It was an overcast and rather chilly morning at Frenchfield for Penrith’s 491st parkrun.
There were beautiful views of snow on the North Pennines from Frenchfield. It was also Penrith parkrun’s 11th birthday.
Frenchfield hosted Penrith’s first parkrun on February 8 2014 with 116 runners and 12 volunteers and in the weeks following the first event there were typically less than 100 runners and around 10 volunteers.
Today’s parkrun saw 316 runners, joggers and walkers complete the 2 lap 5 km course and 32 volunteers who make the event possible – which just shows how the event has grown in 11 years. To celebrate there was cake as well as the usual hot drinks after the event.
There were some participants today both runners and volunteers who were at the first event.
Doug Huggon and Ian Parker were event directors that day. Today Ian celebrated his 100th parkrun, he has also volunteered many times. Congratulations to Ian.
Ian’s dad Mike who is a well known face at Penrith having volunteered many times usually, marshalling on the loop behind the football club, was also a volunteer at the first event.
Some others who were present at that first event and there today were Andrew Richardson who usually does the entertaining run briefing at Penrith, as well as volunteers Alan Marshall and Sally Spence and runners Julia King and Andrew Walker.
Some of those present 11 years ago, Ian Parker, Julia King, Sally Spence, Dog Huggon, Andrew Richardson, Alan Marshall and Mike Parker.
Another person who has been involved since the beginning of Penrith parkrun is Paul Saager. Today Paul celebrated his 250th parkrun, 215 of which have been at Penrith. Paul says he loves the atmosphere and community spirit and has made many friends through parkrun. Congratulations Paul.
It was also Becca Stamper’s 50th time as a volunteer. Becca has also completed over 100 parkruns as well as her volunteering. Becca usually marshals often with her dad Nick. Becca’s mum Linda is also a regular runner and volunteer at Penrith. Congratulations Becca.
Locals were joined by tourists from Widnes, Woking, Grimsby, Kilmarnock and Ireland.
First across the finish line today was Harry Lancaster as he so often is at Penrith in 17.06, first lady was Emma Stuart in 19.36. There were 16 people who ran their very first parkrun, 41 participants who completed the Penrith course for the 1st time and 27 people who ran a personal best.
During 11 years of Penrith parkrun, 16,323 people have completed the course and there have been 100,092 finishes, 558 volunteers and 13,989 personal bests.
Parkrun welcomes runners, joggers and walkers of all abilities from the speed merchants to walkers.
Volunteering is another way to be involved, you don’t have to be a runner, there are many different volunteer roles, including marshalling, barcode scanning and tail walking among many others.
If you are interested in taking part in parkrun either as a runner, jogger, walker or volunteer and having a great start to your weekend it takes place at Frenchfield at 9am every Saturday. There are also many other locations both in the UK and abroad. http://www.parkrun.org.uk/Penrith
