301st Parkrun Attracts Grand Total of 81 Runners
Superb turnout on the Scrubs despite 'midshin' mud and water
Parkrun 301 - 11 March
Not to be out-done by Lan-Lan's brilliant historical run report celebrating our 300th event at Wormwood Scrubs last week - I thought I'd kick this week's 301st report off with something scientific and topical.
The Scrubs has had a deluge of rain over recent weeks with standing water and even boggy in places. As I usually set the course flags out with a pre-lap as part of my volunteer duties I often give the Run-Director my version, of a horse race report with last week being 'heavy' going. This week I reported that despite some nice weather and a bit of drying out that the going was soft (which means heavy in places). The device they use to measure this on a race course, or indeed cricket pitch, is called a penetrometer - or the industry name the 'GoingStick'. I use my own Wormwood version of the 'GoingStick' - my shin! This week I'd say we still had some parts of the course with deep mud and water that were 'mid-shin'.
Sticking on the racing theme this week if you fancy a flutter I've been looking at Park run appropriate horses in the Cheltenham Festival, which kicks off Monday, and am looking at 'Flying Angel', 'Road to Respect', 'Another Hero' , 'Pass The Time', 'Pleasant Company' and finally the aptly named 'Sprintingforgold'. Don't blame me if none of those horses win you cash!
There was a superb turnout of runners today, with 81 individuals taking part and a notable celebration for Marion Brydson, who completed her 150th run. We were also joined by nine first time parkrunners. Welcome to the Parkrun family Charlie ROLLO, Matthew DANIEL NELSON, Ben GALE, Matthew MICHAEL, Valentine FAZIO, Demetrios VLACHOS, Milo ROLFE-CANE, Martin ROLFE, Mohanad AL SAYEGH, we hope that you'll be back!
Onto the results: For the men, Dylan KENNEDY lead the way home of three quick finishers in a time of 18:48, followed by Brian GROGAN (18.53), and Sebastien MAILLARD (19:49). For the women, Noushka SUMMERFIELD in a new PB time of 24:48, closely followed by Tamlyn HARRISON (24:55) and another PB from Sacha KEMP-POTTER (24.58).
There were also PB's for Tom GORMLEY, Craig GUNN, Jake HAWLEY, Kate RICHARDSON, Megan SIVA, Gill TAMPLIN.
We are very grateful to the volunteers who made this event happen:Paul BARNES, Louise BROWNE, Marion BRYDSON, Robert FERGUSON, Craig GUNN, Peter JORDAN, Charlie LE ROUGETEL, Nick MICHAEL, Christian NIELSEN, Paul OPPE
Hopefully next week the weather will dry out further and we can see more terrific times comes tumbling down....till then keep stretching and stay fit.
Parkrun 300 - 4 March
Today was the 300th parkrun at the Wormwood Scrubs. That’s 1500 km, longer than the length of Italy, and only 20 runs shorter than the length of New Zealand. In fact, there can be quite a neat association between 300 and running, in a 6-degrees of separation style way (Wikipedia trawling can be such fun sometimes).
So 300 is the name of a film based on the comic by Frank Miller and Lynn Varley.
Which is based on an actual event of the Battle of Thermopylae fought over 3 days by an alliance of Greek city states lead by the Spartan king against the second invasion of the Persian Empire.
Which was the response to the Persian defeat during the first invasion, crucially involving the Battle of Marathon.
Of which the victory for the Greeks resulted in a messenger running 26 miles to Athens to report the result, giving us the origins of the running event.
Ta Da!
Okay, for those of you whose eyes just glazed over at the history lesson, onto the actual run report. There was an excellent turnout of runners today, with 76 individuals taking part (77 if you count the brave child in the stroller). It was the muddiest it’s been this year on the Scrubs, which is noteworthy in itself, but certainly not quite up to the worst it’s ever been standards. The weather was mild and winds were light, and the regulars were certainly all motivated by the knowledge that plenty of delicious cakes waited for them at the TVH clubhouse (James’ millionaire shortbread, Charlie’s chocolate & banana loaf, Anthony's buns, and my chocolate cake, and orange and almond cake for those of you who missed out).
There were 26 parkrun tourists, we hope you enjoyed your trip to the Scrubs. There are some advantages to visiting a smaller parkrun, as one of the tourists remarked “Guaranteed top 100 finish”. We were also joined by five first time parkrunners. Welcome to the Parkrun family Tom GORMLEY, Cathy SCOTT-CLARK, Katy WHELAN, Elizabeth CARLIN, and Clare HESTER, we hope that you’ll be back!
Onto the results: For the men, Scott HILL lead the way home in a time of 18:50, followed by James SPENDER (20:26), and Charles CRAVEN (20:53). For the women, Alice HARRAY was the first over the line (and 3rd overall) with a time of 20:49. Jasmine SANDALLI (26:00) and Lucy POLLOCK (26:51) rounded out the top three.
Sadly, the points competition has come to an end (I suppose it’s due to those pesky over 100 regular runners events). We can report the final podiums. Kirstie TEW retains her title for the female competition with 2714 points. Charlie LE ROUGETEL was second with 2153, followed closely by Lan-Lan SMITH (2134). For the men, James MALCOLM finished at the top (2924) followed by Nick MICHAEL (2764) and Craig GUNN (2711). Good-bye points competition, you will be missed, it’s the only time I’ve ever been near the top of the leaderboard for something running related.
Last, but definitely not least, thank you to the volunteers: Robert BRICOUT, Andrea BROUGHTON, Marion BRYDSON, Fraser BRYDSON, James DOE, Robert FERGUSON, Craig GUNN, Peter JORDAN, Charlie LE ROUGETEL, Nick MICHAEL, and me, your correspondent, Lan-Lan SMITH
Happy running, and see you again soon!
Lan-Lan
March 6, 2017
