End of competition – Elspeth’s parkrun report

Elspeth writes.… Saturday 5th November marked the final parkrun of the 2016 competition.

The competition attracted a total of 77 runners. Of these 28 only completed one course, 10 completed two courses and a further 5 came close to qualifying with three courses.

In the end 34 people qualified for a parkrun entry on the main series tables by running at least four courses from the following list :

Congleton – Bramhall – Wythenshawe – Burnage – South Manchester – Stretford – Wilmslow (from 1/5/16) Cheadle Hulme and Woodbank (from 6/8/16).

October was a busy month for the competition and congratulations go to the following runners who all qualified for an entry on the main table: Brian McCoubrey, Louisa Harrison, Richard Lawson, Huma Rahman, Catriona Marshall, Gail Hill, Carolyn Hirons and Simon Fenton. The last parkrun on 5th November also marked four courses and qualification for Julie Lucas. Apologies also to Barry Archbold who qualified in September but was omitted from that month’s list and tables.

The final list of combined qualifying times for those who will be awarded points on the main table are as follows:

Andy Whittingham – 1hr 11m 11s + 4 Bonus Points

Barry Archbold – 1hr 12m 10s

Trevor Morris – 1hr 14m 33s + 1 Bonus Point

James Macdonald – 1hr 17m 49s + 7 Bonus Points

Sharon Johnstone – 1 hr 18m 06s + 7 Bonus Points

Jarrod Homer – 1hr 19m 16s + 7 Bonus Points

Matt Taylor – 1hr 19m 19s + 7 Bonus Points

Brian McCoubrey – 1hr 21m 25s

Steve Bunker – 1hr 21m 38s + 7 Bonus Points

Tim Billington – 1hr 24m 10s + 7 Bonus Points

Christian Hook – 1hr 25m 21s + 4 Bonus Points

Bernard McCarron – 1hr 25m 34s + 4 Bonus Points

Louisa Harrison – 1hr 26m 48s

Ian Smallwood – 1hr 27m 35s + 1 Bonus Point

Richard Lawson – 1hr 28m 27s

Tony Hulme – 1hr 28m 55s + 7 Bonus Points

Alan Turner – 1hr 29m 21s + 1 Bonus Point

Gareth Trimble – 1hr 29m 51s + 2 Bonus Points

Chris Cannon – 1hr 30m 05s + 7 Bonus Points

Huma Rahman – 1hr 32m 25s + 4 Bonus Points

Mark Crossland – 1hr 32m 46s + 7 Bonus Points

John Porteous – 1hr 33m 20s + 7 Bonus Points

Geoff Gilbert – 1hr 34m 13s + 1 Bonus Point

Catriona Marshall – 1hr 34m 40s

Patrick Grannan – 1hr 34m 58s + 7 Bonus Points

Nicky Mowat – 1hr 36m 45s

Gail Hill – 1hr 40m 24s + 1 Bonus Point

Ian Ashcroft – 1hr 43m 14s + 3 Bonus Points

Carolyn Hirons – 1hr 43m 18s + 3 Bonus Points

Julie Lucas – 1hr 48m 34s

Roy Pownall – 1hr 49m 50s + 4 Bonus Points

Elspeth Gibson – 1hr 51m 08s + 2 Bonus Points

Simon Fenton – 1hr 52m 56s

Don Bullough – 1hr 58m 51s

Another five runners have completed all nine courses and will receive a total of 7 bonus points each on the main table at the end of the season. So well done – Matt Taylor, Tim Billington, Mark Crossland, John Porteous, and Patrick Grannan. It should be noted that Patrick after his success in the long-distance competition has also been the only runner to complete not only the 9 courses but the full 10 courses included as he ran Cheadle Hulme before it was cancelled and then still had a go at the replacement course of Woodbank. Park-running dedication!

Now that the competition has ended, Don will be adding the bonus points to the Summer Series Tables. Please note that the bonus points will only be added to the main table and not to the ability leagues for each group.

Notable parkruns during October must include the trio of Mike Hill, Di McVey and Trevor Morris who on 8/10/16 at Wilmslow took 1st, 2nd and 3rd place and remarkably all gained Wilmslow Parkrun PBs that morning! It was also good to welcome back Richard Lawson after his injury and he bounced back with enthusiasm completing three parkrun courses on consecutive weeks gaining qualification too.

Ian Ashcroft has kindly fed the results into one of his mind-boggling spreadsheets and has found that the slowest course was Lyme Park, next the defunct Cheadle Hulme, then Burnage, then Wilmslow, next Bramhall and Wythenshawe (similar times) then Congleton and South Manchester (not much between), with the fastest course calculated as Stretford.

Ian is hoping to analyse next year’s results further, however in the meantime he has calculated that if someone has their best run at Bramhall of 26.58 they can aspire to these times at the other park runs; Lyme Park 29:22, Burnage 27:27, Wilmslow 27:06, Wythenshawe 26:55, Congleton 26:03, South M/C 25:59 and Stretford 25:51.

Personally, I think the parkrun competition has been a very welcome addition to the main summer series competition. Hopefully it will also feature next year and I’m sure both Tony and Chris would welcome any of your feedback to help them formulate next year’s competition.

Please also remember that all parkruns need volunteers to survive, so if you have participated over the summer competition and haven’t already volunteered have a go at marshalling to support our local parkruns.

Elspeth