Part 1 of 2 for my weekend of volunteering at the Abingdon Parkruns. Of course the first was the 5km one clearly named Abingdon Parkrun. I ran and then wrote the report for this one pasted below:

Abingdon Parkrun Report I had been to Abingdon a few times previously owing to being an Oxford resident for the past 3 years – 1 occasion of which being my first every marathon at the end of last year. Stepping up the parkrun tourism now we’d done a fair few events (50 & 25), Megan and I decided we’d give Abingdon a go since it’s so close and a beautiful town. Hopping off the X3 bus (getting up somewhat early for), we were not disappointed. Met with the tranquil river and arrays of flowers adorning the railings, we wondered around, grabbed a well needed drink and set off to find the start line.

The Volunteer Team were clearly well-versed in preparations this being Event #562 with everything ready to go. We joined the first timers briefing led by Run Director Nicky who ensured everything ran very smoothly. Incredibly, of the 378 finishers, 55 were tourists from lands as far away as Wellington - New Zealand and the Czech Republic with a flurry closer to home from Luton, Christchurch, Newbury, Thame, Northampton, Bicester and Oxford. It was also a pleasure to meet Mark Layzell who has a parkrun blog covering the now 149 locations that he’s visited @ silentrunner.blog. There was a shoutout for Gareth Selby from Burgess Hill running his 250th parkrun attached to gold ‘250’ balloons for the run (left) and also congratulations to Jess running with her hen party – an impressive run with the veil surviving all the way to the end and glass of fizz waiting at the finish line (right).

There were 17 runners completing their first ever event! They were Ocean Bach, Sofie Kleisova, Casey Clarke, Elliot Clarke, Marcus Clarke, Leo Williams, Julian Bennett, Rebecca Gaunt, Daniel Onion, Francis Le Maguet, Sarah Onion, Alice Onion, Annabel Cotton, Claire Wellstood, Charlene Wooloff, Danielle Costello & John Claxton – a huge welcome to all of you and to echo Nicky’s sentiment on the day, we hope it becomes an obsession like it is for all of us. As well as Gareth’s, there were other milestones reached on crossing that finish line: Raydon JoyeJob, Dorothy Stonell & Ben Cooper – 50 David Marsh, Daniel Ekpo, Aiden Costello & Tim Wren - 25

The course had all terrains one could ask for in a parkrun – concrete, grass, gravel and dirt for variety. The long grass really funnelled us runners into single file for a good portion which just spurred on bursts of speed when reaching the wider farm track towards the back of the course. The marshals were all very helpful and encouraging throughout but I was still happy when it was all over sweat-drenched from the summer heat we have all grown to ‘love’ over the past couple of weeks.

A big thank you to all the volunteers: Alistair BUCKLEY, Andrew DICKINSON, Chrissie MARTIN, Dominic SEMPLE, Fabian CHOW, Fiona SEMPLE, Grace BOYD James SMETHURST, James WIGMORE, John CLAXTON, Lewis BROCK, Lisa GILHOLM, Lucie BROWNSILL, Lucy HAMILTON, Lucy WARWICK, Maria HAMILTON, Martin SOUTHERN, Nicky BROCK, Richard TWINE, Richard WILSON, Sally CLAXTON, Sophie OL. Volunteering is super rewarding - I try to in some capacity on Saturdays and as many Sundays as I can at Junior Parkrun events. We really enjoyed the parkrun and may see you again in the near future.

Kieran (and Megan)