Parkrun Week 43

“When I go I want to go quietly in my sleep like my grandfather. Not screaming manically like the passengers in his bus” – Spike Milligan

Good morning lovely Dashers. And so we gallop relentlessly into November which is crazy. Halloween is over and I have already seen Christmas adverts sadly……Mariah Carey is just around the corner. Oh dear. More importantly, we have also reached week 43 of the parkrun Championships and the finish is most definitely in sight. A little insight into the Thomson household of old – the number 43 always reminds me that my 2 eldest daughters always used to call the youngest one ‘43’ when she was small because (and I quote) “43 is the most insignificant number we can think of” Children can be so cruel sometimes!

There was a lull in road and cross country races this week (although I do know that Philip Seddon excelled in a half marathon – great work!) and so we returned to our standard level of parkrunners this week with 23 Dashers flying round 12 different events. Interestingly (to me anyway), this seemed to be the week when parkrunners came out to play everywhere as Saturday saw the 2nd largest ever parkrun turnout globally with 341,194 finishers (195,295 in the UK which is the 3rd highest ever) Simply astonishing numbers.

Our little portion of these numbers, as usual, excelled. We Had no less than 5 Top-10 finishes so take a bow Brian Shaw (finishing 3rd at Burnley and very nearly lapping me!), Joe Cotton (2nd at Witton), Diane Dudgeon (4th, also at Witton), Helen Woodcock (6th at Dungloe) and Richard Marsden (an excellent 10th at Preston) Superb stuff by you all! There were also sparkly new PB’s from Jez Turner (also smashing 20 minutes at Widnes), Richard Marsden (at Preston), Steve Whitehead (continuing his run of good form at Alexandra, Moss Side) and especially by Julie Fitton, who not only smashed her PB at Burnley but did so whilst finishing her 50th parkrun! Great running Julie.

In the Men’s Championship, both Jez Turner and Jim Taylor recorded their best scores of the season (well done gents) and, although the only change in the league table was a 1-position climb by Richard Marsden into 21st place, it did allow Jez to consolidate his 3rd place in the league table behind Brian Shaw and Simon Smith.

There were no changes at all in the Ladies Championship. Linda Coffey and Jacqueline Shaw both improved their overall averages and look rock solid to finish in the leading positions at the end of the season. Diane Dudgeon remains in a very respectable third place. A special mention also to Sarah Marsden who had a great run at Preston and recorded her best percentage score of the season.

As far as I am aware, Witton is the only parkrun currently cancelled next week (there is a bonfire event) and so we should have a wide choice of venues to choose from. The weather forecast is decent (which I’m sad enough to be excited about so I can give the lawn its last cut of the year) and so have a great week everyone, stay safe and, as ever, happy parkrunning!