Charlotte Le Rougetel reports on a muddy new year parkrun

Parkrun 187 - January 3, 2015

First off, HAPPY PARKRUN BIRTHDAY TO RIZ! 150 today; an amazing achievement and second only to James Malcolm. Wormwood Scrubs parkrun owes a lot to Riz, over and above a round of applause for achieving 150 runs (147 of them at the Scrubs). Riz has volunteered 139 times since 2012, often setting the course up for all of us, which means he arrives well before everyone else. He’s a total star and the Scrubs wouldn’t be the same without him.

Riz was one of 30 runners at the Scrubs this week, ten of whom were first timers, including four – The Ark Runners - who are running 52 parkruns in 52 different locations throughout the south east during 2015. The team – Jamie Bettell, Stephen Pankhurst, Robert Kent and Nick Mackley – is running in aid of Noah’s Ark, the children’s hospice, and you can donate to the cause here: https://www.justgiving.com/TheArkRunners

With enough mud to power an entire series of Total Wipeout, funnily enough there were no recorded new personal bests this week. In fact, we were all quite happy to simply cross the finish line and remain injury free.

First across the line was Martin GILLIES in 20:49. Despite being full of the cold, he shot off like a greyhound as he was also on the roster as timekeeper! In second was James MALCOLM in 22:31, who has promised to make his world famous millionaire shortbread for next week’s parkrun in aid of Riz’s 150th and my 50th – THANK YOU JAMES. Third across the line was Scott BREWER just seven seconds later.

First female across the line was Charlotte LE ROUGETEL in 28:22 - second time in 43 appearances (you’ll notice this only happens in deepest winter and when many people are on holiday!) Kirstie TEW was second in 29:54 and her friend Jamie Lynne BOUTILIER third in 32:24.

Current standing in the men's annual points competition:

- Rizwan RAUF (Unattached) 2213 pts.

- Nick MICHAEL (Thames Valley Harriers) 2107 pts.

- Peter JORDAN (Thames Valley Harriers) 1972 pts.

Current standing in the women's annual points competition:

- Charlotte LE ROUGETEL (Unattached) 2046 pts.

- Marion BRYDSON (Thames Valley Harriers) 1792 pts.

- Kirstie TEW (Unattached) 1721 pts.

It has been an exciting week for parkrun with TribeSports being announced as our new tee shirt partner. In addition to providing 10, 50 and 100 milestone tee shirts, Tribesports will also be providing a brand new 500 tee and volunteer tee shirts, which will be presented to everyone who has volunteered 25 times. What’s more YOU can have a say in the design of the tees – both in terms of colour and the logo on them. Simply visit here: https://shop.tribesports.co.uk/parkrun-volunteer-tshirt-vote

Big thank you: Charlotte LE ROUGETEL, Fraser BRYDSON, James SPENDER, Louise BROWNE, Martin GILLIES, Peter JORDAN, Rizwan RAUF and Suresh BASRA who was returning to his roots as he used to be a member of Thames Valley Harriers in the 1980s.

The roster is full for the 10th and 24th January, but we still have spaces on the 17th and 31st, so if you’d like to take part, please check the roster here http://www.parkrun.org.uk/wormwoodscrubs/futureroster/ and drop us an email at wormwoodscrubshelpers@parkrun.com.

Have a great week running. And see you next week for (allegedly) snow and (definitely) millionaire’s shortbread!

January 5, 2015