I’ve done a few of these 5km runs, but various aches and pains acquired last week left me with an easy decision to marshall at Wythenshawe on Saturday – runners are encouraged to volunteer to do this three times a year.
So I went along on a very muddy day to guide people around ‘the far bridge’ - not an onerous job as most people seem very happy to be directed back to the start/finish line!
I took my camera and have now managed to upload the photos to a new Flickr account, from which I’ve shared them with the Wythenshawe Parkrun Group. If anyone is interested, they should be saved as a set here.
Volunteering to marshall for Parkruns can be useful experience – I was joined by Tom, for whom marshalling at a Parkrun counts as volunteer work towards his Duke of Edinburgh Award. Sadly, as he is under 18, his mum needs to accompany him. That seems a little unnecessary under the circumstances as I’m sure Tom could have looked after himself and would have gained more benefit from being on his own. But I appreciate the organisers of Parkrun have to be very careful in this era of health and safety paranoia.
The winner of this event, John Raho - pictured above, took just 18 minutes and 25 seconds to beat the next man home by over 2 minutes. “That’s my geography teacher” remarked Tom!
Here are a few more images from the run:
Richard and Joe looked just a little over-dressed on their first lap!
Paul, a stalwart organiser of this parkrun, and fifth to finish today, should know better than to think that the finishing line is at the far bridge!
Ken led Michael and Paul around the second lap, but Paul snatched victory out of this speedy trio. Ken is in his 70’s but I’ve never got anywhere near him, and Paul (my pacer) always drifts to about half a minute ahead of me in the latter stages of the run. He’s a strong finisher….
…as is Jeanette, who was the third lady to finish today.
Richard and Joe appeared to have warmed up by the time they came around on their second lap, and they finished strongly just over half way down the 75 strong field.
It should be noted that this isn’t a ‘race’, but a personal challenge. Having said that, there is a sense of achievement in getting a personal best or improving one’s age related percentage grade. It’s a great way to start the weekend.
Saturday 15 December 2012 – I marshalled again. Photos are here.
1 comment:
I was back Heaton Park run today. Volunteering due to a infection in ankle. Good fun and will be back next week but may not be running at heaton Park Run santa run. Can still have a santa suit on.
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