It was a freezing cold week as the mini “beast from the East” hit London, bringing snow and icy weather and enabling some people with Garmins to earn their “Frosty” badge for running in under -2 degrees! With snow and ice on the pavements, I thought that maybe everyone would stay indoors and do workouts with Joe Wickes instead, but Walthamstow parkrunners are made of hardy stuff with 20 parkrunners getting out and logging 33 (not)parkruns this week in an average time of 30:56. And not only did people get out and run/walk/jog a 5k this week, but 6 of you managed to get PBs – were you running extra fast to keep warm or get home quicker? Congratulations to Anna Morgan (who was also fastest female), David Watson, Simon Ormerod, Robin Roberts, Spencer Reynolds and Clare Laine on your super-speedy new PBs.

Patrick Brown was fastest (not)parkrunner overall, in a time of 17:45 minutes, but only 10 seconds behind him was Sam Jackson who logged his first (not)parkrun – welcome Sam. Sam might be a first timer to (not)parkrun, but he has run 77 out of his total of 133 parkruns at Walthamstow, and was first finisher on 5 of those occasions. We hope to see you giving Patrick a run for his money in the (not)parkrun results table in future!

We also welcomed Anne-Marie Kennedy this week, who ran her first (not)parkrun in a time of 30:18. Anne-Marie has previously run 17 of her total of 23 parkruns at Walthamstow, and has been a Run Director twice. Lovely to see you in the (not)parkrun results table, Anne-Marie.

See the full results for the week here: results | Walthamstow parkrun

Stay safe everyone – we’ll get through this together.

Ali Sheppard

Walthamstow (not)parkrun history

The female record is held by Corinna O’Sullivan who recorded a time of 20:09 at event #15.

The male record is held by Patrick Brown who recorded a time of 17:32 at event #34.

The age grade record is held by Gail Hennessy who recorded an amazing 86.96% (24:03) at event #3.

(not)parkrun is a temporary replacement for parkrun which will start again when it is safe to do so.

For more information about (not)parkrun go to http://parkrun.me/ywtjv

 

Well, he’s done it again! Since Patrick Brown started logging his (not)parkruns at the beginning of the year, he has been the fastest overall each week, and for the last two weeks has got a PB each week. And this week was no exception, as he knocked another 25 seconds off his PB whilst running on Hackney Marshes to set another ‘fastest male’ record of 17:32. Congratulations, Patrick!

Snapping at Patrick’s heels each week is Alex Pickering, who also got a PB this week, in a time of 18:26. Alex also takes the highest age grade this week with an age grading of 75.77%. Fastest female was Anna Morgan, in a time of 26:30 – well done, both!

We welcomed another first timer this week – Simon Ormerod, who is no newcomer to parkrun but who logged his first (not)parkrun in a time of 26:04. Meanwhile, smashing his way through the 50 (not)parkrun barrier was Mo Allen who logged a spectacular 6 (not)parkruns this week. Those of us who were present when Mo ran his 50^th parkrun at Walthamstow on 28 December 2019 will remember his spectacular muddy dive across the finish line – did you do the same thing for your 50^th (not)parkrun, Mo?

Also getting a (not)parkrun PB this week was Steve Peacock in a time of 29:34 – congratulations Steve. Today I was reminded of a race in the Olympic park that a number of Walthamstow parkrunners took part in this time last year, in which Steve was wearing a vest despite it being freezing! Did you wear a vest for your (not)parkrun PB Steve?

It certainly looked a lovely day for Walthamstow parkrun on 1 February 2020 – here are a few photos from that day for a trip down memory lane:

See the full results for the week here: results | Walthamstow parkrun

Stay safe everyone – we’ll get through this together.

Ali Sheppard

Walthamstow (not)parkrun history

The female record is held by Corinna O’Sullivan who recorded a time of 20:09 at event #15.

The male record is held by Patrick Brown who recorded a time of 17:32 at event #34.

The age grade record is held by Gail Hennessy who recorded an amazing 86.96% (24:03) at event #3.

(not)parkrun is a temporary replacement for parkrun which will start again when it is safe to do so.

For more information about (not)parkrun go to http://parkrun.me/ywtjv

 

This was a special and emotive week for Walthamstow parkrun, as 26^th January was our 8^th Anniversary. It's hard to imagine back to the beginning of 2013 when Walthamstow parkrun was just a twinkle in Sharron Rooney’s eye, which must have had a little tear in it when it all came to fruition and the first Walthamstow parkrun was run. Looking at the results for that very first parkrun, I notice a number of familiar names, as this was in the days when members of the parkrun ‘tourist’ community would turn up en masse at the inaugural event to lend support! There were 63 runners at Walthamstow on 26 January 2013, with first finisher being Danny Norman in a time of 17:48. Danny now presents a podcast all about parkrun called “With Me Now” which amazingly has kept going throughout the time that parkrun has not been running, and has actually built up a strong, supportive community throughout the lockdowns, running daily ‘live’ feeds on facebook and youtube as well as the weekly podcast.

