So amongst the national organizations a clear win for Christian Runners UK, with Tailenders and the Salvation Army filling out the podium.

Amongst the Churches a good day for Chiltern Church Runners, with Grace Church Dulwich Runners & Emmanuel Church Chuggers jointly with Springfield Church Springers making up the podium positions.

Well done to all, and indeed all who took part.

Top 3 senior/veteran males were;

Ollie Campbell – Christian Runners UK

Kevin Lewis – Good Shepherd

Matthew Owen Hall – Tailenders

Top 3 senior/veteran females were;

Naomi Lines – Selsdon Baptist Church

Rebecca Sprowell – Christian Runners UK

Fiona Wallace – KMPC Runners (NB see below re junior)

Top 3 junior males;

Nathaniel Widdows – Grace Church Dulwich Runners

Tao Lui – St Patrick’s Tigers

Matthew McGovern – Chiltern Church Runners

Top 3 junior females;

Lucy Cole – Springfield Church Springers (NB also 3^rd female overall)

Erin Clode – Rising Brook Runners

Rachel Simmons – Grace Church Dulwich Runners

Amazing work all, and a really wide spread of Churches/organizations covered.

A special mention Leo and Finn Stevens (Emmanuel Church Chuggers) and Blake Aruthur and Erin Jones (Chiltern Church Runners) as our youngest participants. Also Alan Richardson, Sylvia Ross & Terry Armstrong (all Christian Runners UK), Geoff Nun & Rupert Quested (Holy Trinity Church Wallington), Nick White (Springfield Church Springers), Don Brims & Ken Wright (both Chiltern Church Runners), and Peter Attewell (Croydon Vineyard Church Runners), who were collectively in the highest age category to take part.

and St Albans! That’s an amazing 69 locations folks!

I hope we will be back as follows; May 18^th Crystal Palace parkrun, July 20^th Roundshaw Downs parkrun, October 12^th Lloyd – subject to agreement by venues.

As ever Roundshaw Downs was busy;

With nearly 30 runners from 5 different Churches it was hotly contested! A special welcome back to Rosa Constantinou doing her first parkrun in 2 years.

We have some news and photos from the field;

Emmanuel Church Chuggers Woodley had 10 runners at our local parkrun, and at least one elsewhere. We were delighted to welcome one person to their very first parkrun and we enjoyed our 3 lap course at varying speeds along with 450+ others including a running hot dog and a juggler. I wonder if anyone else had a Hi-Vis Flamingo marshal too!

St Patrick’s went for a ‘how many parkruns can we cover’ approach!

So we have (all listed to St Patrick’s Tigers unless I’ve said otherwise).

Myself at Reigate Priory (I also wrote the run report)

Scott Worsfold at Roundshaw Downs

Emily James at Bath Skyline (fell over and lost her glasses part way through and took sometime to find them again!)

Drew and Tao Lui at Crystal Palace (both with PBs.)

Darren and Georgina Millings at Riddlesdown (Darren’s first parkrun since May 2022, because he’s been injured.

I’m also going to pop in a name check for the Welton Church Runners – David Sandford, Ian Jefferyes and Judith Parr – by way of apology for us missing them in our first sweep of results!

CRUK volunteers

And indeed a great selection of photos from Christian Runners UK – another clear win Jason!

Till next time folks – God Bless you.

Here are the results – and the years (results) – to be in this a club had to run in all events of the year

1st Chiltern Church Runners (also first for the year with 96)

2nd St Patrick’s Tigers (also 3rd for the year with 59 points) and our most consistent performers of the year – there’s a cup for that!

3rd Holy Trinity Wallington (doing just enough for 2nd in the Year with 61)

4th Grace Church Dulwich (also 4th for the year with 58)

Very close there for 2,3,4!

5th Selsdon Baptist Church (and 5th for the year)

6th Good Shepherd

7th Salvation Army & Berry Lane Methodist & Croydon Jubilee & Springfield Church Springers (also 6th for the year)

11th Emmanuel & Croydon Vineyard

Some of you pushed yourselves on the day, although frankly Lloyd is a push in it’s own right!

