Todays parkrun report for the first Saturday of 2024 sees 19 MACS spread across no fewer than 10 venues. In alphabetical order of parkrun Lisa Walton gets first mention at Alvaston where she ran a 30.31 for 263rd place. Next up is Jay Bird who after arriving 3 minutes after the parkrun had started at Belvoir Castle recorded 26.00 on his own watch compared to his official time of 29.27. He then went on to record an even worse time at the Derbyshire Cross Country event in the afternoon. Not a great day for Jay. Taking it easy (allegedly) at Bestwood Village parkrun which we all know to only be gently undulating, Simon Fisher recorded a 21.11 for 4th place whilst Louise claiming yet more injuries recorded 25.14 and 5th lady / 21st overall. Staying relatively local Matt Govan had a good one at Brierley Forest finishing in 21.27 for 13th. Not local as ever Dennis Holmes was at Brixworth Country park in Northamptonshire where he ran an acceptable 25.02 for 35th place. Also not local and taking the tourist award this week was Christine Howard at Carlisle park parkrun which somewhat confusingly is in Morpeth Northumberland. Christine bagged 2nd lady and 13th overall and only just missed out on a 70% age grading by 0.19%.
Absolutely smashing the 70% age grading score and almost getting a phenomenal 80% was Kate Ruffell at Conkers parkrun, Leicestershire with a fantastic time of 23.44 for 6th lady and 59th overall. Well done Kate!. Obviously struggling with injury and determined to make it worse, Roy Austin tried the lovely, not flat Gedling parkrun and limped to a 44.01 and 310th place. See you at Sheffield in the morning Roy? At our local Monsal Trail parkrun Harry Holmes led the MAC team home with another first finishers place in 17.12 with fellow “Harry” Harriet Atkin taking the 2nd MAC finisher position and 5th lady / 26th overall, thereby showing Dave Curtis and others a clean pair of heels. Last but not least Luke Beresford really did try to take it steady at Shipley park parkrun this morning knowing that the midday start of the Derbyshire County Cross Country Championships would provide a much stiffer challenge, and for Luke, ran a sensible 21.30 for 14th place. In 37th place and a time of 24.42 Gav Elliott made a return to parkrunning also at Shipley. Well run all.
