We are a cosmopolitan bunch at Claremont Road Runners, and, once again, we spread ourselves about from North to South, East to West. Wherever we were, it was fun in the early spring sunshine as we ran our Saturday morning 5K.
Furthest north was Alex Harding, running in Edinburgh, while Mariana Mouzinho headed west to the Lake District and Ambleside. Continuing south, Laurie Johnson and Cate Walker were at South Park – no, not the location of the irreverent American cartoon where they kill Kenny McCormick every episode, but in the more genteel surroundings of South Park, Darlington. And, no, it is not our Kenny McCormick that keeps on dying – our Kenny is alive and well and still conquering the hills of Jesmond Dene!
Continuing the journey southwards, Lucy Keating became the latest Claremonter to sample the delights of Endcliffe Park in Sheffield – it is fast becoming a tourism favourite!
Gill Milne and myself, Tom Tinsley, were on Merseyside and we had already arranged to meet a friend at Birkenhead parkrun when we found out that Harry Mawdsley was also going to be there. For Harry, this is home territory, but it was our first ever visit. Birkenhead Park is famous for 2 things – it was the first municipally-funded park in Britain, and was the inspiration and model for Central Park in New York. However, you don’t have to know any of the history to enjoy this parkrun – a nice, fairly flat two lap route on good paths across fields, woods and around the lake. There are some sharp bends and lots of other runners to potentially slow you down, but Harry is in great form and he romped to victory by over 30 seconds from 2nd place, in the process knocking over 80 seconds off his course PB, set in 2022. We were all pleased with our times – it was my fastest since injuring myself at the beginning of January, and Gill stayed under 30 minutes while still managing to catch up on the gossip by running with her friend, Margaret!
Mark Anderson was chased by a field of 341 runners at Chasewater in his native West Midlands, but none could catch him! In fact, he romped home more than a minute clear of 2nd place – a good day for Claremont Road Runners returning to their regional roots.
Further south still, Shilpa Iyanna ran in Bristol, Yana Bevan in Bexley, and Chris Jones, once again, picks up ‘tourist of the week’ by running in the Channel Islands.
Much, much further south, in fact on the southern tip of Africa, Lily Crouzier is thriving in the Cape Town sun. Lily finished as 1st female for the 2nd consecutive week.
Nearer home, Niamh Garratt celebrated her 50th parkrun at Leazes, where Izzy Neatrour was 2nd female. After their long-overdue debuts last week, Anna Round and Hazel Juggins returned for their second runs, and both improved on their times to get course PBs – Hazel at Leazes and Anna on the Town Moor. There were also PBs for Aoife Campbell at Town Moor and Becky Webster at Blyth Links.
