As I sit here to write this, the parkrun of this morning seems like a long time ago. In the meantime I’ve run another two parkrun circuits to complete the Midsummer Run. England lost to Belgium … again (No need to jump in the pool again, Jacinta!), Kerber beat Williams to become Wimbledon Champion, Djokovic beat Nadal … and the luck of the Irish deserted Dan Martin who was involved in a crash on Bastille Day in the Tour de France. A day is a long time in sport.
It was a great turn out for both events on Bere Island, with 106 people toeing the line to hear the important information about keeping small children within arms reach, following the arrows and avoiding the pot holes, which were fewer, but still worth noting. It was also noted that only one dog (on a lead) is allowed, per person, (which led to some sotto-voce comments re: teams of huskies definitely being unfair!). Thank you to the volunteers, including visiting Tail Walker, Marie of “Forget the Gym” and to fair play to all those doing the Midsummer Run later.
At any rate, we were soon underway. Now I want to briefly come back to this notion of “unfair” – don’t worry Noelette, Nessa is in the clear! On the results, it does imply that two JM10 athletes achieved mind blowing PBs. However – the game is up lads – let’s just say a little bird told us you took the short cuts and got a head start! We’ll put the Ireland Athletics call up on hold for now! Still, even without these cheeky tear aways, we had eight great PBs on this cloudy and cooler day. Kevin Gleeson was on flying form and scored his own PB finishing first in 21:14, Joanne Sullivan was first female finisher in 24.37. No milestones this week, but a certain young man is very close to his 50th, clocking up no.49 this week with every single one at Bere Island. A very deserved celebration in prospect.
It was delightful to greet a great gang of first timers 14 officially recorded, and surely many of the “Unknown” athletes. Do register on the parkrun website and come out again to join the fun. It was also great to welcome so many wonderful walkers! parkrun have been campaigning to communicate that they are proud that average completion times are going down – meaning walkers are more and more commonplace on parkrun circuits. The message is clear: Strolling is super! Be proud of your perambulation! Because, despite its name, parkrun is about the fresh air, the view, the scones and the chat. As the parkrun founder has often said, “It was never about the run”, by which he means, he thought he was organising a run, but he was really organising a meet up, and a way to stay in touch. It all seems to be very in-keeping with the philosophy of our visitors the “Running Chicks” from Forget the Gym, who like to travel and always train together, outside, whatever the weather. You can find out more about them here. http://forgetthegym.ie/what-we-do/running-chicks-club/Thanks for visiting ladies, we hope to see you again.
Thanks also, as always, must go to our volunteers, with and without hi viz, veterans and visitors, the very busy Bakehouse and Bere Island Ferries. Without your weekly support we simply wouldn’t have a parkrun – let alone one attracting 100s of people in high season.
Finally, on this day of sporting achievement, I should note one of our very own regular “running chicks” Claire Elphick who completed the 100k Wild Atlantic Mizen Cycle and talented Park Run regulars Oisin and Billy Murphy took podium positions in the 5k an 10k Midsummer Runs respectively. I don’t know how we’ll top all this next week – but I’m sure we’ll try!
