With the leaves starting to turn and a distinctly autumnal chill in the air, the volunteers and participants gathering for the 9am start of the Penrith parkrun at Frenchfields this week were noticeably wearing more layers!
Some got discarded but before the “off” there was quite a bit of comment about how the weather is turning, for many the cooler air is more pleasant for their Saturday morning walk, jog or run.
After Andrew Richardson’s usual pre-run brief where we are always encouraged to “walk-in” with social distancing obviously, and a cheer for the second lap route description there was a casting off of extra clothing.
The hardy band of 27 volunteers had gathered to get set up early and that’s not only the parkrun kit, every week there is a litter pick – another of parkrun’s contributions to the community.
Event number 322 saw a number of milestones with both Pertrina Cassell and Philip Whitfield running their 100th event and finishing within two seconds of each other.
Petrina, a regular volunteer ran her best time this year and Philip has run all his 100 runs at Penrith.
A special mention too for one of our junior runners, Eleanor who completed her 10th run at Penrith and her 15th in total. As well as milestones of note Penrith parkrun welcomes visitors, often from far and wide, this week we had groups who had not come too far, with visitors from Carlisle and Oldham.
A number of DH Runners attended who normally run at Carlisle parkrun, their event being cancelled this week due to a wedding taking place at their venue, apparently, the backlog of weddings means some regular parkrun tourism is required!
They had planned the morning out carefully with a trip post-run for breakfast in Penrith before the short trip home.
As half-term holidays take place we may well see more visitors over the next few weeks, as ever all are guaranteed a warm welcome so they can enjoy a friendly walk, run or jog or volunteer experience at Frenchfields.
