welcome to the newsletter
In this week’s newsletter Vitality Health reveal their Brighton faces, England Athletics invite you to participate in Jantastic, we have stocking filler suggestions and I’m inspired and emotional.
On Sunday evening parkrunner A418670 will be at The SSE Hydro in Glasgow. There will, I’m sure, be loads of other parkrunners there, but this particular one is shortlisted as one of the ten amazing athletes in the running to become this year’s Sports Personality of the Year.
In 2012 Mo Farah was a serious contender but unfortunately for him a certain Bradley Wiggins won a bike race in France and deservedly took home the title. This summer however we were once again jumping up and down in front of our TVs cheering on a great British runner and, like Mo, Jo Pavey also stands a fantastic chance of SPOTY glory.
Another parkrunner, Gavin Megaw (A250213), has written a brilliant blog article about Jo’s amazing achievements and outlines a great plan that I believe, if the whole British running community got behind it, could carry Jo to the top step on Sunday night. A short extract of that...
“In 2014, less than 10 months after giving birth to her daughter, this lady smashed the world record over 5,000m for a female over 40 years of age and then won a bronze medal in the Commonwealth Games, finishing behind a pair of young Kenyans in a world-class race. Ten days later she headed to the European Championships and won her first major title, conquering a talented field a little more than a month before turning 41. In doing so, she became the oldest female (by three years) to win a gold medal in the history of the championships.”
So, I’m not asking you to vote for Jo if you think someone else is more deserving but I am asking you to take a moment to consider her achievements and think about the impact she’s had on British running this year. If she’s inspired you as much as she’s inspired me perhaps you could pick up the phone and vote for her on Sunday evening.
Talking of inspiring, a few Saturdays ago a team from BBC Radio 4 travelled to a Sheffield parkrun event and created the most amazing audio feature that is one of the best narratives I’ve ever heard about our wonderful movement. If you’ve got nine minutes to spare and are ready to feel somewhat emotional I’d strongly recommend you follow this link and fast forward to 45 minutes and 10 seconds.
Finally, an update on our precious club t-shirts. You may have realised by now that we have turned off the t-shirt ordering system. This is for two main reasons… firstly, we are in the process of switching to a new system whereby runners will order their t-shirts to be sent to them directly at their home address and secondly, so that we can get a definitive list of outstanding orders from the old system without it continually growing and changing. While we set this up and until we receive the next batch of t-shirts, it makes sense to halt the ordering process.
As soon as the new system is fully in place we will email all runners who are eligible to order, but haven't been able to do so yet, to let them know the new ordering system is open. Please rest assured that we have a fantastic (and hopefully future-proof) system almost in place and plan to make a detailed announcement very early in the new year.
#GoJo #BBCSPOTY
Happy running,
Tom
P.S. You can read this week’s junior parkrun newsletter here.
faces of Vitality Brighton Half Marathon
A big CONGRATULATIONS to our two chosen Faces of Vitality Brighton Half Marathon:
- Sophy Dunn – Ready to take back control of her life
“Despite what life may throw at you that is out of your control you can fight back and become healthier and stronger”.
- Rhys Goddard – Eager to further immerse himself into his local running community
“I’m ready for the next challenge – all 13.1 miles of it, and I’d love the opportunity to share my experiences with the running community I now feel surrounded by”.
A huge thank you to all those parkrunners who entered. Our Faces of Vitality Oxford Half Marathon, Simon and Frances, must have sparked an interest as we received an overwhelming amount of entries for Brighton. It is great to see so many parkrunners willing to step up to a Vitality Run Series challenge!
We will be following both Sophy and Rhys on their journey to completing the 21k run through weekly blogs and photography updates. We will share their stories to inspire you to step up to future half marathon challenges. View their online profiles here: Sophy and Rhys. Make sure you read next week’s newsletter for their first blog entry.
The Vitality Brighton Half Marathon is part of the Vitality Run Series - a series featuring some of the UK’s most exciting running events, brought to you by Vitality. Get active and take on a new challenge. Find a race near you.
jantastic is back for 2015
England Athletics are pleased to announce that the New Year fitness challenge Jantastic is back for 2015. In 2014 England Athletics helped launch Jantastic - a participation challenge to help motivate runners to get started and keep going with their running during the winter, and over 21,000 runners signed up and completed over 356,000 runs. Jantastic is free to participate in, open to people of all abilities and aspirations, and perfect for those looking to set New Year health, fitness or performance goals.
Jantastic now includes the ability to set personal New Year fitness targets in running, cycling and swimming (or any combination of these), to track workouts using Strava, and to raise money for a charitable cause at the same time as working towards personal fitness goals. Last year parkrunners from over 100 different parkrun events embraced Jantastic and enjoyed helping each other get fit, stay motivated, have fun and improve their running.
To take part in Jantastic visit www.jantastic.me and sign up. Search on the Jantastic website to join your local parkrun Jantastic team or speak to your parkrun Event Director about setting up a team for your event. Sign up is open now and the Jantastic challenge starts on Monday the 5th of January 2015.
a parkrun gift
If you are looking for a stocking filler or two how about a durable barcode or wristband from ERS – the authorized parkrun UK barcode supplier which can be personalized to include an ICE (in case of emergency) telephone number and any specific medical details.
