parkrun – 24/01/2026

28 January 2026 - By Steven Alder

This week saw the 5th parkrun of January and we’ve still got one more next week! Witham RC parkrunners could be found in York, Colchester Castle, Maldon Prom, Chelmsford Central, Clacton Seafront, Great Notley, Hazelwood, Uckfield, Billericay, Markshall Estate and Zielony Jar (Poland).

Our chairperson, Karen Flowers (pictured below), went and visited the very friendly parkrun team at Zielony Jar in Krakow, along with her husband John. They completed the course in 33:30 and 37:30 respectively. Not only that, they got to do a parkrun in the snow. Rumour has it Karen is still trying to warm up! Ross Silverton decided to stay in Essex rather than follow Karen to the snowy climate, and completed Chelmsford Central (his 50th time at this venue) in 34:10, taking 4th place out of 7 in his age group (VM75-79).

Over at Great Notley saw Ann Johnson (35:58), Dionne Radley (41:40), Kerry Townsend (41:41 along with Murphy 🐶), and Mike Struthers (52:50). Ann has said the course was very muddy, with plenty of puddles to go through… Hopefully they’ve all managed to get dry by now! Also, a special shoutout to Mike who completed a parkrun milestone – 25 parkruns! Well done, Mike!

Maldon Prom had 13 of us there, in a field of 473 parkrunners. Well done to Andy Lager (22:38), Adam Regan (22:50), Annalise Tye (24:52), Steve Hookings (25:21), Nichola Beazeley (26:27 and 300th parkrun), James Attenborough (26:42), Banksy (26:58), Vicki Riley (27:15), Mick Conroy (30:08), Chrissy Israel (31:06), Ian Cuthbert (31:06), Dawn Shilling (31:42) and Chris Beazeley (41:33). Elsewhere in Essex was Michael Poulter (30:41) and Nicola Digby (34:17) at Clacton Seafront. This was Nicola’s first time at this venue, whilst Michael was 3rd out of 11 from his age group (VM70-74).

Giles Sowerby went to York this week, where he completed the Racecourse in 19:25. Steven Alder went to the otherside of London and completed Hazelwood in 29:38, foolishly wearing his road shoes to run on the London Irish rugby fields. Adam Hocken went to Uckfield and completed the course there in 31:45. Over at Colchester Castle saw Patrick Hinchliffe coming 333rd, running in 38:32, and grabbing 3rd place out of 4 in the VM70-74 age group. Dominique Harts went over to Billericay this week and completed the course in a sub-30 time of 29:45.

Markshall Estate isn’t taking place next week as the venue is unavailable, but it had a few of us there this week. They look forward to welcoming you all back in February. Well done to Simon Parsons (23:02), Sue Shippey (30:40) and Beth Shippey (35:30). A special thank you to Angela & Andrew Read for volunteering at this event.

This week a new parkrun started up in Hertfordshire, over in Watford! Holywell King George V Playing Fields parkrun had 206 parkrunners complete the course at their inaugural. The full set of Witham RC results at parkrun can be found here. Make sure to add Witham RC to your parkrun profile to appear in these results!

---

parkrun Challenge – Tons of Runs

This challenge is the opposite of many of the tourist challenges. If you complete 100 parkruns all at the same location, it is referred to as a Single-ton. If you happen to do 200 all at the same location then you get a Double-ton! Have you managed to complete this challenge?