parkrun – 31/01/2026

2 February 2026 - By Steven Alder

This week saw the 6th and final parkrun of January 2026. We attended various locations, including Colchester Castle, Gunnersbury, Whitstable, Maldon Prom, Chelmsford Central, Great Notley, Panshanger, South Woodham Ferrers, Felixstowe, Mallards Pike, Wickford Memorial and Billdalsparken (Sweden!).

Our international tourists this week were Nichola and Chris Beazeley, who went over to Sweden to complete Billdalsparken (Gothenburg) in 27:36 and 33:43 respectively.

This week at Maldon Prom was our Pacer week with them. A huge thank you to our pacers… but how did they do?

Pacer	Time	Actual	Difference
Nicola Digby	35:00	34:59	00:01
Natalie Lilley	36:00	36:01	00:01
Gus Maby	23:00	23:01	00:01
Adam Regan	24:00	23:58	00:02
Annalise Etherington	27:00	27:02	00:02
Leanne Andrews	32:00	32:02	00:02
Ian Lucas	28:00	27:56	00:04
Banksy	20:00	20:04	00:04
Chrissy Israel-Jones	30:00	30:05	00:05
Mick Conroy	29:00	29:06	00:06
Wally	25:00	25:08	00:08
Sue Shippey	31:00	30:51	00:09
Gary Arnold	26:00	26:11	00:11
Sarah Naughton	34:00	34:14	00:14
Kerry Townsend	38:00	37:44	00:16
Ian Cuthbert	22:00	21:33	00:27
Jodee Mayer	33:00	32:26	00:34
Kevin Slattery	39:00	38:22	00:38

Well done to Nicola who was closest to her pacing time, being 1 second under, and Natalie and Gus who were 1 second over. No doubt our pacers helped some people achieve PBs/times they were chasing. Ian Cuthbert, the 22 minute pacer, even managed to grab himself a course PB.

Also running at Maldon Prom was Dean Whittaker (22:42), Leo Cole (23:02), Liz Atkinson (27:25), Scott Townsend (27:35), Claire Lucas (28:03), Ann Johnson (35:27), Jason Lilley (36:02), Dionne Radley (38:23) and Karen Flowers (46:42). They were also supported by Anita Grainer and Monty who were marshalling and Dean Whittaker on Barcode Scanning. An extra well done to Sue Shippey, who completed a parkrun milestone today by doing her 50th parkrun! Ian Cuthbert also grabbed a parkrun milestone too, his 100th parkrun. Well done to Sue and Ian.

Over at Colchester Castle was Patrick Hinchliffe, completing it in 38:11. Also in Essex at Chelmsford Central was Kevin Harper (24:06), Andrew Smith (25:47) and Nadia McLeod (31:39). Great Notley had Simon Parsons (22:24), Jack Welch (23:59) and Lysia Jiggins (35:15). In South Woodham Ferrers, Ross Silverton completed the course on the 37 minute mark. Andy Lager was at Wickford Memorial, completing it in 21:23 and grabbing himself a course PB.

Down in Kent saw Lisa Leader and Dawn Shilling completing Whitstable in 33:50 and 33:55 respectively. Steven Alder went into London to complete the course in 32:06 whilst Giles Sowerby went into Hertfordshire to do Panshanger in 23:33. Up in Suffolk we had Adam Hocken completing the course in 24:18.

Whilst visiting the otherside of the country, James Attenborough nipped out for the morning to attend Mallards Pike parkrun, completing the course in 26:13.

Markshall Estate parkrun are currently trialing out a new route, which explains why they were cancelled this week. They invited a few runners to try the new course and give feedback, but this didn’t count as a credit for their parkrun profiles as a time (they did get a Volunteer Credit though!). Hopefully they will announce soon when they return for people to come run at. It’ll be interesting to see what their new route will be luck. Keep an eye out on their socials!

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parkrun Royalty

After hearing how Witham RC were holding a pacing and volunteer event at Maldon Prom parkrun, King Charles III was so inspired by us that he decided to go marshal this week at Sandringham. It surprised quite a few of the runners, who weren’t expecting to see the King at the first marshal point.