It doesn’t feel like summer has been here very long, but already the first signs of autumn are creeping up, with the leaves starting to fall off the trees and yellows and browns starting to mix in with the greens of spring and summer, while Storm Lillian provided a late season kick before the new storm naming season begins in September. Lillian caused issues for both Burnley and Haigh Woodland locally, which saw fallen trees affecting their course, but, thankfully, Witton, which has had its fair share of felled trees in recent years, was spared, meaning a sedate course check on Saturday morning ready for 94 of you who came to run, jog and walk the Beast this week, of whom more than a third of you were joining us for the very first time! And there was plenty happening, even if most of it went unannounced beforehand! Let’s get to it…
The Podiums
First to cross the line this week was returning Wittoner Graham PEAco*ck of Charnwood AC in 18:46! This was Graham’s 76th parkrun and his 7th with us at Witton, with the majority coming in the Midlands, around the Loughborough-Leicester area, and it was his first visit to us since Event #251 over 2 years ago, and he missed out on bettering his PB from that day by just 3 seconds! Great to see you again, Graham! Second finisher was friend of Witton Scott SUMNER of UK parkrun tourists, who finished in a palindromic 20:02 on Saturday morning! This was Scott’s 262nd parkrun and his 27th visit to Witton, and he finished on the Witton podium for the 14th time – always nice to have you back, Scott! Third place went to North Shields Polytechnic AC’s Robert PILLING in 20:05! This was Robert’s 70th parkrun and his second visit to Witton, having previously visited us on New Year’s Eve 2022! This matched his highest parkrun finishing position, which he has previously achieved at Hasenheide parkrun in Berlin and at his home venue of Whitley Bay! Congratulations, Robert! Brilliant to have you back!
First female for the first time was visitor Emmy L from Belle Vue Racers, who finished in 11th position in 23:31! This was Emmy’s 312th parkrun and her 3rd run with us at Witton, having previously run with us twice at the backend of 2022! She certainly gets about, with 31 runs at South Manchester her most visited venue, and Witton is one of 47 venues that Emmy has visited more than once, and we became the 19th different venue that she has been first female at – great job, Emmy! Nice to see you back! Second female was Witton first timer Sharon WILKINSON in 18th position in 24:40! This was only Sharon’s 11th parkrun and just her second away from her home venue of Preston and this marks her debut appearance on a parkrun podium – well done, Sharon! Glad you did it with us at Witton, and we hope to see you again! Third place went to someone with a bit more Witton experience, Vegan Runner Lesley PETERS in 21st position in 25:24! This was Lesley’s 173rd parkrun and her 29th visit to Witton, having first joined us for our very first parkrun back in August 2015! Lovely to see you again, Lesley, and we hope we might see you again next Saturday for our 9th birthday and 350th event! Well done all our speedy men and women this week!
Milestone Time!!!
You know…you lot think I have all this stuff in my head. And, I’ll be honest, there is a certain amount of parkrun-related information sloshing around in my brain at any given time, but this week I had a bit of a mare on the milestones front, as despite being aware of 3 new Witton club members likely to occur this week, I failed to mention any of these to Michelle either on Friday night or even on Saturday morning when she asked me! I also missed a purple t-shirt (which to be fair was for a visitor!) and there was another milestone t-shirt that was only mentioned because I was reminded after it was pointed out to me about 5 minutes before the start! But these things happen, I’ll put it down to an off week and you’re all about to get your Witton write-up so it’s all good!
