| Beating the Big Freeze on Wormwood Scrubs |
44 runners brave December chills and frosty mud underfoot Parkrun 183 - Saturday December 6Saturday was the first literally freezing parkrun of the 2014/2015 Wormwood Scrubs’ season. Frost was sparkling over the ground creating crunchy peaks in the mud – a bit like a Duty Free Toblerone – which made a mockery of my decision to wear spikes. If we are faced with the same again next week, I’d suggest trail shoes all the way. Despite the weather, 44 runners including 11 first timers joined us on the start line and we were rewarded for our tenacity with hazy sunshine on the way round, making for a gorgeous morning run. Wai Meng Au-Yeong was one of the parkrun tourists visiting us. Representing St Albans Striders Wai Meng’s friends normally insist she runs the St Albans’ parkrun so that afterwards they can visit the café where the losers from The Apprentice go! She was joined by her friend Jenna Pickering who nailed her 50th parkrun with us. Congratulations Jenna. Andrew MITCHELL was first over the line in 18:05, his third first place in three appearances. First female finisher was Danielle ROBERTS in 23:27, her sixth time in six appearances, which is some record. Congratulations to Esther Carter, who not only scored a PB on her second parkrun, but smashed last week’s time by nearly 2.5 minutes! Current standing in the men's annual points competition and half way into the season and Riz is pulling away at the top: - Rizwan RAUF (Unattached) 1943 pts. Current standing in the women's annual points competition and the gap between second and third is getting smaller every week: - Charlotte LE ROUGETEL (Unattached) 1654 pts. Many thanks to this week’s volunteers: Ben Le Rougetel, Charlotte Le Rougetel, Fraser Brydson, Manuel Corriente, Martin Gillies and Matthieu Prevot. If anyone is free to do the timekeeping on the 13th or 27th that would be great – just email us wormwoodscrubshelpers@parkrun.com. And many thanks to everyone who attended the Wormwood Scrubs’ inaugural seasonal gathering at the Defectors’ Weld in Shepherd’s Bush – Nick, Jason, Martin, Rob, Marion, Fraser, Ben, Charlie, Vanessa, Will, Kirstie, Riz and his wife Julia – we had a fantastic night, despite Rob bringing a book with him in case he got bored! Last word from me this week – did you know that you can donate to help improve Wormwood Scrubs parkrun? No? Neither did I. You can do it here - http://www.parkrun.org.uk/wormwoodscrubs/aboutus/ - and 85% of the funds you donate go directly towards Wormwood Scrubs, with the remainder going toward the New Events fund to help parkrun expand throughout the UK. Funds are used for things such as our anniversary event, annual prize giving and replacing worn equipment such as the laptop or the course flags. Have a great week, happy running and see you next Saturday.
December 8, 2014
|