parkrun – 28/03/2026

2 April 2026 - By Steven Alder

This week saw Witham RC members covering Markshall, Maldon Prom, Great Dunmow, Highwoods, Colchester Castle, Wickford Memorial, Beccles Quay, ARU Writtle, Crystal Palace, Westmill, Hockley Woods, North Walsham, Chelmsford Central, Clare Castle, Great Notley, Queenstown (New Zealand), Chalkwell Beach and Walton Promenade.

Starting at Chelmsford Central we had Dominique Harts grabbing not only a course PB of 28:20 (and her 2nd fastest parkrun, with her faster one being at Maldon Prom) but she grabbed herself a parkrun milestone of 50 parkruns! 33 of those parkruns have been at Chelmsford Central, 4 at Markshall, 3 at Maldon Prom, 2 at Great Notley and a few single visits too. Well done Dominique!

Over at Markshall we saw Andrew Read as the Timekeeper. Angela Read meanwhile was the Volunteer Co-ordinator and the Number Checker at the Finish Funnel. They saw completing the course: Andrew Smith (20:40), Leo Cole (21:03), Simon Parsons (23:44), Ian Lucas (26:33), Scott Townsend (28:12), Ann Johnson (34:06), Dionne Radley (37:37 – double 37s!) and Kerry Townsend (37:38). Well done to you all and thank you to the Reads for volunteering!

Heading over to another popular location at Maldon Prom, Dean Whittaker was the barcode scanner after completing the route bang on the 24 minute mark where he was the first Witham RC runner over the finish line. He was followed by Chris Beazeley (24:16), Steve Hookings (24:45), Kevin Harper (24:47), Claire Lucas (24:57 and course PB), Mick Conroy (24:58), Nichola Beazeley (26:54), James Attenborough (27:39), Chrissy Israel-Jones (30:49) and Ian Cuthbert (30:49).

Great Notley this week saw Lysia Jiggins (bang on 36:00) and Mike Struthers (36:38) – and whilst we’re discussing Notley…. Andy Notley completed Clare Castle in 21:07. Whilst over at Colchester Castle we had Lisa Leader (33:44) and Dawn Shilling (33:47). It was actually Colchester’s 600th event, what a milestone for them – was there cake? Adam Hocken was also in Colchester, but attending Highwoods and completing the course overall in 16th place in 25:58, grabbing a course PB.

Anthony Smith went to Great Dunmow to complete the course in 29:48 and Geoffry Redding went off to Beccles Quay to complete it in 25:20. Steven Alder nipped into London to do Crystal Palace in 28:08 (they even had a brand new tarmac path to use) and Giles Sowerby visited Westmill, completing it in 23:10 with the best finishing position from everyone at Witham RC by finishing in 8th place overall.

Banksy was our fastest runner over the weekend, completing ARU Writtle in 19:15 (1st VM50-54) and was also joined by Karen Flowers in 43:33. Ross Silverton could be found at Hockley Woods in 32:25 and Simon Scott speedily went round North Walsham in 22:40 grabbing 1st VM60-64. Gus Maby was at Chalkwell Beach in 22:08 and Monty was at Walton Promenade completing the course there in 33:31. Lastly in the Essex area, Nicola Digby completed Wickford Memorial in 33:18 and Penelope Clarke not far behind in 33:50.

And finally, our international parkrun this week was very far away over in New Zeland at Queenstown, where Annalise Etherington is carrying on with her travelling down there. Last week she got her fastest ever time at a parkrun and almost managed that again, being just 3 seconds away by doing the course in 22:43. She was 2nd female this week.

The full set of results can be found here. Don’t forget to add Witham RC to your profile to be included. You can have up to 5 groups on your profile, and as long as Witham RC is there, you’ll be picked up in the consolidated report.

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parkrun Pacing

James A has been speaking with Maldon Prom parkrun, where we will offering to pace on 30th May, so keep an eye out and speak to James if you’re interested in pacing – he’ll probably do a post in the Facebook group, but if you’re not in there reach out to him.