We’ll begin with our new t-shirt owners, and we had 2 milestone t-shirts awarded, both of the new(ish) purple variety and first to complete their 25th parkrun this week was Steven FLYNN! Steven is the father of recent Witton regular Annie Flynn and has been coming to Witton about as long as his daughter! Steven’s first parkrun came in July 2023 at Witton’s Event #295 and, so far, all of his 25 parkruns to date have been with us at Witton, making Steven a budding passionista! Steven ran again at the end of July, and next ran at our 300th event in August, joining us again a week later. There was one visit in September, 2 in October, one in November and another one in December, that one being particularly special as Steven joined us on Christmas Day! In 2024, his attendance has continued to be regular, running twice with us in January, twice in March, 3 times in May and 4 times in June. He joined us 3 times in July and has now run twice in August, this latest one marking his 25th parkrun and earning Steven his first milestone t-shirt, the purple one, from parkrun HQ! Both Steven and his daughter Annie have become familiar faces at Witton, and very welcome additions to our community. Congratulations on your first milestone t-shirt, Steven, we’re delighted at the progress you’re making and hope to see plenty more of you going forward!
Our second milestone t-shirt was also a purple number, and it was for a first-time visitor to Witton parkrun: Robbie HARCOURT! Robbie’s parkrun journey began back in May 2019 at Worsley Woods parkrun in Greater Manchester, and he was a regular there in 2019, next running towards the end of August, before visiting once in September, 4 times in November and 3 times in December. Robbie didn’t make it back to parkrun in 2020 before the pandemic arrived in March, and he didn’t actually return to parkrun until he walked at Wythenshawe parkrun in August 2022. He completed 2 further parkruns before the end of the year at 2 more different venues, visiting Northwich parkrun and our near-neighbours Burnley in consecutive weeks in September. His next parkrun came in July 2023 and was a return to his original home venue of Worsley Woods, and he would conclude his parkrun year with 2 more visits there in November. In between, Robbie visited Glen River parkrun in Cork, Ireland (Robbie’s first international parkrun!) in August and Lyme Park just outside Stockport, Nobles on the Isle of Man and Huddersfield parkruns in September! Robbie returned to parkrun again this summer, starting out in May at Myrtle parkrun in West Yorkshire, followed by visits to Fletcher Moss parkrun in Didsbury and Alexandra parkrun in Moss Side, Manchester, both in June. Earlier this month, he visited the evocatively named Old Railway Trail parkrun in Llangollen in North Wales and all that set up his visit to Witton this week, where he parkwalked his way to his 25th parkrun and earned his purple milestone t-shirt from parkrun HQ! It’s been quite a journey, Robbie! Congratulations on your first milestone t-shirt, thanks for choosing Witton to celebrate it and here’s to many more in the future!
Onto our new Witton club members now, and one of the reasons I’m frustrated to have missed a mention of this in the pre-run briefing, is because this week saw our very first female entrant to the ultra-exclusive Witton 250 Club! And who would it be but the legend that is Patricia PROCTER! Pat’s first parkrun came in September 2016 at Witton Event #49, a week after our first birthday event at the end of August! She was immediately a regular visitor, running taking part in the next 4 events and completing 13 parkruns with us in total before the end of 2016. In 2017, she didn’t join us again until February, but once she returned, she was a regular attendee once again, running a whopping 37 times with us across the year! These included our 100th event in October and a first Christmas Day parkrun for Pat, while she marshalled at our birthday event as she isn’t a fan of our Reverse Beast route, which was used at the time! In December, at Event #108, Pat ran her 50th parkrun and earned her red milestone t-shirt from parkrun, while just a couple of weeks later at Event #111, she rounded out the year by joining the Witton 50 Club, becoming its 24th member and its 10th female entrant! 2018 followed a very similar pattern, with Pat running 35 times with us across the calendar year, including at our 150th event in November and again on Christmas Day once more, and 2019 began on New Year’s Day for the first time at Witton too! Just 11 days later, on our first Saturday parkrun of the year at Event #158, Pat ran her 100th parkrun and earned her black milestone t-shirt from parkrun HQ! A few months later, at Event #173 in May 2019, Pat became the 9th member of the Witton 100 Club, as well as its 5th female entrant! And at the end of the year, she ran at our 2019 Christmas Day event as well as our 200th event 3 days later, the last of 38 parkruns Pat completed with us across the year, her most so far! She joined us again on New Year’s Day 2020 and ran at 10 of our 11 events between January and March 2020 before the pandemic intervened and we were cancelled for 16 months!
