parkrun stats of the week - 15th December 2012

The parkrun statistics of note for this week are:
191 parkrun events run (up 10 on last week)
17,966 runners (down 538 on last week)
The colder weather in the UK is certainly having an effect on attendance fugures.

The average number of runners per parkrun event run was: 94 (down 8 on last week).
7 events recorded a new record attendance this week, as follows:

Event		Record Attendance
Congleton		91
Cornwall Park		82
Darlington South Park		137
Kawana		52
North Beach		81
Richmond Park		451
Torrens		51

The longest standing parkrun attandance record is:
Amager Faelled  146 28/08/2010

And in the UK its:
Old Deer Park  83 15/01/2011

The highest attendance this week was 714 at Bushy Park. No surprise there. Bushy parkrun still holds the global attendance record for a single event of 1000.

The lowest attendance this week was 4 at Nibe parkrun.

6 new male course records set this week (1 more than last week):

Event	Athlete	Time
Ashton Court	Dan RODGERS	16:37
Congleton	Roger ALSOP	17:13
Coomera	Jason GERAGHTY	15:48
Cornwall Park	Hayden Lloyd SHEARMAN	17:09
Darlington South Park	Dean NEWTON	16:47
North Lakes	Greg WEBSTER	16:57

10 new female course records set this week (4 more than last week, the women won yet again this week!):

Event		Athlete	Time
Congleton		Katie SAMUELSON	21:03
Cornwall Park		Katrin GOTTSCHALK	20:39
Darlington South Park		Katie NOBLE	20:32
North Lakes		Helen STANTON	18:39
Sandgate		Lucy CARVALHO	21:39
South Bank		Britney MCMULLEN	18:07
Malahide		Angela MCCANN	18:17
Rushcliffe		Lou COLLINS	19:16
Bexley		Holly PAGE	19:53
Guildford		Joanna KLAPTOCZ	19:28

An impressive 71 runners (up 18 on last week) ran times under 17 minutes this week.
11 of these (up 7 on last week) run under 16 minutes! 5 of those fastest 11 coming at Poole parkrun.

Event		Athlete	Time
Poole		Chris POWNER	14:58
Poole		Matthew FAYERS	15:03
Edinburgh		Andrew DOUGLAS	15:25
Bushy Park		Bradley GOATER	15:29
Albert		Wondiye Fikre INDELBU	15:33
Bushy Park		Nathan WHITE	15:40
Poole		Matthew BENNETT	15:44
Poole		Alan MURCHISON	15:46
Coomera		Jason GERAGHTY	15:48
Huddersfield		Richard ANDERSON	15:54
Poole		Jacek CIELUSZECKI	15:56

The fastest parkrunner in the World this week was by Chris Powner running 14:58 at Poole parkrun.

The top age grade performance this week was by Lucy Elliott who ran 17:30 in the VW45-49 category at Poole parkrun, recording a 91.62% Age Grade in the process. Very impressive!

42 parkrun freedom runs were recorded this week. The fastest freedom run recorded the week was 18:38 by Ian Wilkinson (that's me!) at Coventry parkrun on 13th December 2012.

Other facts and figures:
- 10 new clubs were represented at parkrun for the first time this week.
- 250,393 different people have now completed at least one parkrun. Breaking through the 250,000 mark at the weekend!
- 195 different parkrun venues have been run. The 200th should happen early in the new year.

Volunteering at parkrun....the Funnel Manager

The Funnel Manager is basically in charge of overseeing everything that goes on in the finishing area.

This is very much an organisational role to ensure the smooth running of the finish area.

The main responsibilities of the Funnel Manager are:

- to ensure that finishers continue along the finish funnel, keeping the finish line clear for the next finishers. Some finishers may be exhausted, but all must be encouraged along the finish funnel as efficently as possible. The finish line must not be blocked.

- to ensure that finishers remain in the same order until the end of the finish funnel, where the finish position tokens will be handed out. The Funnel Manager will usually leave the runners to agree the order in which they finished, remembering that parkrun is a run and not a race and that those in a close finish will normally be given the same or similar time anyway.

- to ensure that every runner that crosses the finish line within the funnel is then kept inside the funnel until the end and takes a finish position token. Anyone ducking out of the finish funnel (known as "funnel duckers" - don't try saying that fast a few times in a row) and not taking a finish position token, could cause problems in the results. Runners should be encouraged to remain in the correct position in the funnel and take a finish position token. Should it not be possible to prevent a funnel ducker, the Funnel Manager can pocket the relevant finish position token for safekeeping.

Where the Numbers Assisstant role is not fullfilled, the Funnel Ducker can offer help to the Numbers role at busy periods. This could be to provide the next batch of finish position tokens. This help is particularly welcome during the colder winter months when the effect of the cold on the hands and fingers of the person in the Numbers role can make fiddly jobs quite tricky.

Is parkrun for me?

parkrun is for everyone. Anyone can go along to parkrun.

But if your question is more along the lines of "Will parkrun suit me?", then that of course depends more on you than parkrun.

It is fair to say that parkrun can be pretty much anything you want it to be. It can be a walk, a jog, a run, even a race. It can be training, it can be fun, you can even take it seriously. It really can be anything you want it to be.

Oh, except it can't be a 10km run. But even that isn't true as you can easily make it the start, middle or end of a longer run.

These days, parkrun (the organisation) themselves repeatedly say that parkrun is not a race. They are right to say this, as it is not what parkrun is really about. But in truth, if you and your friends want to make it a race, then you can. The only proviso being that it is a fun race and not a deadly serious, win at all costs race. Don't expect parkrun to decide who wins a photo finish. Not taking it too seriously, and fun and enjoyment are the key here.

If you are looking to get fit, or lose weight, parkrun can be part of the solution.
If you are new to running, parkrun is perfect.
If you haven't run for years and want to get back into it, parkrun is perfect.
If you are looking to make friends, parkrun can help.
If you just want en excuse to get out in the fresh air on a Saturday morning for a bit of exercise, look no further, parkrun is ideal.
If you want to get faster, sure parkrun can help you do that.
If you want to run with or against people of similar abilities, there are bound to be people of a similar ability to you at parkrun.
If you have been a runner for a while and now want to join a club, there will be plenty of clubs with runners at your local parkrun and they will be more than happy to talk to you about joining their club.

parkrun is for everyone!