Marple Parkrun - Race Report

For the latest Championship race, we set off for the Marple Parkrun. Not a race many of us had done before, although being on the edge of the peak district there were certainly concerns of some rough terrain and a few hills to upset our times.

Pre-race, whilst Dave was warming up his legs, Steven unveiled the brightest running top we had seen.

The start was interesting, everyone lined up across a large field and on the starters orders, we charged across a couple of football pitches – to anyone walking in the other direction, it must of looked like a scene from Braveheart with over 100 runners charging towards them.

We saw Steven briefly in his luminous top across the field, but once we turned down a couple of paths he was gone forever, I also watched Nick pass me after the initial dash across the fields. The course was neither particularly challenging nor hilly, but not having done a 5K for a while it reminded me why the distance is so difficult, after using all my energy up the first lap, I struggled to keep up with someone, who I saw in the results was in the 65+ category.

Overall it was an enjoyable morning, a couple of laps around a course which was fairly flat, a pleasant part of the countryside and as usual for Parkrun well organised.

Also a good performance by all concerned. Our results in the field of 166 were as follows:

Men

1. Steven Henderson (EY Transaction Advisory Services) – 2nd – 18:11 – 20 points

2. Nick Marshall (Grant Thornton) – 21st – 20:34 – 18 points

3. Alan Budenberg (Barclays Wealth and Investment Management) – 30th – 21:34 – 16 points

4. David Simmons (Atlas Corporate Finance) – 38th – 22:22 – 14 points

5. David Avery (Lopian Gross Barnett) – 40th – 22:31 – 12 points

Ladies

1. Jill Parker (Addleshaw Goddard) – 13th (2nd lady) – 19:34 (new PB!) – 20 points