Despite the wet and windy conditions, 208 hardy souls turned out to walk, jog and run at Frenchfield in Penrith last Saturday morning at parkrun.
There were 28 first timers and 30 participants recorded new personal bests.
Eden Runners took a clean sweep of the placings with Rose Gilldaley (JW11-14) leading the ladies home in 19.25, shaving just over a minute off her previous personal best.
She was followed home by Kerry Grinbergs (VW40-44) in 21.21 continuing her good form of recent weeks and Nicola King (VW50-54) in 21.45.
As is often the case first male across the line was Harry Lancaster (SM20-24) in a time of 18.23. Harry was followed home by Andrew Douglas (VM40-44) in 19.03 and John Williams (VM45-49) in 19.07. First junior male home was Charlie Kemp in a Personal Best time of 19.54.
Bringing up the rear of the field were Heather Heron and Mary Galashan, the volunteer tail walkers who, as the title implies, remain at the back of the field and are the last to cross the finish line to ensure everyone is safely accounted for.
The tail walker role is very popular in part because those carrying it out receive both a volunteer credit and a run credit – it is also a very useful role if you are coming back from an injury or have a slight niggle. We are always happy to see more than one tail walker at Penrith and it is not unknown for there to be five or six – all adds to the fun.
Heather is now established as one of Penrith’s tail walkers regularly taking a break from participating to help out.
Although it was only Mary’s second time tail walking at Penrith she is no stranger to the role having volunteered at her home parkrun in Salento, Italy initially to help improve her language skills.
Another important volunteer role at parkrun are the pacers who are easy to spot with their blue bibs and who try as best they can, to complete the course in an agreed time or pace.
Saturday’s event saw two pacers Suzanne Smith (24 minutes) and Paul Wilson (28 minutes).
While this was Paul’s maiden run as a pacer, for Suzanne it meant achieving two significant milestones, her 25th time volunteering and her 100th parkrun.
Volunteers are fundamental to Parkrun taking place and we never turn away any offers to volunteer – we can never have too many marshals cheering the participants on their way and ensuring the safety of all those involved, so if you fancy having a go please contact us via our website www.parkrun.org.uk/penrith, Facebook page or by emailing [email protected].