In July 2021, however, when Witton returned, Pat was back on the start line as if we’d never been away and ran 13 of our 15 events that we held in 2021! By 2022, Witton was back in full swing, and so was Pat, running 38 times with us across the year, matching her record to date, along the way running at our very special 250th event in July 2022, and at our 7th birthday in September (now back on the normal route!), while at Event #231 in February 2022, Pat became the 5th member of the Witton 150 Club and its second female entrant! She upped her game in 2023, though, for the first time running 39 times with us in a calendar year, including at our 300th event in August and our 8th birthday in September, and there were personal milestones for Pat too! At Event #292, in June 2023, Pat became just the 4th member of the Witton 200 Club and its first female entrant, before her year culminated in December with her 250th parkrun, completed alongside her parkrun buddy Lynda Vernon who achieved the same milestone, just two days before Christmas! This earned both Pat and Lynda their green milestone t-shirts from parkrun HQ! And her attendance has shown no signs of slowing down in 2024, already racking up 27 parkruns with us this year, out of the 32 events we’ve held, and this means that Saturday marked her 250th Witton parkrun, which makes her just the second entrant of the Witton 250 Club, after myself, Matthew Vernon, and its first female member! Pat is very much a homebird, with Saturday marking her 280th parkrun in total, and nearly 90% of her parkruns have been with us at Witton, with just occasional visits to local venues such as Preston and Hyndburn! Her dedication and commitment to Witton is humbling, and she’s inspirational as she continues to strive to achieve her goals as she gets older, despite having no history of running or competing in earlier life. Having walked her first parkrun in 58 minutes, she set her Witton PB of 39:42 in September 2017 and still runs 45-46 minutes regularly 7 years and 1 pandemic later! And she’s by no means just a runner at Witton, having earned 58 volunteer credits with us over the years, including 34 in the core non-running roles we need every week! Thanks for your continuing commitment to Witton, Pat, and welcome to the most exclusive Witton club so far! Here’s to many more parkruns to come!
Now onto not one but TWO new members of the Witton 50 Club! Both of whom are practically passionistas and have had extensive write-ups in recent weeks for milestone t-shirts! We’ll start with last week’s 50 t-shirt earner who a week later becomes a Witton 50 Club member: it’s Nazmeen ZAIN! As I said last week, Nazmeen joined us for the first time at our very first post-pandemic event, Event #212 in July 2021, and she ran 14 times with us before the end of the year. 2022 saw Nazmeen run 17 times with us between March and November, including at our 250th event in July and our 7th birthday in August. That same August, she ran her 25th parkrun, all at Witton, which earned her the new purple milestone t-shirt from parkrun HQ! We only saw her 4 times in 2023, between May and June, but in 2024, Nazmeen has been back to regular attendance, already completing 15 parkruns with us since her return in May, and well on course to break her record for a calendar year! Last week, she ran her 50th parkrun overall, earning her red milestone t-shirt from parkrun HQ, after she ran at Stevenage parkrun on a family visit at the start of the month, Nazmeen’s very first run away from Witton! This put her one out of sync for her Witton 50, which comes a week later, and this week she became the 113th member of the Witton 50 Club and its 47th female entrant! Nazmeen joins son Zikki in the Witton 50 Club, and they become the 8th parent and child to both be members of the 50 Club, after the Vernons, the Snapes, the Chadwicks, the co*ckers, the Procters, the Thompsons and the Dingle-Doyles! Some of those children are older than others it should be noted! Congratulations, Nazmeen, welcome to an exclusive club of Witton loyalty! We’re delighted to have you back on board!
