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Hi
In line with the decision taken by parkrun HQ our weekly run at Wormwood Scrubs will be suspended until at least the end of March.
For further information, please visit: https://www.parkrun.com/news/2020/03/12/covid-19/
Stay safe and hope to see you all soon in the near future.
Ben
Event Director
Hi
Sadly conditions have only mildly improved since last week and there is still plenty of standing water and a whole lot of mud.
For the safety of all our participants I am once again sadly having to cancel this Saturday's run.
Here's hoping normal service will return next week.
Kind regards
Ben
Event Director
Hi
Based on the condition of the course last week and the continued rain over the past days, which will make conditions even more challenging, the parkrun this coming Saturday will not go ahead.
For those of you who still want to run then I would suggest heading to Gladstone Park, Gunnersbury or Fulham Palace.
Here's hoping normal service can return at the Scrubs on March 14th.
Best
Ben
Ben Le Rougetel
Event Director
“Is it actually getting muddier each week?!” “That was proper cross country!!” “Oh my god…”
Some quotes from the finish line today, amongst some smiling faces, a lot of well-earned sighs of relief, and some very, very muddy legs. Well done to all 77 parkrunners who ran, jogged and walked their way around another swampy and windy Scrubs parkrun.
Big hello to the 7 first time parkrunners who made it out today (Peter Ives, Tom Hallam, Lewis Roberts, Harriet Robson, Valeria Lanata, Hastings Tarrant and Claire Pritchard), and a shout out to the further 19 of you who are new to Wormwood Scrubs - hope to see you all again.
First to finish was Gideon Reid, closely pursued by Dan Druce. Heather and Josie Pawley were the first women over the line, and also first timers at this course. Good job all!Even though you are statistically more likely to lose your shoe than get a PB at the moment, Katrine Thompson and Toni Snow have defied the odds and broken their previous records – top work! While there weren’t any ‘official’ t-shirt awarded milestones today, nice work Gideon Reid and Freddie Wilson who both hit 150 parkruns, and to Nathan Sutton who completed 200!And finally the crowd goes wild for the volunteers who made it all happen today, much appreciated – Andrea Broughton, Fraser Brydson, Marion Brydson, Craig Gunn, Robin Hamilton, Courtney Ireland, Peter Jordan, Ben Le Rougetel, Thomas Lindsay, Nick Michael and Paul Oppe.
Chuck the trainers through the wash and see you next time!
Wormwood Scrubs is an underrated parkrun in the middle of London (wo)manned by a friendly team of volunteers. It is a deceptively tough course and should be a regular venue for walkers and runners who prefer to walk and run on grass (and some mud in winter).
It is flanked by a prison. One of the many remarkable things parkrun has achieved is to start parkruns in a few prisons. I read that it has given participating prisoners (and staff) a sense of purpose and achievement and is a weekly highlight.
John McAvoy, a Londoner, is currently the only Nike sponsored Ironman triathlete and he was a high profile armed robber who found redemption through the power of sport (read "Redemption: from Iron Bars to Ironman" for a truly remarkable story).
Maybe there will be a parkrun for Wormwood Scrubs prison one day.
So, this parkrun was well after Quitters' Day - well done to all of you for continuing to run. One of my favourite running quotes is by Haruki Murakami "Most runners run not because they want to live longer, but because they want to live life to the fullest".
It was a nice, crisp morning and the mud slushed as the runners' feet pounded their way around the Scrubs. I think this course is deceptive because it is flat and appears benign but it is quite soft underfoot and when the course is wet the muddy stretch at the start and at the back makes for a hard slog (ok yesterday maybe all the way around). This makes it a nice challenge. Wormwood Scrubs does not attract one of the larger attendances of the London parkruns despite the wide spaces on the course. This adds to its charm.
The volunteers here are always friendly and we thank them once again for their time and effort. Parkrun cannot survive without its volunteers and we all ought to volunteer at least a few times a year. The volunteers on Saturday (and many of them volunteer regularly at Wormwood Scrubs) were: Ben le Rougetel, Charlie le Rougetel, Fraser Brydson, Marion Brydson, Robert Ferguson, Paul Woodgate, Fran Santos, Nick Michael, Craig Gunn, Peter Jordan and Frankie Lynch.
There were a number of newcomers to parkrun and a few first timers at the Scrubs. Welcome to the parkrun family to the newcomers and may you derive the enjoyment we all do from parkrun. Hopefully the first timers return to the Scrubs. Nick Michael has done an astonishing 360 parkruns at Wormwood Scrubs (387 overall) so we have a way to go to catch up. Rizwan Rauf (304; 323), Peter Jordan (276; 276), Marion Brydson (240; 254) and Fraser Brydson (232; 236) have all done well over 200 parkruns at the Scrubs - amazing by all and real dedication from Peter (there are other parkruns in London Peter).
Congratulations to all our parkrunners. Special mention to the first three Gideon Reid, Raoul Huysmans and Andrew Scott. Lola Raghavan, Lucy Pollock and Fran Lou were the first three women - well done to Fran on completing her 100th parkrun. Lola was also the first junior home - impressive! Josh Hallam was the first male junior to finish. Joaquim Pereira managed a Personal Best in tough conditions. Finally a mention for my running mate the Catalan with his eighth place (what are friends for if they can't mention you?). Well done folks!
