PB every week since she did her first ever parkrun four weeks ago! Another PB next week, Jean?!  Also Mo Allen got a new PB, showing that all his hard work and training running up Pole Hill over the lockdowns has really stood him in good stead, although he had to have a long sit/lie-down afterwards to recover!

Children

One of the things I love about parkrun is that people of all ages can take part, including children. I didn’t manage to capture Thomas and Jake giving each other a congratulatory hug after finishing their parkrun this morning, but fortunately they posed for a photo – and I really hope they enjoyed their runs.

We want children to have an overwhelmingly positive experience at parkrun; participating because they want to, in a way they want to; and in a safe environment at all times. But I completely forgot to say in the run brief this morning, that one of parkrun’s rules is that in order that this can be achieved, children under the age of 11 must be within arm’s reach of a parent, guardian or designated adult of the parents’ choice at all times. Hopefully if I put it here I’ll remember to say this the next time I’m Run Director!

Volunteers

I’ve saved the best until last, but I want to give the hugest of thanks to our wonderful volunteers who stepped up this week to make sure that the run could take place. So thank you to:

Alex PICKERING • Sharron ROONEY • Bridget SOLECKA • Angela LAMBERT • Steve PEACOCK • Maggie BAVINGTON • Ali SHEPPARD • Maureen BARRY • Anna ROMAN • Dylan WILLIAMS • Lynne DURRANT • Darren LAMB • Holly LAMB • Gail SEAL

One thing that we noticed today is that the Virtual Volunteer app that we use for timekeeping and scanning is very sensitive, which is a good thing from a Covid point of view, as sweaty, heavy-breathing runners don’t need to get so close to the scanners – the app will pick up the barcode from 2 metres away! However, one person this morning approached the barcode scanning station holding two finish tokens and two barcodes – because the app is so sensitive it got a bit confused and couldn’t work out which token went with which barcode! So could I put out a request that when approaching the barcode scanning station you keep a good social distance away and just hold up one barcode and one finish token at a time please?

Our future volunteer roster is looking a bit thin on the ground for the next few weeks, which is always the way in the summer when people might be away on holiday. So please take a look at the roster here: future roster | Walthamstow parkrun and see if there is a week you could help out – why not try a different role that you haven’t done before? Just email walthamstow@parkrun.com with the week that you would like to volunteer, the role you would like to do, and your barcode number so that we can add you to the roster. And then you too could have that warm glow and look as happy as Anna does in the photo below!

That’s all folks – next week your Run Director will be the very capable Steve Peacock so you are in good hands!

Ali Sheppard, RD

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

The female record is held by Linda HUYCK who recorded a time of 19:11 on 12th April 2014 (event number 62).
The male record is held by Euan BROWN who recorded a time of 16:09 on 9th June 2018 (event number 274).
The Age Grade course record is held by Paul REDDAWAY who recorded 86.57% (18:22) on 22nd June 2019 (event number 328).

Walthamstow parkrun started on 26th January 2013. Since then 4,708 participants have completed 30,139 parkruns covering a total distance of 150,695 km, including 5,128 new Personal Bests. A total of 529 individuals have volunteered 4,364 times.

This week was the second week back after parkrun re-started in England, and it was as if we’d never been away! We were in the capable hands of Run Director Gillian Andrews this week, who showed us her ‘jazz hands’ before show-time as she delivered the run brief with aplomb!

We were worried that people might have forgotten us over the last year or that people might have gotten out of the parkrun habit, or be anxious about coming back, but we needn’t have worried – today we had a very respectable field of 119 runners/joggers and walkers. Out of those 119 participants, over a quarter of the field (31 people) were visiting Walthamstow parkrun for the first time. And out of those 31 first-timers, just over 40% were completing their very first parkrun ever. So a huge, warm, Walthamstow welcome goes to the following – with thanks for choosing Walthamstow for your first ever parkrun:

Samuel Skipper, Anthony Hall, Lauren Misquita, Rowan Barrington, Mika Sembongi, Kenneth Johnston-Cowley, Sacha Than, Philip Au, Sarah France, Andrew Pyner, Jessica Fryer, Michael Johnston-Cowley, and Kathleen Gibbons.

The other first timers at Walthamstow, who also get a big welcome, were:

Oli Monks, Darren Fryer, Julia Bunney, Simon Nash, Will Vile, Hannah Jones, Olivia Vile, Joshua Rees, Sarah Flanagan, Sabina Nizamuddin, Hanna Vile, James Glossop, Bryony Irvine, Benjamin Green, George Pidgeon, Stephen Cole, Steve Button, and Michael Burt.

