ELSPETH WRITES…
We now have just one month and one week left of the parkrun competition. The last qualifying park run will be Saturday 5th November, the day before the final Summer Series Race, the Dovedale Dash. So if you are still in need of a road or trail race to make up your 7 or 12 summer series races, you still have 6 chances to qualify for a parkrun entry to use as one of these races.
To qualify for a parkrun entry you need to complete Lyme Park Parkrun plus another three courses from the following list :- Congleton – Bramhall – Wythenshawe – Burnage – South Manchester – Stretford – Wilmslow – Woodbank. (Previous entries at the closed Cheadle Hulme parkrun still count)
Currently we have 73 runners who have entered the competition, 28 have only completed one course and 11 have completed two courses.
Those who have already banked 3 courses and are one away from qualification are Carolyn Hirons, Ques Hussain, Craig Hunt, Janine Ellis, and Catriona Marshall, who all need to head for Lyme Park for their 4th run. Barry Archbold, Gail Hill, Brian McCoubrey and Jeremy Bygrave have already tackled Lyme Park so they need to complete one of the other courses.
We also have Huma who has already completed 4 runs but she still needs to attempt Lyme Park for qualification.
This month we have another 4 runners who have qualified for a parkrun entry, each having completed Lyme Park plus a minimum of three other courses. Congratulations go to Trevor Morris, Jarrod Homer, Ian Smallwood, and Roy Pownall.
The current list of combined qualifying times for those who will be awarded points on the main table are as follows:
Five runners this month 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 – James Macdonald, Sharon Johnstone, Jarrod Homer, Chris Cannon and Tony Hulme. To earn bonus points once you have completed Lyme Park + 3 other parkruns, any further parkrun courses finished will earn extra bonus points, one point for each of the five remaining courses with a further two bonus points upon completing all nine courses, a total of 7 bonus points.
We have a few runners who, if they choose their parkruns wisely, are near to qualifying for the maximum seven bonus points, Andy Whittingham needs to head for Burnage and South Manchester, Matt Taylor needs just Woodbank, Tim Billington still requires Bramhall, Mark Crossland should go to Congleton, John Porteous should head for both Woodbank and Burnage and on Patrick’s list should be Stretford.
September has been another busy month for park-running. Notable parkruns this month have been from Chris Cannon and James Macdonald. Chris, who on three consecutive Saturdays ran three of his best times this competition, ensured that he leap-frogged over 4 runners on the table (John/Geoff/Mark and Tony)! James celebrated his 50th parkrun in style by achieving a parkrun PB of 18.48. Nina also completed her 50th parkrun this month before jet-setting off on her travels. Jan continued to prove that she could PB most weeks by lowering her PB at Wilmslow on two of her three runs this month. Parkrun provides a great opportunity for anyone coming back to running after injury or health problems and September has seen Carolyn Hirons running at both Burnage and Stretford, and the very welcome return of Gavin at Wilmslow.
So with six Saturdays to go and only a couple of summer series races left, October could prove to be a busy month for those wishing to fit in as many runs as they can before the end of the summer series. If you are thinking of park-running my recommendation this month would be to try Woodbank. It’s not a PB course by any means but it’s a real race of two halves, literally in two different parks! A two loop route, starting off in Woodbank Park where the course is flat and open, then crossing the road it enters into a elegantly manicured Vernon Park, where the course becomes a challenging twisty fast downhill followed by a slower uphill climb.
So let’s get park-running and enjoy some crisp autumnal Saturday mornings!
Elspeth