Autumn is In the Air on Wormwood Scrubs
Craig Gunn reports on the season's first cool, fresh parkrun
Parkrun 276 - September 17
With the UK celebrating an Indian summer this week and temperatures reaching 30 degrees we saw flash floods come Thursday night, plenty of rain, and our first truly cool and fresh run this Saturday, which attracted 52 runners. Respite from the heat, a sharp breeze and faint prospect of drizzle promised an autumnal falling of PB's which were indeed delivered by Hayley SIVA, Martha SIVA, Raquel ABRUNHO, Gerard NUTLEY, Michael COLE, Barbara MADDISON and Craig GUNN, many congratulations to them.
This week also saw eight first timers, and five park run tourists, which included someone from Australia and Ireland and a swathe of running clubs represented on the start line.
I've been watching Trust Me, I'm a Doctor recently on the BBC with Dr Michael Mosley and have seen some interesting features, as a long term sufferer of Ankylosing Spondylitis (a form of Rheumatoid Arthritis), I'm a sucker for learning about new things when it comes to pain management.
But they have also discussed the benefits of stretching before exercise and the importance of a decent warm-up jog before running hard. All good stuff when looking after yourself and improving your parkrun fitness. I learnt running on varied terrain can activate more muscles, strengthen ligaments and improve balance, whilst several studies have shown that exercising in natural environments, particularly in green space, can help us feel more energetic and positive and can even combat depression.
A few have also found that outdoor exercise can lower the levels of cortisol in the blood, a hormone related to stress. So encourage friends and family to come and join you the next time we run - its great for your overall well-being!
Manuel CAERIRO VIGO lead the field across the line first in a quick time of 18:22. He was followed by Charlie SMITH (19:52), and closely next was Paul WOODGATE (19:59). Christina ATCHISON was the first woman to finish first in 22:24, followed by Andrea BROUGHTON (24:48), and Barbara MADDISON (25:09).
Things are close in the men's overall points competition, currently being led by Nick MICHAEL with 1144 points, and with some ground to make up Peter JORDAN hot on his heels with 1005, and Craig GUNN in third with 998. Things are even closer in the women's point competition, with fewer than 150 points separating the top three. Candace BOVILL-TAYLOR has 1100, Charlie LE ROUGETEL 1052, and Kirstie TEW 964.
However, the points competition is certainly a marathon, not a sprint, so anything can happen, with some runners still to pick up some invaluable Volunteer points. Talking of which - you get 100 points for volunteering to a maximum of 300 points, which assists your aggregate points total.
We have trained and welcomed a number of new volunteers recently and there is plenty of opportunities coming up in future weeks on our roster.
Last, but not least, thanks for this week's volunteers as well. Ben LE ROUGETEL, Louise BROWNE, Igor JAWOR, Craig GUNN, Nick MICHAEL, Fraser BRYDSON, Marion BRYDSON, James DOE, Bradley CAHOON, Sofia HUNT-DAVIS. Please email wormwoodscrubshelpers@parkrun.com if you'd like to help out.
Thanks for reading and see you on the Scrubs!
Craig Gunn
If you would like to get involved in volunteering at the Wormwood Scrubs parkrun, please email wormwoodscrubshelpers@parkrun.com.
You can also support the runners by donating to Scrubs parkrun online.
October 3, 2016
