St Andrew’s Day this Saturday and what a better start than to get your tartan out and run at Wendover Woods annual kilted run. A very atmospheric misty start, piped to the start by a bagpiper and we were met at the finish by Nessie with Irn Bru, shortbread, Tunnock tea cakes and caramel wafers.
Numbers lower this week , as a cross-country day, but 40 of us ran, with 14 at Wendover and 6 at Dunstable. Ros and Angelo were the furthest travelled with their trip to Haldon Forest, near Exeter. The 2nd round of the FA cup saw them follow Chesterfield down to Exeter. However, it was a comfortable home win for League 1 Exeter and Ros & Angelo will have been eagerly watching the 3rd round draw this evening to see that Exeter have dodged the premiership clubs with a home game against Oxford – so another long drive to the West Country!
Well done to Neil Adcock who ran a course PB at Upton Court with his time of 21:00, knocking nearly 4 minutes off his previous time there!
And well done to Maria Cook, who after a gap of several years since her previous parkrun, smashed her PB with her 2nd ever parkrun this week, at Rutland Water and achieved a very impressive 80% age grade with her time of 24:34. Prior to this week Maria was one of just 2 from TRC whose most recent parkrun was Tring.
Just one podium this week with Lynda Hembury finishing 2nd female at Dunstable.
Explorer of the week, Anna Ashwell was our first member to run at Brierley Forest, Sutton-in-Ashfield in Nottinghamshire. Brierley Forest Park is located on former farmland and the site of Sutton Colliery which ran from 1873 to 1989.
As for an aesthetic time, well I’m giving that to myself for a matching tartan 40:40 which a quick google reveals as the name of a children’s game being a variant of “it”
Did you have a go at “parkruns where current TRC members have run the most (even if before they joined TRC) beginning with “E” (I know, a really snappy title!) – it was a tough week – but the 3 are…. Eastbourne (thanks to Peter & Naomi Wager-Leigh), Edinburgh (thanks to Alison and Kevin Harding) and then more locally Ellenbrook Fields. This week we’re looking for those beginning with F’s which are a bit trickier (as a clue, you’re looking at London, Welsh borders and the Lake District)
Finally, as we enter December, Paul McCormack and Katie van de Linde will be celebrating their parkrun 10th birthdays! Happy birthday to you both!
Andy Evans