Ashton Court Parkrun – Saturday 13th April 2013

It was not exactly a classic spring day, but the weather is definitely getting warmer, and there was a bit of blue sky. Not for the first time, it was a sunny start, before rain set in later in the morning. There is a moral in there somewhere.

The weather attracted the runners and there were 230 finishers on Saturday, Ashton Court’s third highest attendance and only seven off the record of 237 set earlier this year. Twenty-five runners represented Bristol & West. This was one less than last week, but with several runners resting before Sunday’s Riverbank Rollick or Frenchay 10k, it was still a commendable turnout.

Nicola Brookland made her debut at Ashton Court and was the second female on the day, but with the fifth fastest time ever recorded by a lady on the course. The club also had the first four finishers in the VW50-54 age range.

In view of the benign conditions, it was perhaps surprising that there were only three PBs, all set by experienced Ashton Court parkrunners. Cecilia Browne, continuing her recent consistent form, improved her time by 5 seconds. Emma Withers, who had a lengthy wait to break her previous best time only last time; repeated the feat this week and knocked another ten seconds off her time. She is now homing in on a sub 24:00 time. Emma was again running this week with nine year old son Otto Kingston, who improved his time by 1 minute 25 seconds. Not sure who was pacing who here! This was a quick return to running for Otto after highly creditable performances against older runners at the Youth Development Meeting on Wednesday. Congratulations are due to Otto, as his run this week earns him the Performance of the Week title.

In the Female Points Table, Emma has kept her lead. Alison Engledew reduced the deficit by five points and is now ten points behind with one week to go. What happens if it’s a tie? Suggestions welcome.

Finally Bristol and West runners have now completed 2,012 runs at Ashton Court. Noel Arthur has the honour of completing No. 2,000.