So for the Men of the Churches (discounting juniors initially)

James Widdows      1^st   GCD

Clive Wickham         2^nd   BLMC

Mark Constantinou  3^rd   CCR

Junior males

Nathaniel Widdows   1^st GCD

Matthew Gray           2^nd CCR

Timothy Humphreys 3^rd  CCR

And for the women of the Churches (discounting juniors initially)

Kirsty Cotton             1^st  StPT

Cindy Woo                2^nd HTW

Rosie Edser              3^rd SCS

Junior females

Zoey Siu                    1^st HTW

Caitlyn Bryon       2^nd CJC

Ching Lui      3^rd  StPT

Also PB’s (or at least course bests) on the day for Nathaniel Widdows, Simon Bold, Matthew Gray, Timothy Humphreys, & Emily James.

First Timers to Lloyd were Clive Wickham (also celebrating his 100^th run, well done Clive), Drew, Ching & Tao Lui, Georgina King, Hannah Black, Victoria Widdows,  Grace Davies, Pui Sai Tam, Winifred Yung, Nicola Humphreys, & Bernd and Cheryl Ann Schulte. Welcome all.

Next year will see the return of the handicap – another virtual, Roundshaw, probably Lloyd & perhaps a new site, maybe Crystal Palace?

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

https://www.facebook.com/groups/midsomernortontownpark5k

In total there were 230 volunteers, walkers and runners participating for 25 Christian running groups/churches.

A big thank you to parkrun and all of the volunteers who make events up and down the country (and across the world) happen through their dedication and commitment to their local communities.

Where did we run/walk/volunteer?

An incredible 124 different parkrun locations were visited covering Jersey, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales and England.

By far the furthest away of all venues was Deep Run parkrun across the pond in Richmond, Virginia! Amazingly, the alphabet was close to being covered by the first letter of each venue with only Q, U, X, Y and Z not represented!

I sampled a fairly new parkrun close to home at Stockley Country Park, the first in the London Borough of Hillingdon, a fantastic trail course.

Clubs and churches – who ran?

Wrangthorn Runners – The Salvation Army – Tailenders Running Club – Sutton Christian Centre Runners – St Patrick’s Tigers – Springfield Church Springers – Selsdon Baptist Church Runners – Rising Brook Runners – Refresh Church Runners – Lighthouse Church Runners – KMPC Runners – jOG Norwich – HTH Runners – Holy Trinity Church Wallington – Grace Church Dulwich Runners – Good Shepherd Runners – Emmanuel Runners – Emmanuel Church Chuggers – Croydon Vineyard Church Runners – Christian Vision for Men – Christian Runners UK – Christ Church Purley Runners – Chiltern Church Runners – Cheam Baptist Church Runners – Berry Lane Methodist Church

Once again, some familiar names and some new, 25 in all.

Results

This year, we used a simple scoring system which rewarded participation and there were bonus points for the fastest few young people, women and men. A big well done to Christian Runners UK who fielded by far the greatest number of runners/walkers & volunteers totalling 62 people, which included the fastest woman (Rebecca Sprowell) and man (Ollie Campbell).

In an effort to give every club a fair chance, we also calculated the average points per person. Congratulations to Holy Trinity Church, Wallington and Emmanuel Church Chuggers, Woodley for finishing joint top of that table, thanks to a sterling set of performances by the Siu family of Cindy, Stephen, Hazel and Zoe (HTCW) and 2^nd fastest female finish for Chris Woolnough (ECCW). Fastest young person was Nathaniel Widdows of Grace Church Dulwich Runners.

What’s next?

For those of you based in the south of England, or for anyone who fancies a tourist trip, our next mob match is at Dulwich parkrun on 20^th May 2023 – do come and join us if you are able.

Notable mentions…

Cheryl Hudson (Good Shepherd Runners) returned for her first parkrun since breaking her leg back in September last year! We were pleased to learn that Sylvia Symes (St. Patrick’s Tigers) made an impressive return, her first parkrun since lockdown, with the 2^nd quickest all-time performance in her age category at Crystal Palace parkrun. Last, but by no means least, Hannah Gordon (Good Shepherd Runners) celebrated a PB in fine style with doughnuts…and why not!

…and finally…

A selection of photos for you all to enjoy…

It was fantastic to be back, and I’d love to do a big report to do it justice, but circumstances mean a little something is better than nothing!
With some late additions we had 91 running for the Churches – a great number.

After some checks we have results;

Club	Points
Chiltern Church Runners	36
Selsdon Baptist Church Runners	19
Good Shepherd	16
Croydon Vineyard and Holy Trinity Church Wallington tied	9
Emmanuel	8
Springfield Church Springers	7
Salvation Army and St Patrick’s Tigers tied	6
Jubilee Church Croydon*	5

* Welcome to your first mob match Jubilee Church Croydon, we were glad to have you.