Finishing in 6^th place back in 2013 was parkrun’s founder, Paul Sinton-Hewitt, in a very respectable time of 20:52, whilst Paul’s wife Jo Sinton-Hewitt was a volunteer. Sharron Rooney, Walthamstow’s founder, was volunteering of course, to make sure her baby went well on its first outing, but another familiar name caught my eye amongst the volunteers – Gerry Trill. Gerry has been a stalwart of Walthamstow parkrun throughout the last 8 years and we are very grateful for his support. If you would like a trip down memory lane, you can see the results for the very first Walthamstow parkrun here: results | Walthamstow parkrun

In previous years we have celebrated the anniversary, with a bit of a ‘do’ after our anniversary parkrun which has involved some wonderful cake, of course! Sadly we have not been able to do that this year due to the Coronavirus pandemic, but I’m sure we’ll be able to make up for it at some point. When parkrun does return it will seem like a huge celebration anyway, and the light at the end of the tunnel!

In the meantime, although parkrun may not be on, we can continue to take exercise and enjoy our parkrun community, albeit that it has to be virtually at the moment. Last week 20 different Walthamstow parkrunners logged 42 (not)parkruns, in an average time of 32:49 minutes. Over the last few weeks super-speedy Patrick Brown has been running a 5k and getting faster and faster, breaking our (not)parkrun male record each week, and this was no exception as he got another new (not)parkrun PB and smashed through the 18 minute barrier to finish in a time of 17:57 – so only 9 seconds slower than Danny Norman’s time on the first Walthamstow parkrun! Patrick ran this week on the site of Hackney Marshes parkrun course, so he didn’t have to stop to cross any roads. If he does this route again, who knows if he’ll smash it again?

Fastest female this week was Anna Morgan, in a time of 25:00 minutes, whilst Liz Worrall also had a speedy week and got a new PB in a time of 28:57 – well done, ladies! Congratulations are also due to David Watson who ran 2 (not)parkruns this week to take his total number of (not)parkruns to 50 – red tee shirt territory! David had run 305 parkruns before they stopped, with 83 of them being at Walthamstow.

See the full results for the week here: results | Walthamstow parkrun

Stay safe everyone – we’ll get through this together.

Ali Sheppard

Walthamstow (not)parkrun history

The female record is held by Corinna O’Sullivan who recorded a time of 20:09 at event #15.

The male record is held by Patrick Brown who recorded a time of 17:57 at event #33.

The age grade record is held by Gail Hennessy who recorded an amazing 86.96% (24:03) at event #3.

(not)parkrun is a temporary replacement for parkrun which will start again when it is safe to do so.

For more information about (not)parkrun go to http://parkrun.me/ywtjv

 

Whoop-whoop – another record breaking week for Walthamstow (not)parkrun! This week 13 parkrunners ran 33 (not)parkruns with an average time of 30:21 minutes. This is two more than our previous record of 31 (not)parkruns last week. Doing a lot of the “heavy lifting” in helping push the numbers up was Gail Seal who ran 7 (not)parkruns again this week for the second week running, but not far behind Gail were Mo Allen and Anna Ligia Oprean, who each ran 5 (not)parkruns – I’m sure this must be the New Year effect! Although many of you are attempting to Run Every Day (RED) in January, it takes some dedication and stamina to run a minimum of 5k every day, that’s some going. Although I only ran 2 (not)parkruns this week, they brought me to my 50 (not)parkrun total and a virtual red 50 t-shirt! I shall make sure I run any (not)parkruns wearing my 50 tee this week to mark the occasion myself!

There was only one new “PB” this week – congratulations go to David Watson who got a new (not)parkrun PB of 24:41 minutes. Fastest male and fastest overall this week was Patrick Brown of East London Runners in a time of 18:23, only 3 seconds away from the record he previously set, and fastest female was Anna Morgan of Eton Manor in a time of 24:57 minutes. I mention their respective clubs, because there have been a couple of changes to your parkrun profiles this week which you may not be aware of. Firstly, you can now align yourself to up to 5 different running clubs on your profile. So you can ‘represent’ Eton Manor, Vegan Runners and even show that you are a fan of the parkrun podcast “With Me Now” when you log your (not)parkruns. Only the 1^st club will show on the results, but if you click on the club, you will see all other members of that club who logged a (not)parkrun in that week, wherever they ran.

The other change that has been made to parkrun profiles this week, is that your (not)parkruns now show up on your profile, so you can track your progress – or just your dedication! If you run more than one (not)parkrun in a week, only your fastest will show up on your profile. To see your list of (not)parkruns, click on your name in the results. Then click on “View stats for all parkruns by this parkrunner” to bring up your full stats. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and your (not)parkruns are shown at the bottom of the page, under any freedom parkruns you may have done.

See the full results here: results | Walthamstow parkrun

Stay safe everyone – we’ll get through this together.

Ali Sheppard

Walthamstow (not)parkrun history

The female record is held by Corinna O’Sullivan who recorded a time of 20:09 at event #15.

The male record is held by Patrick Brown who recorded a time of 18:20 at event #29.

The age grade record is held by Gail Hennessy who recorded an amazing 86.96% (24:03) at event #3.

(not)parkrun is a temporary replacement for parkrun which will start again when it is safe to do so.

For more information about (not)parkrun go to http://parkrun.me/ywtjv