It may have been two days after Bonfire Night, but there were plenty of fireworks to be found for travelling Claremonters today. Ann Smith was the latest to visit Amsterdamse Bos, after Shilpa’s trip there just last week, and she made the most of it, dipping under the magical 30-minute mark for the second time and setting a sizzling new parkrun PB. Amazing, Ann! Gefeliciteerd!
Also setting PB’s on the road, Mariana Mouzinho beat her previous course best at Endcliffe in Sheffield, with David Lydall doing the same at Markeaton, Derby. Eddie Smith didn’t quite emulate his wife’s achievement, but can be equally proud of an excellent course PB on his seventh run out at Qualkers Walk in Wiltshire.
No PB, but a fantastic 2nd lady finish for Julie Cross on her debut at Wienburgpark in Münster, West Germany. Also touring this week, Lucy Keating has really embraced the wanderlust recently, though this Saturday found her in the less far-flung locale of Sheffield, only a couple of miles away from Mariana at Graves park. Rachel Hurdman journeyed to the capital, running at a foggy Finsbury Park. Back on more familiar ground, Nicki O’Brien was 3rd lady at Whitley Bay, with her fastest time this year.
A bumper turnout for this month’s club tourism, with fifteen making the short journey down to Elemore Park, not far from Hetton-le-Hole. Accompanying us was Maria’s mother Valeria, who was presented with one of Elemore’s ‘coveted’ cow badges, as the tourist who’d travelled furthest to be there. She was encouraged to show it off on her return to Italy, and dazzle them with tales of her time in the grey and murky north-east!
Grey it may have been, but it was a still morning, and with the rain kindly holding off for us, five of our seven returning runners walked away with course PB’s. Lena Lou amazingly managed her third consecutive first-lady finish, joined on the podium by Rose Hawkswood, and Clare Jeffray valiantly volunteered as barcode scanner, determined not to be denied by injury. Having negotiated the irrigation ‘speed-bumps’ early on, and survived the energy-sapping climb that dominates most of the second half of the loop (which you have to do twice!), a short drive down the road for coffee at the charming Rainton Meadows Nature Reserve capped off a grand morning of tourism.