A great witness on the day, and certainly plenty of very welcome fellowship and fun.

We hope to run again – provisionally with a Roundshaw Downs event on July 9th. This event will have a new handicap attached – just to keep things interesting!
After that we will look at a September event – possible venues are South Norwood – Dulwich – or Bethlem – any thoughts folks? I note Nonsuch is just looking too busy, and Banstead has insufficient parking.
Then rounding out the year with a National/Virtual in November.

In total there were 245 runners (7 up on last year), across 94 parkruns (up 26 on last year year) running for 20 Christian running groups/churches. Please note some runners are not listed in the individual results due to GDPR issues.

Obviously none of this would be possible without parkrun – so a big thank you to them.

parkruns – where did we run?

Haigh Woodland, Nonsuch, Llanerchaeron, Lloyd, Roundshaw Downs, Banstead Woods, Hanworth, South Norwood, Tooting Common, Beacon, Cambridge, Riddlesdown, Hartlepool, Crystal Palace, Falkirk, Cardiff, Cannon Hill, Tamar Trails, Montrose, Pontefract, Andover, Cleethorpes, Eastbourne, Hazelhead, Gnoll, Rother Valley, Nova Prestatyn,  Rothwell, Bushy, Margate, Seven Fields, Conkers, Aberystwyth, Rushmoor, Frimley Lodge, Lancaster, Belton House, Brighton and Hove, Shrewsbury, Colney Lane, Southport, Wepre, Cannock Chase, Leamington, Royal Tunbridge Wells, Dulwich, Catford, Brockwell, Lullingstone, Walmer & Deal Seafront, California Country, Hastings, Stormont, Jersey, Catton, Heartlands, Congleton, Southampton, Harcourt Hill, Sheffield Hallam, Watermeadows, Kingdom,  Coldham’s Common, Worcester Pitchcroft, Selby, Morecombe Prom, Thetford, York, Barking, Maidenhead, Ashton Court, Walsall Arboretum, Sizewell, Wimpole Estate, Newcastle, Lydiard, Forest Rec, Stevenage, Ferry Meadows, Bromley, Bath Skyline, Thetford, Harwich, Pegwell Bay, Rushcliffe, Norwich, Braunstone, Brandon Country Park, Chelmesford Central, Burgess, Southport, Oriam, Ellon, Raphael, & Woodhouse Moor.

What a massive selection.

My family and I, joined by churchrunner Technical Director Clive Wickham, went to Hanworth;

A warm welcome there on a lovely flat course, and close to Kew Gardens afterwards!

Clubs and churches – who ran?

Good Shepherd – Selsdon Baptist Church Runners – Chiltern Church Runners – Holy Trinity Church Wallington – Christian Runners UK – Emmanuel Runners – St Patrick’s Tigers – Salvation Army – KMPC Runners – Beacon Church Runners – Cheam Baptist Church Runners – Christ Church Purley Runners – jOG Norwich – Christian Vision for Men – New Life Croydon– Tailenders running club – Lighthouse Church Runners – Rising Brook Runners – Holy Trinity Hastings (HTH) Runners – Body and Soul Runners –Grace Church Dulwich– Springfield Church Springers – Wrangthorn Runners

Some familiar names, and some new, 24 clubs or churches in all.

Alison Symonds-Taylor and Rosemary Egbe, both running for Holy Trinity Wallington + friend (not in the US!)

Results

Some excellent results here as the handicap system continues to give everyone a chance;

The Salvation Army                                        2006 (Well done)

TailEnders                                                      1987

Grace Church Dulwich                                    1514

Christian Runners UK                                       981

HTH Runners                                                    898

Christ Church Purley Runners                          860

Christian Vision for Men                                    844

Chiltern Church Runners                                  773

St Patrick’s Tigers                                             747 (A jumbo score!)

Good Shepherd Runners                                  735

KMPC Runners                                                 655

New Life Croydon                                              641

Lighthouse Church Runners                              601

Cheam Baptist Church Runners                        553

Holy Trinity Church Wallington                          550

Rising Brook Runners                                        508

Wrangthorn Runners                                         492

Emmanuel Runners                                           469

Springfield Church Springers                             442

jOG Norwich                                                       432

Body and Soul Runners                                    416

Sutton Christian Centre                                    404

Selsdon Baptist Church Runners                      394

Beacon Church Runners                                     34

For those down south – or who fancy a visit our next mob match is at Dulwich on March 21^st  – do come along.

