Latest instalment of parkrun tourism took a group of 10 of us to Herrington Country Park – 8 Claremonters running, Ann Smith supporting as she has injured her foot and Lucy Ward’s partner, Rob. We had a great morning in the North East sunshine, running around a very scenic course and enjoying a post-run breakfast at the Penshaw Farm Cafe. Although it was a first time visit for most of us, it was a return for Lucy and Eddie Smith who both ran course PBs.
Unfortunately this meant that we weren’t at our “home” of Leazes Park to help Lucy Keating celebrate her 500th parkrun. Achieved in less than 14 years, which includes a 16 month parkrun break for Covid, this means that Lucy has completed a parkrun on over 70% percent of available parkrun days. When you consider that she has also volunteered on 59 occasions, this is a remarkable achievement! Read all about her parkrun life here.
There was another big milestone for the parkrun community this weekend too. Bushy parkrun, where it all began with 13 runners back in 2004, celebrated its 1,000th running. Around 6,000 people took part, including our own Sophie Richardson. With such a massive turnout, they ran out of finish tokens and finish positions were written on the palms of hands! Inevitably this means that they are still processing the results, a task that I don’t envy at all.
Away from Herrington and Bushy, Laurie Johnson and Cate Walker took advantage of a trip to Ireland to run at St. Anne’s in Dublin, Rachel Hurdman was at Sharpham Estate at Totnes in Devon, and Aoife Monaghan (is she ever at home?) was on her travels on the west coast of Wales. Chris Jones bagged the only other PB of the week – at South Shields.
