New record attendance at Rushmere parkrun

The forest paths that make up the two-lap course had all but dried out by Thursday for the first time all winter, but Friday’s deluge did enough to make for some muddy running along the Greensand Trail.

A brilliant 41 of the 110 participants who had taken part previously still managed to post their fastest time, with junior Alessio Bagatti recording the biggest improvement of the day as he reduced his best time to 34 minutes and 4 seconds.

Ian Gunn and son Jake were also amongst the biggest improvers, slashing four minutes off their previous mark to cross the line together in 36:50. Tim Johnson recorded his fourth consecutive PB to come home in 30:23, while junior Luke Pyman broke the elusive 30 minute barrier for the first time to post 29:52.

Louise Oxley wiped more than two minutes off her best time to stop the clock at 37:20, with Karen Leadbetter and junior runner Bethany Gray improving by a similar amount to record 33:42 and 31:46 respectively. Karen Pyman continued her consistent run with a third consecutive PB of 31:32.

Rushmere parkrun welcomes both joggers and walkers of all abilities, and the biggest cheer of day was saved for first-timer Mauren Davis who conquered the course in 54:20.

As well as receiving a time, each participant is also awarded a percentage score which is calculated according to their age group and gender.

Diane Sandover, who finished in 28:32 in the women’s over 60 category, recorded the highest score in the women’s field. She was followed by Jennifer Sangster in the over 40 category and Stella Lever in the over 55s. Paul Williamson set the pace in the over 40s category for the men ahead of Jon Oxley.

Rushmere parkrun is every Saturday at 9am in Rushmere Country Park and is open to runners, joggers and walkers. Registration is free at www.parkrun.org.uk/rushmere