Our second new Witton 50 Club member was also introduced to parkrun by her family, but she’s far outstripped them in terms of her staying power: it’s Elizabeth NORCROSS! Elizabeth is affiliated to the Community Church Blackburn, who have sent lots of parkrunners our way since 2019, and Elizabeth first joined us in June 2022 for Event #248! She was immediately a regular visitor, running 15 times with us by the end of the year, and in 2023 there was a slight increase to 17 visits across the calendar year. She attended both our 7th and 8th birthdays, but missed our 250th and 300th events, running her 25th parkrun and earning her purple milestone t-shirt at Event #299 in August last year, with all her runs at that point coming at Witton! Shortly after, her passionista streak ended at 27, when she ran at Burnley, but in 2024 she has been a regular at Witton once again, running 18 times across the year, a new record already, and earning her red milestone t-shirt for her 50th parkrun at Event #345 last month! Now, just 4 Witton events later, Elizabeth has completed her 50th Witton parkrun and thus becomes the 114th member of the Witton 50 Club and its 48th female entrant! Elizabeth is another inspiration, coming to parkrun later in life but embracing it wholeheartedly. We’ve seen her progress from walking to trotting to practically running now, and even in recent months got her to ditch her handbag on the run so she’s more aerodynamic! Her PB continues to reduce from an initial 1:10:08, in July she completed the course in 50:19, and I’m sure a sub-50-minute effort on the Beast is not too far away! Congratulations on your latest achievement, Elizabeth, we’re delighted to have you at Witton and hope to see you for many more years to come!
Others celebrating notable milestones this week included:
- Patricia PROCTER – 280 runs
- Matthew CHESTER (Blackburn Road Runners) – 260 runs
- Dale RICHARDS (Blackburn Road Runners) – 225 runs
- Christopher OAKEY – 220 runs
- Catherine KILBANE (Manchester Road Runners) – 190 runs
- Lesley GREATHEAD (Liverpool Irish Rovers) – 80 runs
- Nicola CROOK – 75 runs
- Robert PILLING (North Shields Polytechnic AC) – 70 runs
- Hana LOWRY – 20 runs
- Reece MCCAMLEY – 10 runs
- Rick WADDINGTON – 1 run
- Brian KITCHEN – 1 run
- Yasin JOGEE – 1 run
And those on the cusp of a milestone include:
- Sarah WATKINS (Red Rose Road Runners) – 299 runs
- Jenny CASTLE – 189 runs
- Paul MCKENNA – 119 runs
- Jake LAWLESS – 99 runs (t-shirt alert!!!)
- Georgia PENDLEBURY (Chorley Athletic and Triathlon Club) – 24 runs (t-shirt alert!!!)
- Rory ASPINALL – 19 runs
- Janet LOWRY – 19 runs
- Harry CROOK – 9 runs
parkrunniversaries
A week for ghosts from the past…and the boss of course!
August 18th – Wayne HAWORTH (6 years)
August 19th – Madeline HAWORTH (7 years)
August 22nd – Peter TOOGOOD (9 years)
August 23rd – Michelle SEARBY (10 years!!!)
Wayne and Madeline (not related) were familiar faces at one time, but neither have parkrun for quite a while, but we hope to see them at some point! Witton 100 Club member Peter was for a long time a regular face at Witton but has slipped out of the habit in recent years, but we hold out hope to see him again soon! We know you keep an eye on us, Peter! And this week marks 10 years since Michelle ran her very first parkrun, at Burnley parkrun in August 2014: little did she know then that a year later she would be Event Director of her very own event in Blackburn! Happy parkrunniversary, boss!