We were spread from position 2 to position 596 of 596.

Also as ever we had a great welcome from the volunteer team (thanks to all), and a mention in the main run briefing.

The handicap system resulted in

St Patrick’s Tigers – 1^st place – 1361

Grace Church Runners Dulwich – 2^nd place – 804

Good Shepherd – 3^rd place – 715

Selsdon Baptist church Runners– 4^th – 628

Hook Evangelical – 5^th – 613

Tandridge Deanery – 6^th – 594

Cheam Baptist Church Runners – 7^th – 579

Holy Trinity Wallington – 8^th – 572

All Saints West Ewell – 9^th – 569

Sutton Christian Centre – 10^th – 531

The Salvation Army – 11^th – 354

Croydon Vineyard – 12^th – 333

Chiltern Church Runners – 13^th – 117

We also got Annual results, so for the year 2019 the top 3 qualifying were;

1 Grace Church Dulwich

2 Croydon Vineyard

3 Holy Trinity Wallington

This was probably the closest year we ever had – all 3 teams were in it right up to the Nonsuch match. Croydon Vineyard only sent one runner (0 would have disqualified them for 2019), and Grace Church benefitted (I know) from a cancelled Rugby watching event – all very tight.

I said in 2019 “Next year we will go with highest scoring team who have never won a mob match (2019 or the annual cup)! To win though the team will have to have completed at all 4 physical events.” – We will carry on with that for next year, with that () addition.

Other achievements, not an exhaustive list but course Pb’s for; William Higgs, Cindy Woo, & Jacob Atkinson.

Well done.

First Timer’s to Nonsuch were; James, Philippa, & Nathaniel Widdows, Oliver Spencer, Andrew & MaryBurke, Emily James (first ever parkrun), Louise Franklin, & Helen Machell.

Nice to see you at Nonsuch.

Also running but not mentioned yet were –to many of you for me to list everyone – but again congratulations to you all, and thanks.

A massive thank you to scorers Victoria Widdows &Sue Elson, and photographer Tony James, and not forgetting Sandy Higgs on cake distribution. Results, as ever, by Andy Crossley – remotely this time. Also the churchrunner Technical Director Clive Wickham.

Apologies to anyone I have missed.

We have some more photos to enjoy, keep up the training and we will see you at a mob match in 2020.

National (virtual event) January 18th you can parkrun anywhere & count for this one. After that we hope to be in Dulwich for our first ever run there – it’s very flat, so potentially very fast!

God bless you all.

Photo of me running at Bishan parkrun, Singapore. Lesley and I took a taxi to make sure we got there. Nice core team and Volunteers. Slow time as has had to stop as so hot. It was a bit hazy due to Indonesia burning to make way for palm trees. Haze due to the wind direction it also closed the two in KL, so some tourist who had gone there came down and ran East Coast, as the haze was less down here.

We also went to a Singapore Wetherspoons – ‘Soons’ (for those who don’t know Wetherspoons are big in the parkun tourist community).

And on to week 2;

Saturday morning we drove off to Yokine Reserve, for this weeks parkrun. We had been here in the week to make sure we knew where to go. We parked up in the car park 07.30hrs and started looking out for any sign of hi-vis heroes, but had not seen any by 07.45, low level concern started. I went off to what we thought would be the post coffee, to check we were in the right place. No ! wrong car park / wrong side of the park. So off we went , back onto the road along to the next car park and as we pulled up we saw the familiar hi-vis heroes busily preparing for Yokine parkrun, phew, we knew we were in the right place.  We spoke with Paul the RD, he and the others were very helpful. Briefing done and away we went, out and back one side of the park and the out and back in the opposite direction, finally finishing in a far better time than last week, as it was a far more familiar temperature.

It appears we got the map upside down, but then we are down under. Watching the remainder coming in and speaking to Paul and other volunteers. It ended up that no one goes for a post run chat, so Lesley and I went off to The Botanical Gardens, in Perth and had our breakfast and a nice day wondering around the park. Photo of me with Yokine parkrun feather.

Week 3

This weeks parkrun was on one of ‘the islands to sea’, Kangaroo Island. On Friday we picked up a camper van in Adelaide and then drove down to Cape Jervis to get the ferry across to Kangaroo Island. On arrival we went straight to Kingscote to work out where the parkrun was. We found where it is, but we could not fit the camper into any of the car bays, for parking. We drove around and found a couple of possibilities, one by the hospital and another near where they parked the school buses. We then went off and found a campsite for the night.

