Thanks to Jo Randall for this week’s report from the second Medina IOW parkrun. Ed
The sun shone down in a clear blue sky for our 2nd ever Medina IOW parkrun, and I know I speak for everyone when I say that we were all feeling much more confident this time!
A good team of volunteers turned out to assist and marshall the event, led by our inspirational organiser Ray, and we had 33 runners taking part in all ages from pre-teens to 60+.
Good numbers turned out
This was a good number considering that many club runners were preparing for the Richmond, Alton and Southampton races on Sunday, and many Islanders were anticipating the annual “Walk-the-Wight” event on Sunday; a 26.2 mile mass hike across the Island from Bembridge to Alum Bay.
After a group warm-up, and Ray’s pre-run speech, the run set off on time and in a very happy atmosphere. From the start the field was led by our local running legend – Graham TUCK (VM60-64) – who ran strongly in his first official parkrun and won in an impressive time of 18:49. In today’s age-graded competition Graham also recorded a performance of 85.21%, earning himself a place on the global parkrun table.
Alan ROWE (VM45-49), representing the Isle of Wight Road Runners, took 2nd place by 40 seconds coming in at 19:29, and beating fellow IW Roadrunner – Phil MANNALL (VM40-44) – who came in 3rd in a time of 21:02.
In her 2nd appearance Eden CRUMPLIN of the Isle of Wight AC was our first female finisher in a time of just 22:02, beating sister Grace CRUMPLIN – representing Havant AC – by just 23 seconds! Anna BEAUSIRE of the West 4 Harriers was our 3rd female finisher in 23:10.
Lots of newbies
This week there were 17 first timers, and 14 runners recorded new PBs. At the close of our 2nd event, we have so far seen 51 runners from 10 different clubs complete the race a total of 70 times, covering a combined distance of 350 kilometers!
The male course record is still held by the unregistered runner who won last week (parkrun no. 1) in 17:41. The female course record is currently held by Claire KIELY who ran 20:56 in the same event.
The marshalls were assisted unofficially today by our youngest supporter so far. Young Stanley – who will soon be 2! – is the son of today’s barcode scanner Steve RUMSEY, and his partner Sara. Mum Sara TRUCKEL managed to run today despite being poorly over the past fortnight, and achieved a time of 26:11, so well done Sara.
The couple’s older son – Toby RUMSEY- ran in his second parkrun, achieving a new PB of 25:16 and proving what a great family event parkrun is.
Crumplin a-go-go
The CRUMPLIN family also turned out in force again and provided tremendous support for the event, and there was yet more impressive running from the girls, EDEN and GRACE -coming 5th and 6th respectively overall. Many thanks to Justine CRUMPLIN for her excellent back-up time-keeping, which proved invaluable today!
Please see the results table for all the times, PBs and age-related performance ratings, and many thanks to all the volunteers, runners and supporters today. Same time, same place next Saturday!
Image: © Used with the kind permission of Ray Scovell