Our fastest male and female finishers today were all first timers to Walthamstow! Congratulations to Samuel Skipper and Joshua Rees, who finished in positions 1 and 2 today, and also to Sarah Flanagan of local running club Eton Manor AC who was our fastest female runner.

14 of you also got PBs – have the Olympics been inspiring you?! Did you know that Alex Yee, who won a Gold medal in the mixed relay triathlon and silver in the men’s triathlon for Team GB, is a parkrunner? He holds the course record at Dulwich parkrun which he ran in an incredible 13:57 minutes on 29 December 2018! Also you may have been inspired by the breakout TV star of the games, Lutalo Muhammad, who won bronze at the 2012 Olympics and silver at the 2016 Olympics in Taekwondo, and who hails originally from Walthamstow!

Whoever is inspiring you, congratulations go to:

Jack Stonebridge, Mahmoud Sanni-Oba, Kieran Yeates, John Parkinson, Stuart Grey, Christopher Reid, Chris Floyd, Ian West, David Floyd, Louise Taylor, Sian Williams, Tom Myers, Kate Myers and Jean Norton

… for your shiny new PBs. And the eagle-eyed amongst you will have noticed that both John Parkinson and Louise Taylor got a new PB last week too, so that’s two weeks in a row. Can you make it three weeks with a PB next week? There’s a challenge for you!

It was lovely to see Christopher Reid running so strongly today and getting a new PB. Christopher is a keen athlete who hopes to represent Team GB in the next Paralympic games in 400m and 800m running events. Christopher has a learning disability and has had mental health difficulties in the past and he blogs about his experiences to raise awareness and advocate for others who may need support. Chris has raised over £7,000 in the past for various charities, and is undertaking a fundraising walk in August to raise money for DanceSyndrome in memory of his late father, Howard Reid: Christopher Reid is fundraising for DanceSyndrome (justgiving.com)

We had 20 fabulous volunteers this week, making sure it all ran like clockwork. Volunteers are the backbone of parkrun and it simply wouldn’t happen without them, so a huge thank you to:

Gerard TRILL • Steve BYWATER • Sharron ROONEY • Stephen THOMPSON • Mary BURKETT • Leoni MITCHELL • Dermot HUGHES • Gillian ANDREWS • Steve PEACOCK • Ali SHEPPARD • Jon GAMBLE • Karen VARNEY • Sue LOUISE • Janine DURRANT • Lynne DURRANT • Darren LAMB • Derek JUDGE • Holly LAMB • Karen SIBLEY • David CHRISTMAS

We had another first timer at his very first parkrun amongst the volunteers this week – David Christmas who was on barcode scanning duties this week - welcome, David!

On the subject of barcode scanning, now we are using the Virtual Volunteer app instead of the old-fashioned scanners, there is no need to get so close to the barcode scanners, as the app is very sensitive, so it is more Covid-safe. There’s no need to rush straightaway to get your token scanned either; your time is taken when you cross the finish line not when you get scanned, so it’s perfectly fine to get your breath back and recover, retrieve your barcode and then present yourself to the scanners when you’re ready. Choose a barcode scanner without queues, and it would really help them if you could get your barcodes and finish tokens ready and hand them out so that they can be scanned from a distance, like in the photo below (photo courtesy of Emma Shaw, Perry Hall parkrun):

And if your printed barcode is getting a bit crumpled and torn, why not treat yourself – or treat a friend – to one of parkrun’s snazzy barcode wristbands, cards or tags? The key fobs come in a set of 3 so you can keep one in your car, on your shoelaces, in your phone cover – lots of places to make sure that you never forget your barcode! Order them here: parkrun Barcode (parkrun-barcode.com)

As ever, we need volunteers - lots of them - over the next few weeks! There are lots of roles than can be done, including some where you can run and volunteer in the same week! For example, do you fancy writing the run report next week?! Take a look at the future roster to see if you can help out at all over the next few weeks, and if you click on the role on the left of the roster, it will take you to a description of the role. future roster | Walthamstow parkrun

Today's full results and a complete event history can be found on the Walthamstow parkrun Results Page: results | Walthamstow parkrun

See you next week, and #DFYB! (Don't Forget Your Barcode!)

Ali Sheppard

The female record is held by Linda HUYCK who recorded a time of 19:11 on 12th April 2014 (event number 62).

The male record is held by Euan BROWN who recorded a time of 16:09 on 9th June 2018 (event number 274).

The Age Grade course record is held by Paul REDDAWAY who recorded 86.57% (18:22) on 22nd June 2019 (event number 328).

Walthamstow parkrun started on 26th January 2013. Since then 4,666 participants have completed 29,932 parkruns covering a total distance of 149,660 km, including 5,095 new Personal Bests. A total of 529 individuals have volunteered 4,334 times.