Volunteering Superstars
You lot really came up trumps this week. On Thursday afternoon, we were staring at a roster that was empty save for a Run Director and Timekeeper (both from our core team) and my dad, Alan VERNON, on marshalling duty. Yet, by the same time on Friday afternoon, not only had we filled all the core roles, but we also had a full complement of 8 marshals and, despite one dropping out, were still able to boast a full house thanks to someone turning up on Saturday morning, and Neil giving us another one still! And, even more astonishingly, my dad was able to be given the week off and could take part instead! You lot really are amazing sometimes! This week’s full roster of hi-vis heroes is:
Michelle SEARBY • Joyce HILL • Neil TATTERSALL • Jane OAKEY • Christopher OAKEY • Viki WALSH • Elouise Sylkie PEMBERTON • Jenny CASTLE • Diane HARRISON-LEEMING • Andrew MCARTHUR • Matthew VERNON • Lorna PICKUP • Lynda VERNON • Alan VERNON • Geoff SHANKS • Angela SHANKS • John KEARNEY • Robbie HARCOURT • Andrea JENKINS • Michelle HEYWOOD • Chris PRESCOTT • Steven DERBYSHIRE • Jean FISH
Three brand new names on the Witton roster this week! Visitors Jenny CASTLE and Robbie HARCOURT both parkwalked on their first appearance at Witton, while recent regular Joyce HILL joined our volunteering ranks for the very first time, earning her second volunteer credit and her first for a non-running role, very kindly marshalling for us having run at Witton on 29 previous occasions now! Huge thanks, Joyce! And we hope you’ll help us out again in the future! Huge thanks also to marshals Chris PRESCOTT, who helped us for the second time, and didn’t mind being moved late in the day from timekeeping to marshalling, and Andrew MCARTHUR, who turned up offering his services on Saturday morning to plug our gap, having volunteered on 2 previous occasions, but not as a marshal since Event #36 way back in May 2016! We’re very grateful, lads!
There was also a new purple t-shirt owner amongst our marshalling team, but I don’t know if she knew as she never mentioned it to us as far as I’m aware! Step forward Michelle HEYWOOD! Michelle’s first volunteer credit came in June 2019, just a month after she made her parkrun debut, when she marshalled for us at Event #177, and she helped us out twice more that year, both in August, one for tail walking and another for marshalling. She also marshalled for us in January 2020, which was her final pre-pandemic volunteer credit. Since then, she has helped us out regularly, earning 6 more credits following our return in July 2021, handing out finish tokens for the first time, marshalling again and earning 4 more credits as Tail Walker. 2022 saw Michelle earn 10 credits across the year, 4 as Tail Walker, 3 as Marshal, another for Finish Tokens, and first credits for Pre-event Setup in May and in the new role of parkwalker in October! Since then, we haven’t seen as much of Michelle, and she earned just 2 volunteer credits last year, one each for tail walking and marshalling, while this year we’ve seen her 3 times so far this year, marshalling in April, tail walking in July before joining us again on Saturday, answering our desperate call for volunteers and marshalling for the 10th time and earning her 25th volunteer credit in total, which means she has achieved the purple V25 milestone t-shirt! A huge thanks for all your help over the years, Michelle, we couldn’t have done it without you, and I suspect we’ll be seeing more of you in the future too!
Others earning notable volunteer credits this week include:
- Matthew VERNON – 300 credits
And those on the cusp of a notable number include:
- Michelle SEARBY – 389 credits
- Andrea JENKINS – 89 credits
- Christopher OAKEY – 9 credits
A reminder that we are currently actively recruiting new Run Directors for our core team, so if you’d be interested in stepping up to the role then please do speak to one of us on a Saturday morning or drop us an email at: witton@parkrun.com and we’ll get back to you about what it entails! Although, if you’re keen, I’d encourage you to read LAST WEEK’s run report, where I detailed the role at length! We’ve already had some positive discussions with some of you, with 3 people agreeing to join us in the near future and a further 3 showing interest in taking on the role at a future date. We’ll reveal all in due course!
