As Saturday morning dawned on March 12 it looked as though we would be enduring a particularly wet parkrun although, as start time approached, the conditions miraculously cleared and there was even the opportunity to enjoy some brief moments of sunshine.
Numbers were a little lower this week perhaps due to the fact that Carlisle Half Marathon was taking place on the following day. Nevertheless, 204 finishers completed the course. Joshua Cowperthwaite was the first male over the finish line in a time of 16.42 and the first female home was Ruth Bell in a time 21.38.
Penrith parkrun always welcomes a healthy number of tourists and this Saturday was no exception.
However, seldom do we have runners who have travelled from as far afield as Jacqueline Hubbart. Jacqueline had flown in from Connecticut to join a family reunion celebrating a 60th birthday and was enjoying parkrun alongside other members of her family including one enjoying her 100th run.
It was good to see the return of a parkrun stalwart, Alison Rowsell, on Saturday.
Alison has been out of action with a knee injury for some six months and was relishing a return to running the course once more. Alison has been using her time out wisely though by volunteering throughout, commenting that this has enabled her to keep in touch with her running friends while contributing positively to keep this much loved event going.
Volunteering remains a vital part of parkrun and offers a wonderful opportunity for people to connect socially and to provide invaluable assistance to enable so many people to participate in this event each Saturday.
There are many volunteer roles available, setting up and clearing the course, marshalling during the run , time keeping and token collection.
Alison has asked particularly for any interested volunteers to come forward for Saturday March 26 as there are a number of our regular volunteers absent on that occasion.
If you are interested in becoming involved either as a runner or volunteer then please contact our website www.parkrun.org.uk/penrith, our Facebook page or by emailing [email protected]