Saturday morning up and out early and drove back to Kingscote, where we are now coming from a different direction.  We saw a one way sign and took it. This took us right down to where the parkrun started. We met Tess the RD for the day and asked if we could park here, she said yes. No more parking issues. We asked Tess about the blank volunteer rota, she said they generally don’t bother, as her kids would fill them if no one else. Briefing done and off we went. This course had rises and falls in it, so more difficult than last week at Yokine. It is an out and back with a slight detour at 2.25 kms. The falls that I did not notice on the way out, became quite steep on the way back. Finished in 17th place ( there were only 24 in total, don’t tell anyone though). Speaking with the group, it appears they are still on winter time, people go home, so once again no post run tea and chat. So Lesley and I had breakfast in the van and then drove to the other side of the island and visited Hanson bay wild life sanctuary and we saw koalas and wallabies close to. We also saw an echidna on the side of the road.

Another photo with Kangaroo Islands folks.

There are currently nine islands (& sea), Bere Island, Nobles Isle of Man, Medina I.o.W, Jersey CI, Guernsey  CI, Kirkwall, Bressay, Hamilton Island Australia and Kangaroo Island Australia. Now there is a tenth starting later this month ‘Cape Pembroke Lighthouse’ in the Falkland Island. There are others on Islands, but these are Islands with only one parkrun on them and surrounded by sea. Singapore has currently three parkruns and more to come, so is not included.

Week 4

This week we arrived in Holbart, Tasmania. We picked up our second camper, we drove off to Queens Domain, to check out where to go for Saturday. Once again the camper is some what too big for car bays, but there is some place we could park. So off we went to find some where to camp. Up early again to set off for this week’s parkrun. On arrival we saw Michelle (the RD for the day) and other hi vis heroes busy setting up. We introduced ourselves to them, Michelle told us that the local sponsors had supplied them with loads of running vests for the day to mark parkruns 15th anniversary and I could have one. So I put my new vest on for today’s run. Briefing complete (in rhyme) off we went. I thought it would be up hill, only to find I was going down, the course is around a hill. Reaching the other end back a bit then out again to almost the start, but we turned around and set off back to the start. As per last week the down parts became upwards. Having chatted with some other runners the finish came into sight. Finished in a better time than last week, more than happy. Scanned in, I went back to watch the remainder of the runners in. Once again no post chat at a cafe, there is nothing around the park to go to. So Lesley and I had our breakfast in the van and then set off to go to Port Arthur and the next stage of our adventures. 

Michelle and myself, trying to get a bit of the parkrun feather in.

Week 5.

This week we are in Victoria and on Friday we visited Ballarat, where we went to the Gold Museum and Sovereign Hill an open air museum based around and on an original gold mining area. We then checked for where the nearest parkruns were, although there was one in Ballarat itself, I chose to go for You Yangs, the third nearest. So off we set to find it. It is set in the You Yangs Regional Park. When we found it the route started on tarmac, but soon changed to a dirt track with lumps and bumps in it. We got to where to park up, but then there was another 300 metres to walk to where the parkrun starts and finishes. So now happy that we had found it, we set off to find camping for overnight. This we eventually found after some difficulty and settled down for the night. 

Up early to set off for You Yangs, a 25 minute drive down the road, then bouncing down the track to the car park. There were quite a few vehicles, but not all just for parkrun, the others were there for mountain biking. Off to parkrun saw a guy looking lost, this was Chris visiting from NSW. I said it was about 300m further on. We got there and I then spoke to Robyn (the RD) and other Volunteers. As I stepped away another guy introduced himself ‘Steve’. He and Robyn were the joint ED’s. Robyn did the briefing and explained there were new marker posts to follow so off we all went. I chatted to some others whilst going around, a one lap route and the finish was soon crossed. Cheering the remainder in, got a selfie frame picture taken and once again, although they do have a designated cafe, no one goes to it as they all come from different directions and Lara, where the cafe is a few kilometres away. So Lesley and I set off to meet my cousin (I had never met before) the other side of Melbourne.

Week 6.

Week 8: 

We worked our way south on the North island of NZ. On Friday we were about 50km from Wellington and  checked out the park for Kapiti Coast parkrun and ended up parking to a nice neat Moggy Traveller.