This week is very exciting as it marks our 9th birthday and our 350th event (I know I’ve mentioned it already, and I’ll be mentioning it again later too!) and we’d love a full roster to make plenty of noise and create a brilliant atmosphere for what we hope will be a busy and fun event! Amazingly, after a few weeks’ preparation, we only need one Timekeeper and 2 Marshals for a full house of core roles, so if you’d like to be part of our celebrations but don’t feel able to take part in the run, jog, walk for whatever reason, then please get in touch and we’ll pop you on the volunteer roster instead! You can contact us via our email address (witton@parkrun.com) or drop us a message via our Facebook page (Witton parkrun)! We look forward to hearing from you!
Event Notes
This week saw 94 people come to run, jog and walk the Beast, a notable increase on the 78 of last week, but 6 short of triple figures, thus ending a run of 7 consecutive weeks where we’ve alternated between double and triple figure attendances! As I mentioned earlier, no less than 34 of the 94 people who attended this week were running at Witton for the very first time, and this is the most first timers at a Witton event this calendar year, and the most since Christmas Day 2023, when we had 59 (with a much larger attendance, however, it must be noted!). It is the most on a regular Saturday since Event #302 in August last year, when we had 36! Thanks to all of you who came this week.
Highest number of parkruns in the field this week was Witton 100 Club member Andrew BIRD, who ran his 357th parkrun at Witton this week, which moves him up one place on the Most Runs Seen at Witton list to outright 81st position! 5 further attendees had run in excess of the 295 parkruns needed to make my recorded list, but none of the remainder entered the top 100 I’m afraid!
Two visitors joined us after a long time away, and it seems highly likely it’s a husband-and-wife team in the form of Trawden AC’s Tom BLACKLEDGE and Abbey BLACKLEDGE! Both Tom and Abbey were running for the second time at Witton, and both have more than 200 parkruns under their belts. Their last visit to Witton came at the same event, too, but that was way back at Witton Event #157, which was our New Year’s Day event back in 2019! This is an impressive 192 events ago, and just nudges Tom and Abbey into a share of joint-99th position on the Longest Gaps between Witton parkruns list, alongside Amy-Nichola Davies! Nice to see you again, guys, we hope you don’t leave it another 5-and-a-half years before you join us again!
Just three of our active passionistas were in attendance this week, and it was 2 of the most committed of course, with Dot MYERS walking her 162nd parkrun, with all of them having been at Witton, which is the most of anyone, and Liz HEIGHWAY completed her 55th parkrun, of which they’ve all been at Witton too! The third was our milestone man, Steven FLYNN, who ran his 25th parkrun, with all of them coming at Witton, which puts him in joint-12th position on the active list! Both ladies are also in the ‘Most Uninterrupted Witton parkruns’ list, which lists visits to Witton without attending another venue in between (Dot leads this list too, while Liz is 5th but closing in on 4th!), and further down the same list, a few more names ran with us again. Steven is in joint-37th position with his 25 uninterrupted visits to Witton, while Lynda VERNON is on 23 uninterrupted runs now, which puts her in joint-47th! Both Donna DOUGLAS and I, Matthew VERNON, meanwhile ran our 22nd uninterrupted parkruns at Witton on Saturday, and this puts us in a share of joint-50th on the same list!
First finisher Graham PEAco*ck, of Charnwood AC, became just the 52nd man to be first finisher at Witton on more than one occasion, currently holding joint-34th on the all-time list of first finishes with 2! His time of 18:46 was the second time he has dipped under the magic 19 minutes at Witton, and was just 3 seconds off his PB here, with his time the joint-130th fastest we’ve seen on our Beast course! An impressive return, Graham!
Pat PROCTER was at it again, running another sub-47-minute Witton parkrun as a VW75-79 on Saturday, this time a neat 46:46! This is only the 9th fastest time that Pat has run in this age category at Witton, but, significantly, it knocks her good friend Dot Myers off the bottom of the top 10 with her 47:02 from Event #211, our very last event before the pandemic (meaning Dot lost 16 months when she could have improved on that mark! You have a right to feel aggrieved, Dorothy!). This means all 10 of our fastest VW75-79 times at Witton now belong to Pat, and that’s a much a testament to her loyalty and commitment to Witton as it is to her relative speed! Enjoy it while it lasts, Pat, and be proud of it, as it is an impressive feat. I’m sure some of the speedy ladies in the next category down (VW70-74) will have something to say about it when they reach the appropriate age, however! But you continue in a rich vein of form, Pat!
