A record breaking Warrington Parkrun saw an impressive 717 finishers at Victoria Park on Saturday morning.
Saturday’s total number of entrants in the 320th staging of the Victoria Parkrun not only beat the previous best set last year, but smashed it out of the Park with a brilliant 717 finishers.
Course directors Cal Bardi and Huw Jones said in an email to their Parkrun volunteers “Thank you for all of your efforts today, both out on the course, around the finish area and the carpark! (the car park was full just before the start at 9am).
“We couldn’t do it without you. We had an amazing 717 runners and walkers today, which was 94 more than our previous record of 623. We beat all our local Parkruns by over 250 runners, which is impressive.”
This time of the year always see good attendance, but this Christmas and New Year also saw great numbers. The mild weather has helped as has the number of people following up on their new year’s resolutions, to get fit, lose weight, improve their mental health and make new friends.
The Parkrun is a fantastic way of achieving these goals spared on by the enthusiastic volunteers, great organisation and course management to mitigate any issues caused by surface water from the park fondly named Lake Victoria, near Mayor’s Corner. Potholes along the park path are due to be tackled as soon as funding can be raised from a grant application.
The course directors went on to say that “Considering the vast numbers, I think the course coped well, and the queue at the finish area never went back over the finish line!!”
“Usually next week’s parkrun, and our birthday the week later, (which will be Victoria Parks 6th Anniversary) our biggest of the year.
“Who knows if this will be the case this year? Or will the predicted weeks rain and subsequent increase in size of Lake Victoria, or the self-regulation of people not liking large numbers, have an effect!!”
The anniversary event may even see the return of the third course director Mr Motivator, Tony Carol. He unfortunately moved out of the area last year. However, between the three directors they have volunteered in nearly every one of the 320 events over its year history a tremendous feat of dedication, effort and inspiration.
To date 13,874 people have taken part from the record holders Male 14:59 and Female 17:54 to the walkers who finish in just over an hour. All are cheered on by the volunteers with the slower walkers encouraged and accompanied by volunteer “Tail Walkers”.
Participants have covered 525,800 kms or thirteen times around the world amounting to a total hour run of 5 Years 322 Days 0 Hrs 45 Min 56 Secs which is exceptional for many reasons.
Parkrun is free, to learn more about Parkrun so that you can register, volunteer etc. go to www.parkrun.co.uk
Congratulations to @marksmoran from @RISEWarrington on completing his first ever @waparkrun with a record-breaking turnout of over 700 runners! 👏🏻👊🏻 Great to see so many members of the community taking part including #family and friends 😃 pic.twitter.com/WlGhbZjb2F
— Gary Skentelbery (@GarySkent) January 11, 2020
1 Comment
Well done to all who , ran walked, volunteered and directed – a great event motivating loads of Warrington people as well as visitors – all getting a tremendous buzz from completing their tasks – looking forward to the 25th Jan 2020 – the 6th anniversary.