We ended up speaking with Mike ( the owner) and his wife for about an hour, it was one of the last made 1971. The camper this week would be easily parked for a change. Off we went to meet a friend who lives on the the campsite where we stayed over the weekend. 

Saturday morning was a comparatively late rising, as Otaihanga Domain, where the parkrun was, was only about a parkrun distance away. I went over and met Andy the RD, who knew where Croydon was, he had lived in South London before coming over to NZ. There were two other visitors, they came from Dundin, south NZ. Andy did the briefing, there were some first timers and he mentioned the 3 of us visitors, then 3, 2, 1, off we went. It was an out and back route on the south side of the river, it also passes under state highway 1. As per normal I spoke with other runners and finished with Sarah running her first parkrun.

I spoke with some more people after the run and I have decided to let people know about the running challenges apt, after last week and the folks there at Barry Curtis saying they were going to use it to try and encourage people to volunteer and work towards collecting stars on the various volunteer roles.

As there was no selfie frame, I took a picture of me by the parks name.

Week 9:

This week we were in the South Island of NZ, we have worked our way down the west side. Mountains, lakes and glaziers, not to mention the thunder and lightning. On Friday afternoon we arrived in Queenstown and took up residence on lakeview campsite. This is up quite a steep hillside, so Lesley elected to stay in the camper, whilst I went down to the beach front, where the parkrun starts. Bearing in mind this is remembrance weekend, the park where Queenstown parkrun starts and finishes by, entrance is the towns war memorial. Having found the start, I then went off to find wether there was to be a parade there or not. This in mind I visited the police station and was told that the local RSA (Returned and Service Association) would be meeting that evening and where the meeting would take place.  So that evening I visited the RSA meeting and learned they did not parade at the Queenstown memorial, but at Arrowtown some 20 kms away and then on the 11th Monday and not Sunday. I was invited to attend if I wanted to. 

Saturday morning a real late start as the start was only about a half a km away and downhill. Turned up at 07.30 and no one there. Shortly after one other turned up, Ash from Melbourne and then a lady from France. Then a car pulled up and Jeff ( the RD for the day) turned and others appeared and off they went to set up. There were more tourist than locals, which Jeff said was not unusual on a cold wet day. Briefing done, off we went, the park is a wooded area with a loop up and then down, followed by two further larger laps. Then back to where we started, during the last part of the second lap I ran with Sarah from Rutland, her and her husband where in NZ for two weeks. They both now only needed a ‘Z’ to complete their parkrun alphabet, so we talked about possible Z’s in Poland. I got a photo taken with Jeff. We then went around the corner to Yonkers cafe, for a cuppa and chat. 

Later on Lesley and I walked around town. Sunday we went on a old steamer TSS Earnslaw and had BBQ before returning. On Monday we took the bus to Arrowtown and joined the RSA at their service of remembrance and also a lunch. Then we walked around the town, it has been preserved and has a museum showing the history of the town and surrounding area.

Photo with Jeff.

Week 10:

This week we travelled north up the centre of the South Island of NZ, towards Christchurch.
On Friday we travelled on the trans alpine train, from Darfield to Arthur’s pass. The train should of gone on to the west coast at Greymouth, we stayed at Arthur’s pass and those that required to carry on had to go by coach as there had been an avalanche across the tracks. We spent a few hours here and did a short walk, had a meal and saw Kea’s, the only alpine parrot in the world. In the afternoon we took the return train.

Saturday morning up early, as we had 45 Kms to travel to Foster parkrun. Once there I introduced myself to Greg, today’s RD. There were some first timer and Greg gave out some certificate to some juniors for completing 10 runs and a 50 to Jo, there first home 50. This was their 57 event today.

Briefing complete, off we went around to park, a smaller loop and then back around the way we had come, but in reverse. Run complete spoke with Greg and other, until the tail walker came in with Ada just 4, on her first parkrun.

Got a photo with Greg by a sign showing the park layout. The park and surrounding houses and everything else are all new, the land was a farm up until 3 years ago. The whole area was set up to rehouse people after the earthquake in Christchurch.

A nice post run cuppa and chat in the cafe and then time to move on, Lesley and I drove further north to Kaikoura, where on Sunday we went whale and dolphin watching. Photo of Greg and I at Fosters.

