As some of the regulars gear up for this year's London Marathon

Forty five runners celebrated our quarter-millennial* run this morning, in hazy conditions with a light easterly wind.

*or take your pick from sestercentennial (should that be ‘run’nial?), semiquincentennial or bicenquinquagenary.

Our course leaves British commentators lost for words – the going certainly isn’t ‘good’ or ‘firm’ so taking inspiration from across the Atlantic we can say our five km included ‘muddy’ (a track that is wet but has no standing water), ‘sloppy’ (a track saturated with water and with standing water visible) and ‘slow’ (a track wet on both the surface and base). Given these conditions PBs for Alex BALL (for the second week running), Matt CUTTLE (who practises for parkrun at tough mudder events), and Andrew JACKSON deserve a round of applause.

A warm welcome to new members of the parkrun family: Carl VON ESSEN, Jonathan ALALOUFF and Lovisa SANDBERG. Carl, Lovisa and their colleague Helena work for mental health charity MIND in Stockholm and are sussing out a possible partnership with a brand new parkrun in Sweden.

Our volunteers were run director Robert FERGUSON, who also ably wrangled Poppy and Lola, timekeeper Stephen HUTCHINSON, flu-y barcode scanner Lan-Lan SMITH (get well soon Lan Lan), finish token distributor Peter JORDAN, setters up Kirstie TEW and Nick MICHAEL, closers down Barbara and Simon MADDISON (good luck in the Chiswick ten miler), report writer Kate O'DONOGHUE, and tea toting Marion and Fraser BRYDSON (aiming for sub two hours in the Lichfield Half).

A special shout out to our brave souls intending to run eight and a half parkruns – all in ONE GO. Kirstie TEW is on fire with her best parkrun time this year, storming past your correspondent on the second lap. After a sterling performance in the TR20 last weekend she is well on track for her 4:10 target at her first ever marathon, London. Andrea BROUGHTON second in the woman’s race, is hoping for sub four hours also at London. Her restful weekend involves playing in a concert, going for a long run, and fitting some work in. Phew I feel tired just writing that down. Rob FERGUSON is running Brighton, and is keeping his goals close to his chest. His PB is 3:07:01 so sub three hours seven minutes has to be a possibility, Rob?!

Congratulations to Steve HUTCHINSON on his first parkrun birthday, and after his first marathon the Thames Meander was afflicted by midday August sun and strollers, he is hoping to wipe an hour off with a ‘stretch’ target of 3:30 at London. Paul WOODGATE has forsaken parkrun to run 40 and a half laps of the track every Saturday, with a ‘big aspiration’ to break three hours. When London’s over, come back to the parkrun fold Paul, even if one leg is shorter than the other from all that running round in circles.

Careful eavesdropping revealed father and son combo Hugh and Aiden FERRAND are planning to elope to Bishops Park parkrun where I hear the course is hard flat and easy. So before they do, I’ve invented a new parkrun club – the ‘one hundred percenters’, which Hugh is leading by a country mile with 106 wormwood scrubs appearances in 106 parkruns. Other runners in this exclusive club this week are Aiden (60), Alex FLEMING BROWN (37), Ghassem MAQSUDI (34), Amanda SHAKESPEARE (31), Alex BELL (5), Ali KHORASANY (4), Alexander and Louisa HUNTER (3) and Matt CUTTLE (2). Do you really want to join the ‘nearly-rans’ Hugh, like Fraser with 108/109 or Anthony BALL with 43/44? If you must go, at least leave your barcode behind…

Did you know? Doing handstands will make you feel happier as the blood flow to your brain has an energising and calming effect and reduces the production of stress hormone cortisol. So give your legs a rest, and stand on your hands! (NB follow this evidence-free advice at your own risk…)

Ding a ling a ling! Oyez! Oyez! Oyez! Here are the RESULTS!

In the women’s race Camilla WEST was first in 22:35, Andrea BROUGHTON was second in 24:52 and Sarah TAYLOR was third in 27:20.

In the women's annual points competition Marion BRYDSON has 2680 points, Kirstie TEW has 2619, and Andrea CALDERWOOD has 2450 points. Can Marion be the first holder of the mighty points competition cup to hold onto her title. Despite dark rumours of match fixing she assures me she can. Put June 11th in your diary for our fifth birthday celebrations, when we will find out.

In the men’s race, James SPENDER was first in 20:14, Robert LLOYD SMITH was second in 20:17 and John FODEN SHROFF was third in 21:16.

In the men's annual points competition James SPENDER remains in the lead with 3103 points, and Manuel CORRIENTE with 2967 points remains ahead of Nick MICHAEL on 2937 points.

Remember, running keeps you healthy, so see you next time.

Kate O'Donoghue

Parkrun 249 - March 5

Parkrun 248 - February 27

March 7, 2016