Thank you all so much for coming, 8 ran for Chiltern, 6 for Good Shepherd, 1 for Christ Church Chelmsford, 6 for Holy Trinity Church Wallington, 15 for Emmanuel, 9 for St Patrick’s Tigers, 9 for Christ Church Purley, 3 for Croydon Vineyard, 3 for the Salvation Army and 17 for Selsdon Baptist, 1 for Springfield, 1 for Sanderstead Evangelical Church – 79 runners in total!

As to the National – I’ll come on to that in a bit, but that took in over 150 runners (including those of us at Riddlesdown) – so quite a big event. A special mention to the effort on the part of Wrangthorn Church Runners – not quite the win, but a big effort, for a small club!

We were lucky enough to have 2 new Churches – Sanderstead Evangelical, and Christ Church Chelmsford URC. Both with lone runners who had not expected to meet us – Simon from Sanderstead has asked for more information, and I’ll leave Darren’s words to us to speak for themselves;

As a parkrun tourist from Chelmsford parkrun I was called to go to Riddlesdown parkrun on 10 September little knowing God’s plan.  As a runner for 30 years and having completed more than 100 marathons, 100 half marathons and 80 10ks I was recently diagnosed with a knee injury that means I possibly won’t be able to run a marathon again.  Every week I do a parkrun in a different place despite the pain but today although I finished last I was inspired by churchrunner to keep going and not to give in.  You have inspired me to keep going and I hope to be the sole representative of Christ Church URC Chelmsford in the future.  Thank you for blessing me in this way – it has given me a new hope.

It’s easy to forget the impact we can have without knowing it when we act in God’s name – Darren gives us a humbling reminder that God has his plans for us.

St Patrick’s runners set 2 new age graded records, Tom Higgs for SM20-25 & Sylvia Symes for VW75-79 – great running. It was also the  2^nd biggest turn out ever for Riddlesdown.

Photo credits to photographers Ange Norris and Natalie Gentry, also thanks to Charles Cotton who kept score, assisted by Tom Higgs & Robert Lines, first and third men home respectively. As ever Andy Crossley & Clive Wickham word hard behind the scenes on results. In all 214 people ran Riddlesdown parkrun that day, and we were spread from position 1 to position 214! It was awesome to see so many of our runners there.

Scores, after handicap, for those who like such things, as follows;

Next Mob match November 19^th at Nonsuch, so get that one into your calendar!

Within the churches;

First women (first column) and girls home

First women home for their teams otherwise were; Ailish Atkinson (St Pat’s), Arianna Ilangantileke (SBC), Yan Hua (HTW), & Kerena Ivens (CCR).

First men (first column) and boys home

First men home for their teams otherwise were; Damian Taylor CV, James Lyne SA, Jason Hudson GS, Alexander Lorke EC, Thomas Speed CCP, Thomas Schofield SPR, Simon Hickman SEC, Darren Fazackerley CCC, Rene Berende CCR & Ian Smith HTW.

Also for the boys Oliver Honeyman EC, Cooper Wright SBC, & Matthew Gray CCR.

Not an exhaustive list but course Pb’s for; Robert Lines, Matthew Stone, Thomas Speed, Juliet Cleghorn, John Punt, Jon Dean, Damian Taylor, Jason Hudson, Natalie Harmer, Patroulla Lorke, Sara Crouch, Tom Sanderson, Colin Jackson, Tim Gray, Georgie Brackenbury, Jo Wheeler, Joy Harris, & Simon Hickman.

Great effort folks.

First Timer’s to Riddlesdown include; Tom Higgs, Jake Moir, Tom Thompson, Ian Cotton, Thomas Schofield,  Ian Smith, Daniel Brackenbury, Alison Frost & Joe Taylor (both First ever parkrun), Mamus Otuguor, James Springate, Gavin Hamilton, Rene Berende, Clare Jeffries, Michael Ogunnaike, Ailish Atkinson, Jeffrey Croucher, Kirsty Cotton, Richard Springate, Ian Jones, Yan Hua, Elaine Jones,  Kerena Ivens, Cooper Wright, Martin Wright, Eleanor Woodman, Norman Robinson, Matthew Gray, Duncan Lavin, Sylvia Symes, & Darren Fazackerley.

Good to see us spreading the word.

Family Competition (at least one 14 and under, at least one adult, at least 3 runners) – combined times

Finally the Gray family get a podium finish! Well done to Ian, Elaine & Yan on their win. Lots of families of 2 in the results, who didn’t quite make it.

Meanwhile on to the National event – the results were quite different over 150 runners all over the country; Riddlesdown, Roundshaw Downs, Swindon, Brierly Forest (inaugural), Keswick, Andover, Pontefract, Huddersfield, Soutwick Country, Rother Valley, Nostell, Gnoll, Telford, Didcot, Lee-on-the-Solent, Catton, Bromley, Lloyd, Weymouth, Reigate Priory, Reading, Nonsuch, Leicester Victoria, Raphael, Woodhouse Moor, Bushy, Eastleigh, Lullingstone, Worcester, Cross Flatts, Peterborough, Southend & Great Notley.

And with a different handicap system the winners were not the same either! So in REVERSE order;

And to finish with a selection of photos – apologies to Churches under-represented, but I have 2 words for you ‘club kit’ – then I can spot you!