A misty morning at Frenchfield greeted the arriving runners for Penrith parkrun’s 10th birthday event.
This was the 441st running of this free, fun 5k event that is open to all.
As the morning properly emerged and the crowds gathered to hear Andrew Richardson deliver his familiar humorous run brief it was clear that this was going to be a bumper event.
Thirty-three volunteers were there making it all happen for the 374 participants who ran, jogged and walked their way around the route on what turned out to be a beautiful cool still day, that alongside the Eden Runners Championship possibly spurred on the participants who between them recorded 39 personal bests.
In fact, the first two women home, Emma Neil and Kathryn Metcalfe were Eden runners who both recorded PBs in 19.08 and 20.38 respectively.
First home for the men was a regular in that slot and another Eden team member, Jonathan Cox, who rounded the two laps in a splendid 17.26. Whilst the green and blue vests of the Eden Runners were prominent, today they were joined by the red and black of DH runners from Carlisle.
It was fantastic to have such a great turnout from them, with nearly 50 runners and their supporters enjoying the run. The PB theme continued for them too with Kev Iveson returning at 19.30 and Julie Dodd in 21.59, the first male and female home for this crew and both gathering Penrith PBs at the same time.
Regular attendees and readers will be aware that the essential place of volunteers is rightly mentioned often in these run reports but sometimes there is a very special reason for saying how much they are valued and how crucial they are.
Today we celebrated with Mike Parker – a true stalwart at Penrith, he has been there from the start of the event ten years ago and this run marked his 350th volunteer stint. It is just worth pausing and think what that means in terms of how many times Mike has stood and cheered the participants on, in all kinds of weather, offering high fives to all that want them.
It is probably true to say that at every one of those 350 he has made a difference to a runner who just needed a word to encourage them on. If we reflect on the 10 years of Penrith parkrun the efforts of Mike and the other amazing volunteers means that 13,731 finishers have completed 86,173 finishes between them.
That has included 12,608 personal bests and to conclude, a surprising figure all that has been supported by only 474 volunteers. If you’d like to add to that number or any of the others, come along next week and join in as year 11 gets underway!
