A clear sky, a brisk breeze and a friendly welcome greeted the 242 parkrunners and their friends and supporters at Frenchfield in Penrith.
We saw six people complete their very first parkrun and 30 tourists taking part from as far away as New Zealand, Colchester, Worthing and Lauderdale. Thirty-two different clubs were represented and 28 people achieved a new PB.
Big thank you to the blue bibbed pacers who encouraged the runners to hit their targets, Suzanne Smith, Carole Milnes, Garry Bower, Andrew Murphy and Steph Hulford.
We were a little short of volunteers this week, owing to regulars being away so I was asked to step in and help out as run director. I was delighted to be able to welcome the run director from Harrow parkrun, Eddie Keal and the event director of Worthing parkrun, Duncan Anderson who was in the area with his partner, Lucy Booth.
Lucy and Duncan are in the middle of tackling the Pennine Way which they aim to complete by Friday. Both had taken part in a 100k Ultra in the Cotswolds last Saturday, which left Duncan injured however this did not deter him from taking part and he gamely brought up the rear as tail walker. Duncan is part of the Bailey Club. Members of this exclusive parkrun club have never repeated a parkrun and with 139 different parkruns under his belt, Duncan is in the top 20 in the world!
As ever, we celebrate milestones achieved by our participants and this week saw young Mark Evans complete his 50th parkrun and local legend, Dennis Cartwright reach his 100th.
Last year, Dennis was diagnosed with cardiac sarcoidosis and had a pacemaker fitted. Since then, he has battled extremely hard, mentally and physically to return to health. In October he is running the London Marathon to raise funds and awareness for Cardiac Sarcoidosis UK.
This is his 23rd Parkrun since the diagnosis and surgery and Parkrun forms a valuable part of the training.
If you wish to sponsor Dennis, this is the link to his JustGiving page. Go Dennis!
As ever, we are extremely grateful to all our volunteers and if you would be interested in finding out more about Penrith Parkrun, visit the website at parkrun.org.uk/penrith.
A full list of results can be found at https://www.parkrun.org.uk/penrith/results/latestresults/
