Event 303, August 19 2017

THIS week, 127 particpants representing 11 running clubs completed Barrow parkrun, of which two were first-time parkrunners and 46 runners having completed 10 or less events so far - it's good to see so many new faces!

Twenty-four recorded new personal best times - an excellent effort especially with the strong winds. Tourist parkrunners joined us this week from Bristol, Penrith, and Fell Foot. We hope they enjoyed our course and come back again soon. No milestone runs took place this week, but many are fast approaching.

First finisher this week was Stuart Garnett in a very respectable time of 19:31, in his 10th parkrun to date. Close behind in second place was William McAllister in 19:35, while Neil Grace took third place with a time of 20:12.

Luke Broadbent was the first junior runner over the line in 20:59 on his 41st parkrun event to date, earning him fourth place. Darina Delinova was first lady home in 21:38, her sixth run and fifth consectutive personal best time. Excellent running, well done to you.

Age grade results are given to everyone taking part. Age grading calculations take into account your age and gender to produce a percentage score for your run. This is more accurate way to measure your result and compare with runners of all ages.

David Spencer, a regular at Barrow parkrun scored highest with a remarkable 79.41 per cent. Mr Spencer is in the 80-84 age catagory and is an inspiration to many. Junior runner Georgia Bell scored highest for the females with a brilliant 72.01 per cent. Georgia is in the under-11 age group and finished in 23:42 on Saturday. Well done to you both!

This week a team of 20 volunteers made parkrun a safe and enjoyable event for those taking part - it can't go ahead without them and their efforts are much appreciated. If you are a regular runner at Barrow, please consider taking a turn volunteering if you aren't up to running or simply want to help. Please get in touch via email - barrowhelpers@parkrun.com - or just ask the run director next week.

John Wearing is a well-known and popular figure at Barrow, and on Saturday he was timekeeper for his 59th time as volunteer. John is a great runner too with 68 parkruns to his name - he goes about things in a quiet manner and on Saturday was sweeping up broken glass from a busy path before his official role had started. Thank you, Mr Wearing.

You don't need to be a top sprinter to try parkrun - it's open to all ages and abilities, so if you'd like to give it a go you are welcome to run, jog or walk. Under-11's must be with an adult - this is parkrun policy and is for the safety of the child. There are regulars who bring their young ones in a push chair/buggy, and pets on a short lead and are advised to start at the back to let the faster ones get away safely. Visit http://www.parkrun.org.uk/register/, print your barcode and come along on Saturday. We meet at 8.50am at the bandstand. Everything is explained before we start. There's a cafe in close proximity and many of us have coffee, cake and a chat afterwards. By all means come along and join us, it's a great way to finish parkrun and to meet new people.

Phil Waite holds the record for the fastest time with a time of 15:12. The female record holder is Lizzie Browne in 16:24. The highest attendance so far is 208. The course is 3.1 miles long and is challenging but enjoyable. 176,865 km of Barrow parkrunning has been completed by everyone taking part since the 1st event. That's not even 5 times round the world, so come along next week and add to the statistics.