The calm between the storms. Sadly, damage caused by Storm Eowyn meant a number of our neighbouring parkruns were forced to cancel.
An early course inspection was carried out at Frenchfield and it was quickly confirmed we were good to go.
366 runners, joggers and walkers took advantage of the calm, chilly morning to complete the course.
The event was supported by a team of 45 volunteers making it possible. Event number 489 saw 81 first timers to Penrith and 7 of these were undertaking their first ever parkrun.
As noted the conditions were good and we saw 31 personal bests achieved including the first lady, Sally McCullock of Eden Runners in a time of 20:13. The first finisher was Harry Lancaster also of Eden Runners in a time of 18.17.
We enjoy celebrating milestones at parkrun and this week there were a number of notable achievements.
Lesley Angell completed her 100th parkrun. Chris Hughes completed his 200th parkrun and Egg Cameron completed his 550th. Congratulations to you all.
parkrun is only possible thanks to the volunteers who give up their time on a Saturday morning to carry out a range of roles starting with early course inspections through to the event close down and results processing at the end.
One of these was Peter Fawkes who was volunteering for the 200th time.
Peter has undertaken numerous volunteer roles offering support where it is needed.
One of the volunteer roles we have at Penrith is pacing and this morning some of our regular squad were joined by members of York Goodgym offering times from 19-40 minutes.
Congratulations to Peter and thank you to all the volunteers – parkrun events are only able to go ahead with the help of volunteers.
If running or walking isn’t for you there are a large range of volunteer roles available which include being up front or working behind the scenes. Being the report writer can be a great opportunity to chat to new people.
If you’re interested in getting involved contact your local parkrun and try some different roles to see which works for you.
As it was the last Saturday of the month we were joined by 5k Your Way, Move against Cancer. 5k Your Way is part of the MOVE charity which was founded by Gemma Hillier Moses in 2016 to provide young people with support to stay active and gain the benefits from this during their cancer journey.
The charity has grown and in 2018 5k Your Way was launched by Lucy Gossage and Gemma. Lucy is an oncologist and the winner of the 2025 Spine Race. Lucy had the idea for 5k your way whilst training as an oncologist, the movement began by setting up a cancer support group linked to a parkrun in Nottingham and now there are 85 groups across the UK and Ireland supported by a network of over 300 ambassadors.
