A few Claremonter’s chose to rest up this Saturday, with the Port of Blyth 10k in particular occupying several of our runners attentions. Even so, there was still a healthy turnout from the sky-blues, with several flying solo at parkruns both near and far.
Catherine Young was this week’s representative in the capital, reuniting with old friends at Mile End. Closer to home, Clare McKitterick returned to Tyne Green in Hexham, beating her previous time for a quality course PB, while Mariana Mouzinho strayed into Mackem territory, running in the shadow of the Penshaw Monument at Herrington Country Park. Good also to see Kat Truong running at Gateshead, a year on since her last parkrun.
As is often the case, our presence was largest at Newcastle’s two central parkruns. Mungai Wairia may have crossed the line well clear of his club-mates at Town Moor, but it was close between Brian Hegarty, David Devennie and Luke Woodend, all finishing within 50 seconds of each other. Sarah Collins must take the plaudits, however, grabbing herself a PB. Over at Leazes, Alex Anslow joined the 100 club, presumably also joining the apparently lengthy waiting list for one of those prized black t-shirts.
North of the border, Elizabeth O’Mahony popped up in North Lanarkshire, east of Glasgow, at Drumpellier Country Park. Mentioned by a fellow tourist in the parkrun report: “It was during the briefing that I discovered more tourists were here – amongst them were Sid and Elizabeth from Durham and Newcastle, they were up for a family party on Saturday evening – Sid had grown up near to Drumpellier and was so impressed with the Visitor Centre, café and the development of the paths around the lake – none of this existing previously.”
Possibly the biggest fools this 1st April, Maria Dueñas and myself took up the offer of a lift to Edinburgh, from one of our Claremont moonlighters, Jack Shawcross.
A 6:30am departure time led to a cursory musing on the sanity of our choices, and though I could potentially claim a family commitment in the Scottish capital that evening as partial justification, realistically I would likely have gone anyway.
One quick stop in Berwick for coffee and hash browns later, we arrived by the chilly seafront in Cramond. After a freezing race in Whitley Bay barely 12 hours earlier, it was more of the same, but the wind was thankfully not as forceful as on North Tyneside. Despite the overcast day, the flat out-and-back route offered a continuous view over the Firth of Forth, with the wide promenade comfortably accommodating the 400-ish runners. Even with a bit of wind, it’s certainly got strong potential as a PB course, and the whole event had a friendly and relaxed vibe.
With current parkrun guidelines stating that events should no longer be named after the town/city they are in, due in part to many places being host to multiple parkruns (Edinburgh itself has at least 4 or 5, possibly more depending on where you draw borderlines), it was nice to be able to visit the city’s original parkrun before any potential future renaming. Regardless of its moniker, a great event, well worth a visit if you should find yourself out that way (or are mad enough to drive2 and a half hours just to do a parkrun).
