Saturday 16 November 2024 - Wythenshawe parkrun #594, and a turnaround point

On a rather damp morning, 322 participants lined up in the field to hear Run Director Alan's briefing, drowned for those on the fringes by a chorus of barking dogs.

And they are off, for the 594th time at Wythenshawe.

Rufus is a 'barking dog', but Paul takes him a good 100 metres back from the start, so his barking is less intrusive than many of the dogs whose owners don't seem to be aware that their noisy animals are somewhat disruptive. Not to worry, the briefings are very much a formality.

Here are three views from the back of the field, before I jogged past about 40 folk and enjoyed a chat with some ladies that I was able to encourage to go a little faster than they had planned.

It was Robin's 100th parkrun. He provided a lovely, very tasty, sponge cake that went down very well.

Later, after coffees and a chat, I was able to help dry and sort the 322 tokens. Drying them took as long as sorting them, but they are now all ready for next week's adventure.

Full results are here.

The Community Run on Sunday, by way of contrast, took place on a lovely sunny morning shortly after and shortly before some steady rain. Here are a couple of pictures from the 2km turnaround point where I was marshalling, taken before the hordes (all 98 of them) arrived.