Our monthly tourism trip saw us drive south to Barnard Castle in order to get our eyes tested run at The Demesnes parkrun. We were given a friendly welcome in this lovely setting with views over the Tees valley. The course itself is three and a bit undulating laps, mainly on grass and would make for good cross-country practice. Only two of our group had been before and both, Laurie and Cate, improved on their times to get course PBs. A few others were taking it easy, falling as it did between the Good Friday Relays and the North Tyneside 10K. It was Ann Smith’s 200th parkrun and she marked the occasion by finishing in position 100 – which made the occasion a little more memorable. Afterwards it was a short walk to the impressive surroundings of the Bowes Museum for breakfast in their cafe – all in all, a good morning out.
Also collecting a PB on her travels was Aoife Monaghan, though Aoife was much further afield at Tralee in County Kerry. Diana Walmesley also found herself across the Irish Sea at Queens Park in Belfast. In fact, we spread ourselves about a bit this week – Jim Crinnion and Luke Woodend were on familiar ground in West Yorkshire and Cumbria respectively, while Sarah Williamson was also visiting old haunts in that there London. Aoife Campbell was also on “home soil” in Cambridgeshire, where she claimed a course PB at the wonderfully named Bug Hunter Waters parkrun. Lucy Ward got an “I” for her alphabet as the latest sky blue to run at Isabel trail, and Becky Webster popped up in Salford. Oana Sebedean improved her parkrun PB in only her 4th parkrun, at Zandvlei in Cape Town, South Africa.
Joyce Archibold made a welcome return to parkrun, whilst on a family trip to Norfolk (Joyce, her daughter an son-in-law all featuring in the top 7 by age grade- only a mere 97.37% for Joyce this time, though!). Cath Robson summed her her Scottish escapade as:
“North of the border for a big wedding anniversary holiday, I abandoned the mister to his full Scottish breakfast and headed for the local parkrun. A crisp but unexpectedly sunny morning for the mile or so walk from Pitlochry to Faskally Forest which is 100% on forest trails. The volunteer giving the first timers’ briefing warned us newbies of the ‘nasty little hills’ and they weren’t wrong! The course starts off steep uphill, completes 3 undulating loops before heading back down the steep trail to the finish. A lovely, if testing, course topped off with a Creme egg chick for all runners! And when I got back to the hotel, there was a bacon and mushroom croissant plated up ready for me. Result!”
Nearer home, there were PBs for Heather Steel, Dave Roberts, Maria Oranges and Mariana Mouzinho, and Alex Taylor followed up his good run in the relays with a 2nd placed finish at Leazes Park.
