Category: Run reports

With the barrage called off, Striders tried out some of the other local parkrun courses - the majority choosing Albert and Stewart Park. Stevie Cooper ran well at Albert Park to record a new pb. At Stewart Park Stephen Mitchinson celebrated his 200th parkrun with a pb. Philip Baines joined him in the pb club. Final pb of the day went to Philip Morley at Hartlepool. Matron only allows Dave Fender to run at the barrage - so he had a day off. Runners too at York, Catterick, Rounhay, Sedgefield, Riverside, Northallerton, Bramley, Bideford and Millfield. Musze cwiczyc moj polski but I do know that Paul and Jeanette Appleton took the tourism award with a trip to the Krakow parkrun. Paul J

Run Director David Murphy had his work cut out at the barrage on Saturday. It was wet... very wet. 25 Striders tried to avoid the puddles in the warm rain. No pb's to report but we did see Sarah Winter get third female finisher. Viv and Colin also helped with volunteering. It was also a relief to see me old pal Dave Fender back fit and well. Elsewhere, it was a good day for David Holmes who celebrated his 150th parkrun with a new pb at Southwark. Beverley Harvey completed her 100th run at Fountains Abbey. And how about this for a milestone - Tony Gallilee ran his 450th parkrun at Marshall Drive. At first I wondered if this was even possible. A bit of research on the main parkrun…

31 Striders turned up at a warm and breezy barrage on Saturday. It didn't look like a pb day to me but 3 Striders proved otherwise. Those being James Boynton. Aaron Atkinson and David Edwards. Good work fellas. Dave Fender had been watching documentaries about the moon landings all week. Then, at 4am on Saturday morning Matron was awoken by screams from Dave's room. It was another terrible parkrun nightmare. The dream saw him running alongside Buzz Aldrin and Harley before all 3 were captured by Nancy Sinatra at the small canal bridge. She then transported them to a prison colony on the dark side of the moon - via a hot air balloon. Matron eventually calmed him down but there was no way he'd be passed fit to run.…

Quite a big turnout at the barrage on Saturday including 28 Striders. Kay Stokes got a pb with another brilliant age grading of 82.38%. Excellent running Kay. Pb's too for Michael Meggs and Sue Russell. It was also a day where Middlesbrough's Greg Jayasuriya beat his previous course record. Jamie B, Colin F, Gavin M, Adam P, Ben R, Gail R, Yvonne S and Sarah W helped with volunteering. Elsewhere there was just the one other pb to report and that went to Lisa Pattison at Morecombe Prom. Further afield we had runners at Southwark in London, Lanhydrock in Bodmin, Penrith, Keswick, Dalby Forest, Blyth Links and Millfield in Easingwold.

20 years after his first parkrun Phil Swash finally made it to number 50 at the barrage on Saturday. 22 Striders ran - with Helen Mcilvenny and myself getting second finishes. Couldn't spot any pb's. Angela C, Colin F, Paul G and Tracy B volunteered. Dave Fender failed his fitness test and didn't run. Elsewhere Christian and Tara Oxley sprinkled creatine powder on their Weetabix. This resulted in both getting new pb's at Stewart Park. Fran Corvesor (who is also no stranger to the dark arts of 'performance breakfasts') pb'd at Rushmore. Gavin Morley was the final member of the pb club with a new best at Cotsford Fields. Simon Russell was first home at...ahem...a parkrun somewhere in Yarm. If the barrage turnout was a modest one then it was…

It was another warm one on Saturday and 33 Striders had a nice run at the barrage. Just the one pb to report - and that went to Sue Russell who dipped under 25 minutes for the first time. Good work Sue. A couple of other notable performances. Kay Stokes managed another age-grading in the 80's - that's national standard. Superb. Amelia Whitehouse is finding that sub 30 minute times are like London buses and that's now 3 in a row for her. Dave Fender had pleasant dreams on Friday night and was in fine form - finishing 2nd overall. Julia C, Paul G, Beverley H, Claire T and Ben W all volunteered. Jennie Johnston celebrated her 101st parkrun... Elsewhere Jill Abel got a new pb at Northallerton, as did…

The barrage parkrun celebrated its 7th birthday on Saturday. It was also a morning of celebration for the Johnston's. Sam completed his 250th parkrun and Andy his 150th. A fair few of the 47 Striders present joined them for drinks at the Talpore afterwards - where Sam was presented with a smart montage of his parkrun career. Sam had led a tough training session at Ropner Park on Thursday - and three of those who took part subsequently walked away with lifetime best parkrun times. Two of those were Jamie Bentley, who was also third finisher, and the exponentially improving Michael Meggs. Aaron Atkinson took advantage of some Striders pacing to get a new pb - and a rare barrage outing for Claire Banton resulted in another pb. Helen Mcilvenny…

A warm morning at the barrage saw 22 Striders in a field of 326 runners. Phil Swash and the rapidly improving Michael Meggs got new pb's. Paul A, Jeanette A, Julia C, Andy J, Helen J, Nigel R and Simon R all kindly gave their time to help with volunteering. Elsewhere there were two exceptional performances to report - these being from Suzanne Brodie at Hartlepool and Christian Oxley at Albert Park. Suzanne got a lifetime parkrun best - running over a minute faster than she'd ever gone before. Great work Suzanne. Christian also got a lifetime best time - knocking nearly a minute and a half of his previous best at Albert. I'll be expecting you in the sub 22 group at future training sessions Christian... We also saw…

24 Striders were joined at the barrage by a very special visitor - matron. Following Dave Fender's super quick mile at the NYMAC relays there was concern that he might 'overdo it' at the parkrun - picking up another unusual injury in the process. Matron and her team of physios were on hand for this eventuality. The run itself saw both Steve Harrisson and Beverley Harvey get new pb's. Helen Mcilvenny was third female finisher and myself, Tom Day and Dave Fender got 2nd, 3rd and 4th for the men. David M and Viv M volunteered. I'm pleased to report that Dave finished the run unscathed and got a big hug from matron at the finish. Elsewhere there was a pb for Andrew Hall at Albert Park. Mathew Clarkson, Elaine…

There was bumper turnout of 401 runners at the barrage - including 30 Striders. I'm giving performance of the week to Paula Newton. Paula improved on her previous best time by an amazing 2 minutes 27 seconds. Great stuff. Following Amelia's recent heroics, this time it was the turn of Dawn Whitehouse to record a new pb. Michael Meggs ran a first sub 20 minute parkrun, and there were also pb's for Rebecca Stout, Michelle Staton and Joanne Camp. I've probably missed a few milestones in these reports but I do remember it was Claire Taylor's 100th parkrun. Helen Mcilvenny and Sarah Winter were 2nd and 3rd female finishers, and I sneaked 3rd for the men. Angela C, Gareth M, Kirsty A and Karen C all volunteered. Elsewhere there were…