Week 11

We are back in Australia this week, Brisbane. Thursday night we stayed in Palm Beach, so that we could visit David Fleay Wildlife Park on Friday. One of the things we wanted to see was a ‘Duck Billed Platypus’ and at the wildlife park they have a nature by night house. This is an enclosed building which has made Night, day and day, night for the creatures in it. When we and others were allowed in, we had to stay as quiet as possible, so as not to disturb any of the creatures. And we actually saw the platypus swimming around and looking for food, in its tank.

Palm beach is on the Golden Coast south of Brisbane, but I wanted to run at Zillmere, which is north of Brisbane. So this in mind we chose a campsite which looked close to Zillmere. When we got there having driven through the middle of Brisbane. We discovered that Zillmere was only a few km’s away, bingo.

Saturday morning came and we set off for the parkrun, we arrived fairly late, about 06.40. The briefing was said to be done at 06.45. The first people I spoke to, were from a club called Achilles. The club is for people with are visually impaired and their guides. I then met Tim, the RD for the day. The briefing completed, the course is around some football pitches, the out and around some other field which run by some creeks and by a railway line and finally back around the football pitches the other way round. I was cooked come the end, even though I had stopped at a water fountain a few times. Spoke with Tim and got a picture with Tim in their selfie frame. 

Afterward we went to the local cafe for a smoothie and a chat. 

Lesley and drove around some local places and on Sunday got the train into Brisbane. We were walking to get their city cat, a sort of water bus (catmerang). When we came across a parade being set up, this was for the Australian navy, as it is seen as although hostility for WW1 ended on the 11th Nov, the Navy see it as the 21st, i.e. When the German Navy shuttled their impounded ship at Scupa Flow. So we stopped and observed the parade. We then went to get the city cat, out and back to Hamilton, where the cruise ship come in. After pottering some more we got the train back.

Week 12

This week we flew north to Cairns, we arrived in the evening and collected our hire car. We ask a policeman at the airport, which way did we need to go to get to Port Douglas. He said to go out of the airport and a couple traffic lights turn right and follow the road, which is quite windy and to drive slowly. We said, we just want to get and as it was dark already, slow would do.

On Thursday and Friday we drove around exploring the area. Whilst back in Cairns we found the car park at the parkrun, so that I would know where to go on Saturday. 

Saturday morning came and Lesley chose not to come and as we were in an apartment and she slept in. I drove down the ‘Captain Cook Highway’ for about 60k down to Cairns then parked the car.  I then went over and introduced myself to John the RD. Telling him that this would be my 330th different parkrun and he said that it was their 333th event. When he did the briefing he announced me as running my 330th different parkrun. Briefing done off we went, the course is made of two lap

Made up of two laps, one of 3k and the second of 2k along the promenade. I spoke to some other running and was also greeted with ‘hello 330 man’. I stopped a few times at the water fountains, as I was getting very hot. Having finished I spoke with John and some other runners. After the tail walker came in and things tidied away, we move up the road to Muddy cafe. Here John did the proceeding and I spoke with him and other, nice parkrun.

I left and drove back to Port Douglas where Lesley and I had brunch at one of the local cafe.

Photo of John and I

Week 13

We flew to Singapore on Monday. On Tuesday we went to Raffles and has a drink, Singapore Sling. Wednesday we went to the gardens in the bay. Thursday we went to the Night Safari in the north of the island. Here we saw an lit of wild animals in different enclosures in as near natural environments as possible, at night which is when most would be out and about.

On Friday I left Lesley in Singapore and flew up to  Kuala Lumpur. On Saturday I got up and out about 07.40hrs and got a taxi to Taman Pudu Ulu. Once hear I spoke with Gandhi and told him this would be my 331 different event. He mentioned this in the briefing. Shortly after we were off and running, this is a three lap event. Two larger one, followed by and shorter one. I had taken a water bottle with me, but once again I was cooked, so another slow run. After the run I spoke Gandhi and others. I got a photo with him in there photo frame.

When the run was finished we went to the local cafe were I spoke with others, locals and from other countries. I had a roti telmur a local dish, basically a pancake with a think soup.

On Sunday I went up the Petronas twin tower in the morning. Then in the afternoon was driven to the airport and dropped off at terminal 1. Only to find out I required terminal 2. I got over to terminal 2 on the shuttle and just got my flight. Down at Singapore I met up with Lesley and spent a number of hours in the QANTAS lounge until our flight back to the UK 

Week 14! – Plus Poznan, Poland – Paul Freyne’s 500th different event and my birthday. Back in the UK on Monday, now Friday just after 2.00 am ( about 10.00 in Singapore as still not back on UK time no problem getting up. Picked up sister in law drove to east Croydon Station and met my daughter for the 03.10 train to Luton. You would think the train goes to the airport, but no you have to get a bus. At Luton airport goes through all the usual checks. The normal hurry up and then wait. Finally on the plane.

