With our “home” parkrun at Leazes having a week off, and Whitley Bay also taking a rest, we spread ourselves around the North East this week. There was also a fair bit of tourism with Claremonters taking advantage of holidays and weekends away to sample the local events from the Outer Hebrides to the Midlands, with one trip “abroad” to Ireland.
Eight of us ventured up the Spine Road to sample the delights of the recently created Ashington Community Woodland – and it truly is a delightful run on trails through the woods. We did ourselves proud too as three of us (Maria Dueñas, Gill Milne and Tom Tinsley) now hold age category records for the course! OK, it was only the 6th event and the records probably won’t last long, but we can enjoy it while it lasts. Maria was also 2nd female.
There was sky blue success also at other local events too, with Cate Walker surprising herself to be 1st lady at Windy Nook. There was a course PB at Rising Sun for Mark Anderson, and the fast improving Aaron Mansell ran his quickest ever parkrun (again!) at Riverside, ditto Jason Tipples at Town Moor.
It must be said that our parkrun tourists all did us proud. A massive well done to Laurie Johnson who came 1st at Sport Ireland parkrun near Dublin – see his account of the event here. Izzy Neatrour finished as 2nd lady way up north at Lews Castle parkrun just outside Stornoway on the island of Lewis and Harris (that one has to go on the bucket list!). Nearer home, but in the equally scenic Lake District, Sarah Kerr was 1st lady at Keswick. Like Aaron and Jason, Sarah posted her fastest ever parkrun, running under 19 minutes for the first time.
Aw we know, parkrun does not happen without volunteers, and it is not often that you find a volunteer tourist – so a special mention for David Devennie for acting as tail walker at Largs Prom in Ayrshire,