Equally if you want to stick with your paper barcode that’s absolutely fine with us and we have just added the facility for your ICE telephone number to appear on those too. You can enter/update your ICE details via your parkrun profile (if you haven’t already), then go to your barcode page and print your new ones out. One for now...five to keep as spares!
parkrun population
Here are this week’s summary statistics for parkrun UK (including junior parkrun)
Number of runners - 41,689
Number of volunteers - 4,910
Number of first timers - 4,330
Number of PBs - 8,103
feedback from the field
Let us know if you have an interesting parkrun related fact, happening or comment that you would like to share with all parkrunners
Hi parkrun UK
My name is James and I'm three years old. This week I just completed my 100th parkrun (although I haven't actually run any yet as I'm not old enough) at Swindon parkrun. I accompany my dad every week and love running. In March we are getting a junior parkrun nearby and I can't wait until I am four and can run myself. My dad says he can't wait either as it will give his arms a rest.
Regards,
Richard Mayneord
Hi parkrun UK
I thought I would put a few kind words together as we approach the end of the year. Thanks to all the people who make parkrun happen every Saturday and a big thank you to Sue Chicken, Stuart McCletchie and Ewan Henderson, the people who inspire me to run. parkrun has become an addiction for us all and yes, we seem to be getting faster. Best wishes to my fellow parkrunners and also a thank you to all the cafes we use afterwards to relive the run and make it a truly social affair.
Regards,
Mark Dawes
Hi parkrun UK
Having reached the halfway point to our first t-shirts, we would like to say ‘thank you’ to parkrun and everyone who puts the events together every week. We started in May, training towards running a 10k and our first Great North Run after years of putting it off. We quickly felt part of the community, seeing familiar faces on a weekly basis. We tell everyone about parkrun, and some are even thinking of joining us in the New Year! We enjoy the running and the volunteering. It's addictive and we now have the running bug. We have now signed up for a 10k and the Great North Run next year and there’s more to come!
Regards,
Kevin and Stephen Robson
Hi parkrun UK
I started running when I retired from teaching eight years ago in order to be able to run with my sister, a seasoned runner, during a visit to Australia, where she has lived for many years. Since then I have joined a running club, ran lots of races and discovered the joys of my local parkrun in York. Last weekend I returned from a recent visit 'Down Under' where one of the highlights was to run Curl Curl parkrun in Sydney with my sister - her first ever parkrun and my 21st! I am delighted that she is now keen to become a regular parkrunner and I'm now looking forward to us running York parkrun together when she visits us next year.
Regards,
Janet Hales
parkrunner of the week
Name: Simon Kyle
Club: None
Age: 29
Home parkrun: Corby parkrun
Occupation: Logistics Manager
Number of runs: 40
Favourite volunteer role: Finish Tokens
What do you do at parkruns: I live very local to Corby parkrun so I often run down and back for my warm-up/warm-down. I hang around for a cup of tea and a chat afterwards too, and I also try and do my fair share of volunteering which I thoroughly enjoy!
How has parkrun changed your running: parkrun has vastly improved my stamina, endurance and speed. I have just ticked off over a year of participating which has seen me knock over eight minutes off my PB and given me the confidence to go further. I regularly complete 10k training runs and recently ran the Robin Hood Half Marathon in Nottingham. I put this down to the consistency parkrun has given me.
What do you like about parkrun: I love the atmosphere, the support, the feeling of community spirit, making new friends and seeing others achieve great things!
Most memorable or funniest parkrun moment: Dressing up as the Incredible Hulk as part of Corby's first anniversary celebrations 'Super Hero Run'. This included full-on face and body paint, most of which sweated off during the run, I was dubbed the 'Incredible Melt' afterwards!
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reminders
barcode reminder
Barcodes are used at all our events to record your result. Please collect and print your barcode here. No barcode, no result!
all questions answered
Do you have a question about parkrun? How do I collect my club t-shirt? How do I get my barcode? All your questions are answered on our brand new support site
volunteering at parkrun
Every parkrun event relies on volunteers and in 2013 alone over 33,000 of you came forwards and supported your local event. Volunteering is a wonderful way to make friends, feel great and have fun. If that sounds like it's for you then please contact your local event team for more details.
cancellations
For cancellations please check your event’s news page for the most up to date information.
upcoming anniversaries
December
Brockwell parkrun 13th
Congleton parkrun 20th
Darlington South Park parkrun 20th
January
Barnstaple parkrun 3rd
Wimbledon Common parkrun 3rd
children at parkrun
Children under the age of eleven must be accompanied at all times by a parent, guardian or appropriate adult of the parent's choice. It must also be ensured that children place themselves appropriately at the start so as to prevent a situation where they are being repeatedly overtaken. This is to ensure the safety of your child.
the parkrun show
You can download your copy of the parkrun show here. (iTunes)
The parkrun show is the audible roundup of the "goings on" of everything that caught the teams eye from the weekend in parkrunworld.
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