Arrive at Poznan airport, go through passport control and once outside, we got the bus to the centre of town. Here we walked and met Mel who had been there the day before. There were Christmas markets to go around. At 12.00 we and lots of others gathered around the town hall clock, for ‘goat o’clock’. There are two goats above the clock who come out and head butt each other 12 times.

 After this we met my brother who had flown via Stanstead and then went to the croissant museum and learned how to make a Poznan croissant and the history behind it. We then went and found our hotel.

 In the evening we met up with Paul F’ and some others at a Mexican for a meal. We then went around the Christmas market again, then back to the hotel.In the morning up for breakfast at 07.00, sort ourselves out for 08.00 when two taxis arrived to take us to Jezioro Sawrzedzkie parkrun. After a little confusion the taxi got there and we looked around to find the start. There is a swimming pool and a small ice rink. At the start the RD came over and welcomed us all. The briefing was done in Polish and English, with announcements about Paul’s 500th different event, Neil’s 250th run and my birthday. Then happy birthday in Polish was sung.

Off we went, it is a small loop followed by an out and back and then around the small loop again. All very friendly, after we went inside the swimming pool building to the cafe there, the results were processed here.

We went back to our hotel, we had asked for a late booking out, even so we only got back about 11.30 so tight for a shower and booking out. Once done we walked back across town and visited where the Poznan parkrun is. There is an armaments museum there uniforms and small arms inside, with tanks, trucks and planes outside. It is also a war cemetery. This is where the Poznan parkrun is, so you run around the area running past tanks etc. After this we got the bus back to the airport. Once back in the U.K. We flew back via Stanstead, we got the Stanstead express train to Liverpool Street and walk down to London Bridge, as we walked we could see the Shard lighting change from red to green and other colours Christmas tree. End of a good weekend. 

Picture with the RD, plus Paul F photo bombing.

Thank you all so much for coming, 41 ran for Chiltern, 19 for Good Shepherd, 1 for Tandridge Deanery, 10 for Holy Trinity Church Wallington, 7 for the Salvation Army, 1 for Emmanuel, 8 for St Patrick’s Tigers, 1 for Christ Church Purley, 8 for Croydon Vineyard, 1 for Springfield, 1 for All Saints West Ewell, 1 for Christian Runners UK, 2 for Grace Church Dulwich and 5 for Selsdon Baptist – 106 runners in total!

It was the events 10th Anniversary, and we got the event’s 6th biggest attendance.
Thanks to Emma Baldwin & Brian Adams who between them kept score, and to all the parkrun volunteers – several of whom came from our Churches. As ever a big thanks to Andy Crossley for scores and Clive Wickham for his website work. In all 246 people ran Roundshaw parkrun that day, and we were spread from position 1 to position 246! It was awesome to see so many of our runners there.

Scores, after handicap, though obviously it’s mainly for fun;

Next Mob match looks to be October 12th at Nonsuch, so get that one into your calendar!

That one will decide the annual award – eligible teams at this point are; Croydon Vineyard, Tandridge Deanery, Grace Church Dulwich, and Holy Trinity Wallington – all could win, first requisite is to turn out a team at Nonsuch after that it could go to any of you, but the better you score, the better your chance.

Within the churches;

First women (first column) and girls home

I should explain re GDPR – which now means if you have neither registered to your Church club or sent me a GDPR waiver so we can name you then we can still score you – but no mention in the report or individual results.

First men (first column) and boys home

I note the tables below are only from those I can name.

Not an exhaustive list but course PBs for; Jared Thompson, William Webster, Kieran Lewis, Lisa Webster, Stan Van Rensburg, Jonathan Humphreys, Timothy Humphreys, Jason Humphreys, and Lydia Graham. Great effort folks.

First Timers to Roundshaw include; James Widdows, Philippa Widdows Graham Williams, Mark Ingram, Esther Davies (First parkrun ever – well done), Hannah Gordon, Fran Lewis, Nicola Gillespie, Alma Courtney, and Amber Murray (first ever 5k parkrun).
As ever we have some fab photos (courtesy of a kind Strider who kindly let us use his event photos) & Kerena Ivens also chipping in some pictures as well.

Blessed are The PaceMakers – See you soon folks!