After an absence of 3 weeks, this Saturday saw the return of the Town Moor parkrun, and Diana Walmsley celebrated it with a PB as she was first Claremont Road Runner past the post. It was also good to see that Mariana Mouzinho is returning to fitness with what was, surprisingly, her first run there. Leazes Park also returned, and 7 Claremonters were led home there by PB-getting Sonam Wangdi. A little further down the field, David Lydall chalked up his 350th parkrun. In the other of Newcastle’s ‘Big 3’, Anna Round ran a PB on the hills of Jesmond Dene.
As is now her custom, Lena Lou ran a course PB, this time at Gateshead where she was joined by Ann Smith, who got her second consecutive PB. Just along the road at the less-frequented Windy Nook, there was success for Tara Hipwood, who finished as first female. A little bit up the coast, Cate Walker must have enjoyed the Blyth Links 10K so much that she returned there to run the parkrun for the first time. Laurie Johnson was with her, and he followed up his good run in the 10K with a course PB.
On the tourist front, Tom Tinsley and Gill Milne were collecting their “I” at Isabel Trail, Rose Hawkswood got a “U” in Oxford, and Jim Crinnion was back in Yorkshire, this time at Selby. Aoife Monaghan became the latest sky blue to sample Delamere Forest in Cheshire (where she was accompanied by our 2nd-claimer Jack Shawcross, who won).
On the other side of the world, Craig Swanson warmed up for the Sydney Marathon with a trot around Pirrama parkrun. He wasn’t the only one – 1031 runners comfortably smashing the previous attendance record of 627 set the weekend of the 2024 race (normally it is in the 300s).
