parkrun – Ascension Thursday & 16/05/2026

21 May 2026 - By Steven Alder

This week saw two parkrun days take place: the ‘normal’ Saturday version, but the Nordics also held an extra parkrun on Ascension Thursday on the 14th May. On the Thursday, WRC members were at Urheilupuisto and Tokoinranta – both in Finland. On Saturday, WRC members were at Maldon Prom, Great Dunmow, Ingrebourne Hill, Canterbury, Durham, Great Notley, Walton Promenade, Markshall, Woodhouse Moor, Thorney Bay Beach, Wimpole Estate, Thurrock and Chelmsford Central.

Starting with Ascension Thursday, it is believed that Steven Alder and Gus Maby flew on the same planes to and from Helsinki but didn’t realise. Gus then stayed in Helsinki to complete Tokoinranta in 24:30. Steven drove on to Turku (Finland’s oldest city and previous capital), completing  Urheilupuisto in 28:10 and then taking on the volunteer role of Funnel Manager. Well done both on the extra parkrun, although Steven did try to bribe Åke the timekeeper with some Dairy Milk to give him a quicker time (it didn’t work).

Dawn Shilling was visiting Canterbury where she completed it in 31:49. Over in Durham was Kevin Harper (24:30), Adam Hocken at Ingrebourne Hill (27:12), Keith Taylor in Great Notley (26:54), Great Dunmow had Anhony Smith (29:53), Michael Poulter grabbing a course PB at Walton Promenade (33:16), mega tourist Geoffrey Reddin at Woodhouse Moor (25:39) and the other mega tourist Steven Alder at Canvey Island doing Thorney Bay Beach (26:35).

Glen and Dominique were busy taking selfies at Chelmsford Central, but they did also complete the course. Chelmsford was completed by Clive Smith (22:57), Glen Waller (24:33 & parkrun PB), Fiona Collins (29:21), James Cooch (30:27), Dominique Harts (30:41) and Patrick Hinchliffe (38:01). At Wimpole Estate was Giles Sowerby (19:46) and Karen Pickering (22:09) whilst Leo Tooey was at Thurrock completing the course in 22:30.

Markshall remained as popular as ever, with many WRCers doing a parkrun and enjoying breakfast after. Well done to Trevor Johnson (23:46 1st VM65-69), Ian Lucas (26:35), Andrew Smith (26:42), DJ (29:53 1st VM70-74), Angela Read (31:02 1st VW60-64), Monty (33:28 his first run here, although has volunteered many times at Markshall), Lisa Leader (33:29), Andrew Read (33:30) and Liz Atkinson (39:05). Volunteering at Markshall had DJ as a Car Park Marshal, Ann Johnson, Kerry Townsend and Scott Townsend as Marshals and Andrew Read doing Pre-event Setup.

Maldon Prom was also popular: Jamie Marlow (20:11), Leo Cole (21:29 & 1st VM55-59), Bill Smythe (22:54), Annalise Etherington (24:38 & 1st SW30-34), Mick Conroy (26:41), Ross Silverton (31:06 & 1st VM75-79), Sue Shippey (31:28) and David Grainger (34:05).

And finally, poor Karen Flowers was hoping to do a parkrun in Washington DC at Roosevolt Island DC parkrun. She made it very safely on her flight from Heathrow to USA… only to find out her luggage (along with everyone else on the plane) didn’t make it out of Heathrow Airport, so Karen missed out on the running opportunity over there (she’s still not got it yet!)

The Ascension Thursday results can be found here. The ‘normal’ Saturday results can be found here.

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parkrun Videos and Pacing

Ian Lucas has spotted a YouTube video of Walton Promenade where Michael Poulter was this week, I didn’t spot him though.

As a reminder, WRC are hosting a pacing event at Maldon Prom parkrun, get in touch with James Attenborough if you are interested, as there are some times still available. We will see who can get the closest this time (and the furthest).