parkrun – 09/05/2026

15 May 2026 - By Steven Alder

This week saw saw Witham RC members at Wickford Memorial, Chelmsford Central, Ferry Meadows, Harwich, Great Notley, Eastville, Maldon Prom, Park Miejski Łowicz (Poland!), Thorney Bay Beach, Victoria Embankment, Highwoods, Markshall, Farfalle (Italy!), Bury St Edmunds, South Woodham Ferrers, Clare Castle, Portsmouth Lakeside and Walsall Arboretum.

Damien Walsh went to Walsall Arboretum with his family where he went round in 20:04. Going round with him was Luca getting his fastest ever time in 20:08 and Katie was also sporting the May Day 10 top too. Well done to you all! Mick Conroy was visiting Portsmouth Lakeside where he did it in 24:06 and Lee Tooey got 23:01 at Clare Castle.

Internationally, we had Stephen Sawyer in Poland at Park Miejski, Łowicz, where his time was 18:32 and Steven Alder in Italy (inspired by Ann who went to Italy last week) doing Farfalle in 31:32 where he was recognised by a lady from Pittsburg when he did a parkrun there 7 months previously. Ian Lucas went off to the new event in Canvey Island where he did Thorney Bay Beach in 25:46 whereas at Harwich was Adam Hocken in 30:07. Nichola Beazeley was at Eastville and came in with a time of 28:25 whilst Chris Beazeley was at Ferry Meadows completing the course in 23:31.

Looking elsewhere in Essex, Wickford Memorial saw Leo Cole completing the course in 20:58 and Great Notley had Lysia Jiggins in 58:27 as a parkwalker. Banksy enjoyed visiting Colchester by doing Highwoods in 26:23 with Ross zooming off to South Woodham Ferrers in 33:21. At regularly visited Maldon Prom was Andy Lager (22:03), Dean Whittaker (22:13), Tyler Hodges (22:20), Vicki Riley (23:49), Steve Hookings (24:08), Anita Grainger (28:01), Karen Flowers (28:47), David Grainger (35:17) and Megan Wilson (48:34). An extra well done to Steve Hookings who achieved his 250 milestone! Congratulations! Also thank you to Dean who also did Barcode Scanning after running.

Of course, our other popular event was Markshall was Simon Handley (25:37), Scott Townsend (27:15), Ann Johnson (33:43), Angela Read (33:49), Kerry Townsend (34:23), Nicola Digby (34:32), Andrew Smith (35:54), Beth Shippey (36:20) and Patrick Hinchliffe (46:27). Over at Bury St Edmunds we had a couple of lovely WRC parkrunners, Karen Pickering and Giles Sowerby both in 23:24. One of our uber tourists, Geoffrey Reddin was at Victoria Embankment, up in Nottingham for their 9th event and he completed that in 24:26. Finally in Chelmsford Central, well done to Nadia McLeod (23:04), Kevin Harper (23:41), Lisa Leader (31:20) and Ian Cuthbert (35:56). Thank you to Andrew Read for Barcode Scanning.

The full set of results can be found here. Don’t forget to add Witham RC to your profile (we can’t do it for you).

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The Time Trials Challenge

When parkrun initially started at Bushy, they were known as Time Trials before it got the name known today as parkrun. The movement, whilst still known as Time Trials, spread to a total of 10 events, before the rebrand. These parkruns still take place today, so to get the Time Trial challenge completed, you just need to do a parkrun at each of these locations. They are Bushy Park, Wimbledon Common, Banstead Woods, Woodhouse Moor, Richmond Park, Brighton & Hove, Cardiff, Bramhall Park, Albert and Basingstoke. How many of the original 10 have you managed to do?