On the same theme, first finisher Graham PEAco*ck has celebrated a couple of birthdays since his last visit to Witton, and this was his first appearance as a VM40-44, As such, his 18:46 meant he became the 10th fastest VM40-44 we’ve ever seen at Witton, although he is more than 20 seconds off 9th on the list and more than 40 seconds off the all-time top 10 fastest times in the age category! Great work, nonetheless, Graham! And 4th finisher Jake LAWLESS ran at Witton for the first time on Saturday! The JM11-14 ran an impressive 20:13 on the Beast, and this catapults him straight into the top 10 as the 7th fastest JM11-14 in Witton history! An impressive debut, Jake, we hope to see you again! Curiously, 5 of our top 10 JM11-14s have names beginning with the letter J – 2 Jacks, a Jamie, Jay and now, Jake!
Away from Witton, congratulations to Witton 50 Club member Kerry ELLIOTT, who this week ran her 300th parkrun at Carlisle parkrun in Cumbria, in the process becoming, to my knowledge, just the 5th person to have run their very first parkrun at Witton to have reached a triple century of parkruns! Kerry’s first parkrun came at Witton’s Event #5 in September 2015, and she was almost ever present in our first year, running 38 times out of a possible 44 up to our first birthday in August 2015! Since then, she’s become quite the parkrun tourist, which is why, having been the 10th member of the Witton 50 Club, she has not yet reached the Witton 100 Club! She keeps threatening, though! Someday, Kerry. Congratulations on becoming a parkrun triple centurion!
Dates for the Diary
On Wednesday night, around 20 Wittoners gathered for our latest Reverse Beast social run, which stayed mercifully dry despite the forecast and a great time was had by all! We are intending to hold one more event in September before the clocks go back, but given the inclement weather, depending how the evenings are looking, we may move it from the intended date of September 18th, or even cancel it altogether! We’ll keep you posted!
This coming Saturday (eek!) Witton will be holding our 9th birthday event, and it will also coincide with our Event #350! This will be held just 2 days after the 9th anniversary of Witton’s first ever event on August 29th, 2015, when a humungous 273 people came to take part in our inaugural event, which remains our record attendance! While we don’t necessarily expect those sorts of numbers, we would love to see lots of old faces, if possible, as well as plenty of our current regulars and visitors are more than welcome too! It should be a wonderful event, and a chance to reminisce about all we’ve achieved in the past 9 years, so please do come down if you’re able to, although I realise that some of you may be away! I’m sure there’ll be cake and, to keep it simple, the theme is simply rainbows! That way, we’d encourage you to all wear the parkrun bling you’ve earned over the years: white, purple, red, black, green, even blue t-shirts, not mention the classic parkrun apricot too! And if you don’t yet have any parkrun bling, it gives you the excuse to wear whatever colour you like to come and join in the fun! We hope to see lots of you there!
Finally, our first cancellation of Autumn 2024 will be on Saturday, October 12th, due to a cross-country event being held in the park. We haven’t actually had a cancellation since the start of February (for a different cross-country event!), which is highly unusual, so get planning your parkrun tourism! As usual, there are going to be a few more in the coming months for the annual bonfire and other cross-country events, so we’ll keep you posted, and there’s always the rare possibility of a weather-related cancellation due to ice, flooding or fallen trees, though regulars will know we will do our best to give you a parkrun event to attend if possible!
And, hopefully, nothing will impede our very special 350th event on Saturday! I hope to see lots of you there!
Have a great week!
Matthew Vernon #loveparkrun #loveWittonparkrun #StandwithUkraine
