Trust you had a lovely time this morning. Heres the report: When I was woken up by the pouring rain this morning I kind of regretted offering to do the risk assessment on my bike and persuading my friend to run today’s parkrun with me. I figured that staying in the barn drinking tea was a much more pleasant prospect. However, I was wrong, we didn’t get wet at all, apart from the sweat of course, and it certainly wasn’t as hot as it had been last week. I had a lovely run. I arrived at the meadow and set off on my bike lap. Oh, how much quicker it is on a bike! It got me thinking though, I’d still probably have struggled to keep up with some of the faster runners, even on my bike. Anyway, the course was fine, a few lovely puddles and just a tiny bit of mud. The Gorilla was safely in situ and by the time I’d got there, the gate had been opened ready for the snack wagon’s arrival. On the second lap, by the Gorilla, and just behind me, Jerome Timbrell was encouraging Catherine Timbrell and Kelly Chapman on by doing his well-practised monkey dance. He was also urging Thomas Hasler on by shouting that they were all catching him up. It was all very entertaining. It seemed to work for all concerned as the whole group passed Sophie Mouly and I just before the finish! By the way, does anyone know if ‘the Gorilla’ has a name? Or can we name it? We had 3 visitors from Dundee Hawkhill Harriers today – James (JM15-17), Ryan (JM11-14) and Jack Donald (JM10). They brought their parents along to run with us too – Angus and Joyce. The whole family ran fantastically well with James taking first place – I’m told that he runs for Scotland! Was lovely to have you all here today, I hope you enjoyed it and that we’ll see you again on your next visit down here. Another first timer today was Noah Holland (JM10) who ran with his Mum, Laura. Noah finished with an impressive sprint and a great big smile on his face. Well done Noah, I’m sure we’ll see you again. We had 230 runners today with 40 first timers and 51 recorded personal bests. Today’s pbs included Paul Lambert – 25:18, George Shepherd - 18:47, Donna Huddy – 29:24, Nadine Prouse – 26:12, Leslie Pallant – 37:52, Catherine Timbrell – 37:28, Stephanie Woolfenden – 24:39, Deborah Thorpe – 31:41, Kerry Smith – 28:53, Paul Matravers – 28:15, Sam Tull – 25:22 and Paul Hazeldine - 21:16. First man home today was visitor James Donald of Dundee Hawkhill Harriers in 16:55 with Dan Clarke of Taunton AC taking second place in 17:03 and William Nicolle of Taunton AC claiming third place with a pb of 18:10. Hannah Taunton of Taunton AC was first lady home for the 18th time in 19:39 with Natasha Blunt taking second place with a pb of 20:01 and first timer Sarah Hawkins coming third in 20:47. Well done to all of you. Once again, some great times there. This morning’s volunteers were as fabulous as ever with a bit of extra hard work from Benny the dog. Benny cheered us all round by barking madly as we went passed – I hope he got some treats for his efforts. Steph Parlour volunteered for the first time today and, as so many others have, commented how much she’d enjoyed herself. If you’d like to help contact us at longrunmeadowhelpers@parkrun – your parkrun needs you! Have a good week with plenty of running and I’ll see you next Saturday morning at 9am for our weekly parkrun fix.
Posted on: Sat, 19 Jul 2014 15:24:26 +0000