It's T-shirt Time on Wormwood Scrubs
Parkrunners celebrate the arrival of sunshine and spring blossoms
Spring blossoms on Wormwood Scrubs! For the first time in 2018 I ran to the parkrun in sunshine in a t-shirt. There was hazy sunshine, buds and blossom and a large (96) group of new (23 first timers) and friendly faces eager to run. There was also long grass with plenty of dew and very soft going.
Rob Ferguson explained the new course for the benefit of first timers and spring returnees and Matthieu set us off. As we scrambled down the opening straight we quickly got bogged down in squelching mud. Hugh Ferrand was happily splashing about in it just ahead of me. At the front there were some shouts as a front runner went the wrong way as we rounded a corner. On my second lap I slipped into a six foot mud slide on my knee and then tripped again at the bottom turn. Nevertheless James Malcolm claimed he saw neither fall.
With all the mud sliding the times were significantly slower than usual. Thomas Barnes, who set a new PB of 19:05 last week, was first to cross the line in 21:43 – the second slowest first finish time in our 356 parkrun events. Not since the epic February of 2014 when Simon Hill had 4 first places over 21 minutes has it been so slow!
The first three were:
1. Thomas Barnes in 21:43
2. Tom Perkins in 21:50
3. James Spender of Thames Valley Harriers in 22:08
Leading the Ladies were no stick-in-the-muds:
1. May Bulman in 25:09,
2. Charlotte Edge of Thames Valley Harriers in 26:41
3. Catharine Sowerby of Serpentine RC in 26:52
With age-grading that becomes:
1. Catharine Sowerby 66.50%
2. Hugh Ferrand 64.97%
3. James Spender 63.10%
Given the conditions it was all the more remarkable that we had any PBs. Marcus Baker returned to the Scrubs after a six month break to set a new PB of 27:04, Jose Oropeza improved to 28:21 and Scott Higgins set 33:47.
Well done to everybody!
The event was made possible by 10 volunteers: Robert FERGUSON was Run Director • Christian NIELSEN scanned the barcodes and looked after the kids • Nick MICHAEL and Craig GUNN prepared the course • Paul OPPE handed out finish tokens • Matthieu PREVOT was Timekeeper • Peter JORDAN cleared up the course • Marion BRYDSON and Kirstie TEW dispensed tea, flapjacks and sympathy in the clubhouse afterwards • Stephen HUTCHINSON was tail walker
If you'd like to get involved in volunteering at the Wormwood Scrubs parkrun, please email wormwoodscrubshelpers@parkrun.com and check
http://www.parkrun.org.uk/wormwoodscrubs/futureroster/ .
Full results and a complete event history can be found on the Wormwood Scrubs parkrun Results Page.
New runners are welcome to join this free, fun event. Find out more details here
April 30, 2018
