The 320th Penrith parkrun took place on Saturday October 2.
Andrew Richardson in his welcome briefing reminded everyone it was 17 years since the first ever event in Bushy Park in October 2004.
At this first event there were just five volunteers, including Founder Paul Sinton-Hewitt CBE. It is amazing to think that Park run has now grown to a point where more than 500,000 people have volunteered at 2,200 locations, (including Penrith) in 23 countries around the world.
A total of 226 runners took part in the event at Frenchfield, Penrith this week, 11 of which were first timers.
For Harry Lancaster, Paul Renwick and Ralph Liddell it was their 150th Park run. For Tom Robertson and Dominic Davis, the event marked their 50th parkrun.
Harry Burke was celebrating his 10th parkrun.
The event took place under cloudy skies but happily the rain held off.
First home was Johnathon Cox of Eden Runners in a time of 17mins 1 second. First lady home was Suzanne Patricia Smith also of Eden Runners in a personal best time of 20 mins 43 seconds.
There were 38 other runners achieving personal best times this week. Tony Lowry was running the park run before heading off for Sunday’s Chester Marathon. He was running to raise money to support Hospice at Home and hoping to complete the 26.2miles in under 4 hours.
Competition and collaboration are drivers which have shaped empires and enterprises and park run is no exception. Each Saturday runners attend motivated by the competitive drive to win, improve, complete the course or escape the gravitational pull of the sofa.
Also volunteers turn up working together to build something beyond themselves. These events simply could not take place without the work of the volunteers so hearty thanks goes to this week’s enthusiastic team of volunteers. Until next time!
Dave Johnson
