Wormwood Scrubs Becomes My 29th Parkrun
A visitor from Twickenham finds the locals friendly but the grass hard going
Myself and my friend Tracey visited Wormwood Scrubs parkrun this week. It was Tracey’s first ever parkrun and my 97th.
My home parkrun is Crane Park over in Twickenham. I am in the process of completing all the parkruns in Greater London (there are currently 56 and rising!), so it was another London one ticked off the list for me.
Tracey and I first met just over 16 years when delivering our just turned 16 year olds at Queen Charlotte's Hospital which is next door to this parkrun, so it was also a trip down memory lane for the two of us. Needless to say, our 16-year olds were in bed whilst we were enjoying the park run!
Tracey really enjoyed her first parkrun. For me – having now done 29 different parkruns - it was one of the smallest and friendliest that I've done so far. I found running on grass hard going (although probably much better for my old knees!) but there was little to no mud which had been a small concern having done a bit of advance research!
So, with almost perfect running conditions, 137 of us walked, jogged or ran the 416th parkrun at Wormwood Scrubs. There were 23 unknowns #DFYB.
We welcomed an impressive 12 people to their very first parkrun and there were 15 first time visitors to Wormwood Scrubs. Seven people were doing that always tricky secondf parkrun, and four of those seven achieved a PB (personal best). Well done all!
There were visitors from several running clubs (alongside TVH obvs) including Kings Heath RC, Runnyhoneys, Derwent (Derby), CSSC, Mornington Chasers, North Shields Polytechnic and Serpentine.
Overall 24 people bagged a PB this week. This included Rizwan Rauf on his 298th parkrun.
Inspiring stuff and just goes to show that we can still keep on improving even after many years of parkrunning!
In terms of official milestones, John Grigg and Richard Stone were both celebrating their 50th parkrun. John has completed 49 of his 50 at Wormwood Scrubs and Richard has completed 22 of his 50 at Wormwood Scrubs. An unofficial milestone for Nick Michael, completing his 350th parkrun yesterday, 326 at Wormwood. Nick has also completed a very impressive 168 volunteering roles. Well done all.
Satisfying stats awards go to:
Richard Stubbs 22.11
Tasos Soupios 24.24
Daniel Bending 25.00
Lizzie Pawsey 30.30
Alice Silva 33.33
David Lindsay 54.54
Our first male finishers were:
1 Matt Ryan 17.31 (with a new PB)
2 Gideon Reid 17.57
3 James Warren 18.16 (with a new PB)
First female finishers were:
1 Samantha Penn 23.53
2 Emily Januszewski 24.54
3 Zoe Vance 25.02 (new PB)
First juniors home were:
Joint 1st Louis Bilboul and Jamie Levinson 23.49
3 Louis de Rosee 23.52
Five runners broke the 70% Age Grade this week. In descending order they were Gideon Reid, Kevin McAleer, Matt Ryan, Simon Rubens, James Warren.
Well done to all the speedy people and to every single person who ran, jogged or walked.
None of this is possible without our wonderful volunteers. We are very grateful to all the volunteers who gave up their Saturday morning (and in some cases their own run) to help make this event happen.
We are always looking for volunteers so please do email wormwoodscrubshelpers@parkrun.com if you’d like to get involved.
Thank you for having us!
What is Wormwood Scrubs parkrun?
It is a 5km run - it's you against the clock.
When is it?
Every Saturday at 9:00am.
Where is it?
It's run in Wormwood Scrubs Park, Shepherd's Bush, London. See Course page for more details.
What does it cost to join in?
Nothing - it's free! but please register before your first run. Only ever register with parkrun once. Don't forget to bring a printed copy of your barcode (request a reminder). If you forget it, you won't get a time.
How fast do I have to be?
We all run for our own enjoyment. Please come along and join in whatever your pace!
Wormwood Scrubs parkrun needs you!
It is entirely organised by volunteers - email wormwoodscrubshelpers@parkrun.com to help.
July 8, 2019