by Emily James

William Wordsworth once wrote:

I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o’er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

I’m not sure Wordsworth was thinking of a sky quite like the one we had above Roundshaw Downs on Saturday, but at least at the mob match we were not lonely. With a hundred and sixty-one parkrunners including forty-eight churchrunners, and twenty-two volunteers including two non-running churchrunner volunteers, we had quite a crowd descend on the
course (albeit not Wordsworth’s crowd of daffodils). Nor were we wandering, with several new PBs and some very close competition for the podium spots.

Our first, second and third men home were Ashley, from Chiltern Church Runners, with a time of 19.29, James, from Grace Church Dulwich Runners, with a time of 21.04, and Andrew, from Croydon Vineyard Church Runners, with a time of 23.31.

Our first, second and third women home were Cindy, from Holy Trinity Church Wallington, with a time of 24.58, Kirsty, from the St Patrick’s Tigers, with a time of 26.59, and Zoe, from Holy Trinity Church Wallington, with a time of 26.59.

Our first, second and third children home were Joel, from Springfield Church Springers, with a time of 24.13, Keiran, from Chiltern Church Runners, with a time of 24.27, and Zoe, from Holy Trinity Church Wallington (again), with a time of 26.59.

Well done also to Nike, Hannah and Noor for completing their first ever parkruns at the mob match.

Despite the rain earlier in the week, there were, fortunately, no puddles to dodge or splash in, though there were plenty of snails around, and the ground was still cracked, so we had to be careful where we stepped; I still slipped over in the finish tunnel facepalm but we managed to avoid any major accidents, which is always a plus. There was a bit of a breeze
making the temperature, in my opinion, ideal for parkrunning – not too cold to run well, but cool enough to keep you moving quickly – and the drizzle of rain during the run stayed very light and didn’t last long.

Now, for the part you probably opened this report to find out: the results. Please note, for the score for the year, teams must have participated in all three mob matches.

Team Points this match Score for the year

Chiltern Church Runners – 1 st 29 74

Holy Trinity Wallington – 2 nd 12 49

Grace Church Dulwich Runners – 3 rd 3 47

St Patrick’s Tigers – 4 th 8 46

Selsdon Baptist Church Runners – 5 th 1 33

Springfield Church Springers – 6 th 7 32

Croydon Vineyard Church Runners – 7 th 2 –
Sutton Christian Centre Runners – 8 th 1 –

Chiltern Church Runners are leading the way by quite a margin, but second place is very hotly contested, so it is still all to play for at our next mob match in October at Lloyd parkrun!

Finally, thank you to everyone who came along and made the mob match such a great experience. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. Despite having been part of the St Patrick’s Tigers since 2019, and Roundshaw Downs being my home course, this was the first time I have run at a mob match here and it was definitely one of my favourites! Looking
forward to seeing you all again at Lloyd on October 14th