‘Muggy’ was the feeling across the north east today, with all parkruns on the alert to potentially cancel last minute, should the forecast lightning and thunderstorms decide to rudely interrupt the party.
In the end, despite a flurry of cancellations elsewhere, our runners were able to get out there and do their thing in the delightful humidity.
Still on their Shetland sojourn, Tom Tinsley and Gill Milne visited Bressay for a second consecutive week, joining in their 300th event celebrations, where a turnout of 175 eclipsed the previous record attendance of 103! So overwhelming were the numbers, an unusual solution had to be found, as Tom describes:
“There were too many people for the ferry, so it did a 2nd run. They did the parkrun briefing on the ferry – 2 separate people, one on each end of the boat! Start delayed until after 9:45. As we had to be on the 10:30 ferry back and the finish was a mile from the ferry, it was a bit of a push. Didn’t time it, but it wouldn’t surprise me if Gill ran her mile PB!”
Tom almost had cause for his own celebration, finishing only 2 seconds slower than last week, just missing out on the much coveted ‘Groundhog Day’ challenge.
Coincidentally, Yana Bevan was also attending a 300th event, at the opposite end of the UK on Dartford Heath in Kent, though they put the birthday festivities on hold “because nobody wants a soggy cake!” Returning after a year, Yana easily smashed her course PB.
Venturing slightly further across the water, this week’s continental Claremonter was Brian Hegarty, strolling round Gdansk in Poland! Rounding off the tourism back in the UK, Lucy Keating went westside at Maryport Prom in Cumbria.
We had a nice smattering of podium placers, Harry Mawdsley taking 2nd at Leazes, with Heather Steel and Julie Cross finishing as 2nd ladies at Gateshead and Whitley Bay respectively. Sonja Fenske got 3rd lady at Jesmond Dene, adding a flourish with a course PB. There was also a course PB for both Niamh Garratt at Whitley Bay and Lily Crouzier, getting comfortable in London at Fulham Palace.
It was all going off at Town Moor, however. Peter Noble earned a course PB in the process of pacing Aoífe Monaghan to her fastest ever parkrun! Joining Aoífe in that accolade was young Charlotte Kerr, who added to her recent amazing exploits over a mile, improving her previous 5k parkrun best by 3 minutes!
If all that wasn’t enough, only a mere seven-plus decades Charlotte’s senior, evergreen Joyce Archibold possibly managed to dwarf everyone else’s achievements. Running her fastest parkrun of the year, Joyce was the highest age-graded of all 455 participants on the Moor, with a somewhat unbelievable 102.15%. Would it be that we’re all still smashing it in this manner as we approach 90!
I took a trip to The Pastures with Cate Walker, a grassy idyll that sees runners do 3 loops down by the river, across from the impressive edifice of Alnwick Castle. Despite the storm warnings, and some rain overnight, we were able to trot happily (if stickily) around the grassy field, with the familiar bogs of the cross-country season thankfully not in evidence, despite some of the warnings we’d had from previous visitors.
