There was a welcome interlude from the seemingly incessant wet weather for this Saturday morning’s parkruns in the North East, and a number of Claremonters took advantage to post some good times.
There was something in the air on the North Tyneside coast, with 4 out of 5 sky blues getting course PBs – Anton Mirafsari, Aaron Mansell and Gill Milne at Blyth and Julie Cross at Whitley Bay. Sorry to let the side down, I must try harder next time (though I don’t think I could have run much faster!). For Aaron, this was his 5K PB too, running sub-22 for the first time, while Gill recorded her fastest time of the year. Thankfully the tide was out at 9am for the Whitley Bay runners as I can confirm that it was lashing the promenade later that afternoon.
Further afield, Niamh Garratt also smashed her 5K PB by almost 3 minutes, with an excellent run at Margate. Isabel Neatrour headed in the opposite direction to Scotland, where she was 1st female at Dunbar.
Aoife Monaghan and Jack Shawcross chose to tackle the hills of Whinlatter Forest in the Lake District – I know how tough that one is!
We had two centurions this weekend too. Chris Jones got 100-up and finished 4th in an admittedly small field at Windy Nook. Maria Duenas had somewhat better weather for her 100th at her new home run of Cottesloe in Perth, Australia, which was also marking its 400th event. Cue photos eating cake by the beach with beautiful blue skies – I’m not at all jealous, Maria, honest!
Still in Australia, but back on the east coast in Sydney, Elizabeth O’Mahony ran at the wonderfully named Doll’s Point in Botany Bay, to complete a wonderfully diverse weekend of Claremont parkrunning.