Despite the National Cross-Country Championships coming to the region for the first time in many years, most Claremonters preferred to stick to their normal Saturday morning routine, running parkrun rather than taking on the country’s cross-country elite! However, there was one sky blue who decided to do both … and to do it with some style. Lena Lou warmed up for Championships by heading north to Ashington for a parkrun, before driving south to run in the cross-country. Now you may think that she would treat the parkrun as a warm-up with a gentle jog around the course, but not wor Lena! Instead, she ran her fastest ever parkrun time (at any course, anywhere) and finished on top of the podium as 1st lady. Well done!
Also claiming a PB was Dave Roberts, who has got steadily faster in each of his 3 runs at Babbs Mill in Birmingham. Nearer home, Anna Round recorded her fastest ever Town Moor parkrun, the Smiths both got PBs at Riverside and Ailsa Ralph ran a PB on her second outing at Jesmond Dene. Also running well on the hills in the Dene was Nicki O’Brien, who claimed 3rd place in the female category. Finishing evebn higher than Nicki, there were runner-up spots for Lucy Ward and Catherine Young, at Cotsford Fields and South Shields respectively,
To mark Susan Hillman’s 200th parkrun, the Green Goddesses headed north to Morpeth to trot around (and up and down!) Carlisle Park.
Tourists of the week were Niamh Garratt and Zoe Jukes, who were in the deep south at Rainham in Essex, where they had a reunion with former Claremonter Sophie Richardson and collected an “I” in the process.
