parkrun – 30/05/2026

5 June 2026 - By Steven Alder

And that wraps up the ninth possible parkrun in May, a rare occurrence in the calendar. No-one quite managed all nine events, although Steven Alder came close with eight. This week we were pacing at Maldon Prom parkrun, but we could also be found at Colchester Castle, Brentwood, Chelmsford Central, Lochore Meadows, Great Notley, Walton Promenade, Bromley, Brundall, Thorney Bay Beach, Hove Promenade, Markshall, Sheringham, Loch Leven and Highwoods.

Christine Israel-Jones and Ian Cuthbert were both up at Loch Leven and completed the parkrun together in 31:11. At Lochore Meadows was Brigid Wallen completing the course there in 25:53, whilst Mike Struthers went to Norfolk to complete Sheringham in 36:00 – although King Charles wasn’t there to support him.

But what about our pacers at Maldon Prom? Well, Annalise managed to get her pacing time spot on – massive kudos! The pacing results were (green for under, red for over):

Pacer	Time	Actual	Difference
Annalise Etherington	25:00	25:00	00:00
Angela Read	38:00	37:59	00:01
Ian Lucas	29:00	28:59	00:01
Youssef Oucouc	23:00	22:57	00:03
Jamie Marlow	21:00	20:56	00:04
Tom Kilbey	22:00	22:05	00:05
Sarah Noughton	33:00	33:06	00:06
Simon Handley	20:00	PB: 19:52	00:08
Natalie Lilley	36:00	35:51	00:09
Glen Waller	27:00	27:09	00:09
James Attenborough	26:00	25:50	00:10
Jenny Layley	35:00	34:49	00:11
Andrew Read	31:00	31:13	00:13
Dean Whittaker	24:00	23:46	00:14
Celine Elson	32:00	31:45	00:15
Sian Tate	28:00	27:44	00:16
Lisa Leader	30:00	30:16	00:16
Beth Shippey	34:00	35:41	01:41

Not pacing but also at Maldon Prom was Damien Walsh (21:13), Andrew Lager (24:23), Steve Hookings (24:27), Sean Purcell (27:45), Sharon Read (27:58), Darren Pyne (28:17), Mick Conroy (29:14), Leanne Andrews (29:56), Ross Silverton (31:28 & 1st VM75-79), Ann Johnson (33:41), David Grainger (34:32) and Liz Atkinson (40:06).

Over at Colchester Castle was Leo Cole (21:49) and Mark Lynch (25:25). Adam Hocken visited Brentwood for the first time and ran in 26:43 whilst Keith Taylor was at Great Notley for his 71st time there (out of 74 parkruns), with a time of 29:07. Over at Walton Promenade was Geoffrey Reddin for his parkrun tourism in 24:28, whilst the other major tourist Steven Alder did Bromley in 30:50.

Up at Brundall was Giles Sowerby, who was not only the club’s fastest runner of the week but also finished 3rd overall and 1st in the VM45-49 category in an impressive 19:10. Karen Pickering was at Thorney Bay Beach on Canvey Island in 20:50 as 2nd female on the course, but fastest female from Witham RC this week. Also on the coast was Nicola Digby at Hove Promenade in 33:44.

Patrick Hinchliffe ran around Highwoods after posing with the parkrun banner, doing the course in 42:11. Over at Markshall was Daniel Griffiths (24:32) and Simon Parsons (25:30). And finally over in Chelmsford Central was Lee Tooey (23:14 PB), Kevin Harper (23:36) and Dawn Shilling (31:26).

This week’s results can be found here. Don’t forget, if you add Witham RC to your parkrun profile, we’ll automatically pick up your results! Also make sure you’ve renewed your membership to carry on being included in the report.

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New parkrun Milestone: 1,000 parkruns

This weekend saw the very first person finish 1,000 parkruns, a man named Darren Wood. He did his very first parkrun at Bushy Park parkrun on the 9th October 2004 (their second event), and then his 1,000th at Morden parkrun on 30th May 2026 – takes quite a lot of commitment to get there! It makes you wonder whether anyone from Witham RC will one day join the 1,000 club. Although at roughly 20 years of near-perfect attendance, it’s certainly not a milestone for the faint-hearted! The top two people in the club combined don’t even hit 1,000 parkruns!