Ashton Court and Little Stoke parkruns – Saturday 21st December 2013

The morning of the Winter Solstice was appropriately very dark and gloomy. There was a hint of rain in the air but it was mild with very little wind. Conditions underfoot were very wet following the recent rain.

There were a total of 202 runners at Ashton Court, the lowest attendance since 4^th May 2013, which was the day before the Bristol 10k. However, on the last Saturday before Christmas in 2012, there were only 136 runners. This is probably a better statistic to show how the event has grown in the last year. Twenty-six of the runners were from Bristol & West.

Probably due to many of the club’s athletes being weighed down by fancy dress, there were no PBs recorded. Even a piece of tinsel makes a difference.

The Runner of the Week Award goes to Rich Kenington for his fancy dress and also and more significantly his role as photographer on many occasions at the parkrun and other events over the past year.

At Little Stoke there were 164 runners with eight from Bristol & West. There were for PBs from Will Windell, Helen Newberry, Neil Kennedy and Sabrina Patten.

Over the Christmas period there will be normal parkruns on the 28^th December, and for the first time an opportunity to do the Little Stoke and Ashton Court double on New Year’s Day with Little Stoke starting at 9.00am and Ashton Court at 10.30am.

Roger Brocklesby Reports