Parkrunners Prepare to Celebrate Milestone in March
Newcomers welcome to join 300th run on Wormwood Scrubs
Parkrun 296 - 4 February
Let’s mix up the run report this week and start off with a big shout out to the volunteers who make the event possible. A special big thank you to super volunteers Marion BRYDSON (this is her 24th time volunteering this Parkrun year) and Craig GUNN (28th time). We also had help from Fraser BRYDSON, Bradley CAHOON, Robert FERGUSON, Stephen HUTCHINSON, Peter JORDAN, Ben LE ROUGETEL, Nick MICHAEL, Paul OPPE, Fran SANTOS, Lan-Lan SMITH, and Kirstie TEW. There are always positions to be filled, so please e-mail wormwoodscrubshelpers@parkrun.com if you’d like to get one step closer to that purple t-shirt.
A big congratulations goes out today to Simon MADDISON who ran his 100th Parkrun today (although a little bird told us he deliberately didn’t scan his barcode at the Lydney Parkrun last week to make sure his 100th was at the Scrubs). Simon and Barbara provided some delicious chocolate brownies and banana muffins to help celebrate, which were very well received. Peter JORDAN also had his 150th parkrun today (we think there should be some special mention, even though he has to wait another 100 runs before the next t-shirt). We were joined by 12 Parkrun tourists, and one first-timer. We hope that the mud wasn’t too much of a shock! We were also joined by Gita today, a visually impaired runner who had one of our regulars Ben LE ROUGETEL guide her around the rather challenging terrain.
As to the terrain, conditions were back to their usual muddy, claggy nature at the Scrubs. I’m sure I was carrying around at least an extra half kilo in mud on my shoes (that’s my excuse anyway). Despite the mud, Nick IMPEY finished first in a very respectable 19:03, followed by James SPENDER (20:27) and Andrew MAGRO (20:37). Beth TAYLOR was the fastest of the women with 24:09, followed by Natalie O CONNELL (24:37) and Andrea BROUGHTON (25:13). The best age graded results were: Tamlyn HARRISON (71.45%), David GILLANDERS (69.16%), and Nick IMPEY (68.85%).
Congratulations as well to Beth TAYLOR, David GILLANDERS, Becky MARCUS, and Katherine GIBSON, who all set PBs today (please tell me your secret, is it spikes?).
Things are still tight at the top of the men’s point competition: James MALCOLM (2634), Nick MICHAEL (2557), Craig GUNN (2369); with no change at the top for the women’s points competition: Kirstie TEW (2452), Charlie LE ROUGETEL (1976), Lan-Lan SMITH (1957). We heard that Parkrun HQ wants to abolish the points competition. The Scrubs would like to appeal that we keep it up until at least the end of our Parkrun year. Kirstie really wants to get the double!
Now, there are a couple of upcoming events to look out for. Wormwood Scrubs will be hosting it’s 300th run on March 4th. There is a strong possibility of cake. There are a few of our regular runners who are getting close to milestone runs too. Andrea BROUGHTON’s next run will be her 100th and she says it will likely happen on Feb 18. Marion BRYDSON is closing in on 150, and William Paytner is into the single digit countdown to 100.
Finally, best of luck to all doing Sunday’s 10k Winter Run.
Happy running, and see you next week!
Lan-Lan
Parkrun 295 - 28 January
Saturday dawned cloudy and not as cold as it has been of late. Rain threatened, but more or less held off, although recent rain ensured that there was plenty of mud down the back straight of the course, slowing down both the uninitiated and those used to the course. The mud never seems to be in quite the same place or take the same form two weeks running.
We had a decent turnout of 53 runners this week, a mixture of regulars and tourists. After a briefing by run director Rob Ferguson, we were off. It's always hard, no matter how many times you do it, and there's always that temptation to stop when confronted with the hill at the beginning of the second lap. First over the line today was Scott Hill, in a new PB of 18:12. He was followed by Dan Morley in 19:11 and David Young of Petts Wood Runners, in 19:17.
First woman over the line was Natalie O’Connell, in 24:31, followed by Andrea Broughton of Thames Valley Harriers, in 25:17 and Alexandra Lane, in 26:36.
In addition to Scott, there were two other PBs: congratulations to Edmund Barry and Martha Siva.The two fastest runners in terms of age grade were Scott Hill with 71.70% and Paul Wake with 69.19%.
In the male points table, the top three are shifting around a little. The current standing is as follows:
James Malcolm on 2,537 points
Nick Michael on 2,481 points
Craig Gunn on 2,280 points
In the female points table, the first three are:
Kirstie Tew on 2,360 points
Charlie Le Rougetel on 1,885 points
Lan-Lan Smith on 1,869 points
It was Chinese New Year, and to help usher in the Year of the Rooster, Lan-Lan had made her special Guinness and chocolate cake with cream cheese icing, which was delicious, as always, and competed strongly with the traditional flapjacks on offer.
Thanks to this week’s volunteers: Andrea BROUGHTON, Louise BROWNE, Marion BRYDSON, Robert FERGUSON, Craig GUNN, Peter JORDAN, James MALCOLM, Nick MICHAEL, Nicola STOKES, Paul WOODGATE.
Congratulations to those who were running later in the cross country championships at Parliament Hill, including Paul Woodgate, James Malcolm, Kirsty Tew and Charlie Le Rougetel.
As you know, we rely on volunteers, so if you’d like to get involved in volunteering at the Wormwood Scrubs parkrun, please email wormwoodscrubshelpers@parkrun.com.
Don’t forget that you can also donate to the Scrubs parkrun via the following link.
February 20, 2017
Happy running and see you next week,
Andrea