Rob Bricout
A merry band of 100 runners braved the squelchy mud of the 449th Wormwood Scrubs Parkrun. The sludge (temporarily) claimed a couple of running shoes but well done to everyone for getting themselves around the course safely.
A very warm welcome to the 8 first time parkrunners (Adeline Han, Kamil Riedel, Amanda Douglas, Katherine Thompson, Sophie Thompson, James Flynn, Agustin Gonzalez and Michael Burke) and all those making their debut at Wormwood Scrubs. We hope to see you again soon.
Using parkrun’s age grading % (which indicates how a parkrunner has done relative to their age and gender), the top five are Gordon Low (75.74%), Gideon Reid (68.62%), T.C. Collins (66.29%), Melissa Migliaro (65.14%) and James Malcolm (63.73%).
A special mention to those with groovy times - Jimmy Perkins with 22:22, Sophie Martin with 47:00, Stephen Eddison with 33:55.
And a drum roll please for this weeks volunteers: Andrea Broughton, Fraser Brydson, Marion Brydson, Craig Gunn, Peter Jordan, Ben Le Rougetel, Thomas Lindsey, Nick Michael, Debbie Peters-Mill and Alexander Smotrov.
Lastly, anyone for bingo? The idea is to take the seconds time from your parkrun result (the minutes are irrelevant) and cross it out on a virtual bingo card of 00 to 59. For an example, with a finish time of “31:47” you would strike off 47. Have fun going for a full house.
Keeeep running!
Author: Hayley Siva
As a (lapsed) regular to the Wormwood Scrubs parkrun course, winter conditions should not be a surprise, however, despite a week largely free of precipitation, the 5 km course can best be described with a quote from Michael Rosen’s We’re Going on a Bear Hunt.
“Uh-uh! Mud! Thick oozy mud. We can't go over it, We can't go under it. Oh no! We've got to go through it! Squelch squerch! Squelch squerch! Squelch squerch!”
Regardless, 126 runners made it around the course. The conditions probably came as a shock to the 34 individuals who were first time parkrunners and tourists. Nevertheless, six people set personal bests this week! Well done to Allan TAYLOR, Jon WESTALL, Quirin LUEBKE, Jennifer SCOULAR, Nile WILLIAMS, and Lindsay ANDERSON.
First across the line was Matthew FULLER in a time of 19:00, the first women to finish was Catherine Louise SPURIN in 26:19. Best male age graded runner was Richard BROOK in 19:53 and best female age graded runner was Joy GIORGI in 26:45. A special mention has to go to Dan WATTS, tourist from Tooting Common Parkrun, who made it around the course in 31:28 pushing his daughter Nina in a buggy. That’s a challenge even when it’s dry, let alone in this mud.
Last, but not least, a big thank you to this week’s volunteers: Ben LE ROUGETEL • Charlie LE ROUGETEL • Craig GUNN • Fran LOU • Fraser BRYDSON • Hayley SIVA • Hugh LEVINSON • Lan-Lan SMITH • Marion BRYDSON • Nick MICHAEL • Peter JORDAN • Thomas LINDSAY. There are plenty of opportunities for volunteering in the upcoming weeks, so if you fancy coming up, but not getting quite so muddy, here’s a good option.
Until next time, happy running!
Lan-Lan
I am happy to have been given this opportunity to write the run report for Wormwood Scrubs event number 445 on 4th January. The first one at this location in a new decade!
I attended as a first time tourist and I was struck by the friendliness and low key nature of the event. The location was easy to find and has free parking, changing facilities and toilets. It was a mild, dry morning but the going was soft underfoot - much softer than I have experienced at a parkrun for some time. Given that a few of the regulars were running in football boots etc I think it’s safe to say that it is probably usually that way. We shared the space on this day with the Middlesex Cross-Country championships that were taking place here too.
There were a team of 11 volunteers without whom the event could not have happened and everyone was thankful for their work. Thanks go out to Ben Le Rougetel, Robert Ferguson, Frankie Lynch, Martin Black, Colm O’Sullivan, Nich Michael, Craig Gunn, Kirsten Kitchen, Charlotte Hatfield, Marion and Fraser Brydson. Please consider volunteering yourself from time to time.
From a field of 143, first woman home was Lucy Taylor in 25:09. First male was Thomas Adamo in 20:11. Congratulations go out to David Beech of Steel City Striders who completed his 250th parkrun on this occasion. New PBs were obtained by Dominic Wallace, Josh Hallam and Francesca Warren.
All in all a great start to the twenties and everyone had a muddy but happy time!
John Wilkinson A3424048
Thanks to Nick Davies from Gunnersbury PR for the report
This week 135 people ran, jogged and walked the course, of whom 34 were first timers and 13 recorded new Personal Bests. Representatives of 17 different clubs took part.
The event was made possible by 11 volunteers:
Nick MICHAEL • Nick DAVIES • Ben LE ROUGETEL • Marion BRYDSON • Fraser BRYDSON • Paul WOODGATE • Peter JORDAN • Amy INGRAM • Craig GUNN • James AKER • Tsz Yu MA
Today's full results and a complete event history can be found on the Wormwood Scrubs parkrun Results Page.
Hi
Sorry to say there were some major issues with some of the results for today's run. Those affected would have come in between places 70-100.
If you timed your own run and have a record of it, please email wormwoodscrubs@parkrun.com with your time and parkrun ID.
I will do my best to amend times/places, but sadly I cannot make any guarantees.
Apologies once more
Ben