I felt really bad, but at 7:30am this morning my pre-parkrun chat with my 4 year old Daughter went something like this:
Me: I'm really sorry Ella, but you can't do parkrun today.
Ella: But I want to Daddy.
Me: I want you to Ella, but it's so cold, you won't like it.
Ella: I will. I want to do it.
A few minutes later.
Ella: Daddy I am doing parkrun.
Me: You can't Ella, it's really icy. You might fall and hurt yourself.
Ella: You can hold my hand Daddy.
Me: Ella, it's a really long way to run in the snow and ice. You won't enjoy it. It's too cold.
Ella: I will enjoy it. What clothes shall I put on?
Me: It doesn't matter - you can't do it. I'm going to brush me teeth.
A minute later, whilst brushing my teeth.
Me: Why are you coming in here.
Ella: To brush my teeth to get ready for parkrun.
Me: Ella, it's just not safe.
Ella: I am doing it.
A couple more minutes pass by.
Me: Ella, I'll ask Mummy, she'll agree with me.
Me: Ella wants to do parkrun, I have told her it's too cold and icy.
Mummy: Let her do it, make sure she wears lots of layers.
Me: Ok Ella, get lots of clothes on.
She came back with 4 layers and eventually wore 5, plus hat, scarf and gloves.
And so Ella was allowed to do it. "Crazy" you say, a 4 year old can't do parkrun in the snow! Oh yes she can! Ok, but she won't enjoy it you say. Oh yes she did!
She was a little slower than last week, the traction wasn't great, but she ran almost the whole way again (just a couple of short walks) and never complained at all. And yes, she really did enjoy it again. Unbelievable! I kept asking her if she was enjoying it and the reply was yes every time. And when asking her if she wanted to stop, she would say "at the finish", or "after the funnel".
Fairly close to the end she asked, "can I have cake at the end". Last week a new 100 clubber had brought cakes for everyone, or so I believe (we got there quite late!). Ella had had some and she remembered. Luckily for her, two more 100 club newbies had taken cakes today. So Ella got her way on that too. Unfortunately, she will probably associate cake and parkrun for all time now. I'm sure that there are plenty of others that do too. At least she earns it I suppose! And she doesn't like icing - which was a bonus, as I certainly do!
She has since been told that she has to take a couple of weeks off parkrun now. I think she needs to give her little legs a break. She took it well at the time, but who knows what arguments we may have next week!
I just hope that she can keep that enjoyment of running. That would be brilliant. And as for that determination to both turn up and to do the entire parkrun, well I just find it incredible.
Saturday, 19 January 2013
Friday, 18 January 2013
parkrun registration stats this week
There is still a little time for new registrations this week, but at the time of writing and compared to the figures in my post this time last week....
Totalling up new registrations across parkrun globally, shows that parkrun has attracted a further 5,566 registrations this week, 2,399 less than at the same time last week!
This takes the total number of global parkrun registrations (according to my official source page on the parkrun website) up to 426,064 (up from 420,498). That is a growth in total registrations of 1.3% in a week.
As far as I am aware, there are 2 new parkruns starting this weekend:
Carlisle and Chelmsford: An interesting weekend for your first event with all this snow!
Incredibly, Malahide parkrun is top of the charts yet again in the number of new registrations category. This week adding another 155 new registrants so far! That is now 11 weeks in a row that Malahide parkrun has added the most new registrations.
12 different parkrun events have added 50 or more new registrants this week!
The parkrun events showing (the most) notable growth in registrations this week are:
No great surprises in the "largest parkrun in the world" category this week, where it is still the same top 5:
It looks as though Wimbledon Common parkrun is only about 2 or 3 weeks away from becoming the 5th parkrun with over 10,000 registered runners.
And at the other end of the spectrum, but just as worthy of a mention we have:
Totalling up new registrations across parkrun globally, shows that parkrun has attracted a further 5,566 registrations this week, 2,399 less than at the same time last week!
This takes the total number of global parkrun registrations (according to my official source page on the parkrun website) up to 426,064 (up from 420,498). That is a growth in total registrations of 1.3% in a week.
As far as I am aware, there are 2 new parkruns starting this weekend:
Carlisle and Chelmsford: An interesting weekend for your first event with all this snow!
Incredibly, Malahide parkrun is top of the charts yet again in the number of new registrations category. This week adding another 155 new registrants so far! That is now 11 weeks in a row that Malahide parkrun has added the most new registrations.
12 different parkrun events have added 50 or more new registrants this week!
The parkrun events showing (the most) notable growth in registrations this week are:
| Event | Total | This week |
| Malahide parkrun | 2182 | 151 |
| Carlisle parkrun | 206 | 95 |
| Chelmsford Central parkrun | 259 | 81 |
| Newy parkrun | 2386 | 79 |
| South Bank parkrun | 665 | 71 |
| New Farm parkrun | 4431 | 64 |
No great surprises in the "largest parkrun in the world" category this week, where it is still the same top 5:
| Event | Total |
| Bushy parkrun | 21354 |
| Glasgow parkrun | 12622 |
| Leeds parkrun | 11434 |
| Brighton & Hove parkrun | 10256 |
| Wimbledon Common parkrun | 9905 |
And at the other end of the spectrum, but just as worthy of a mention we have:
| Event | Total |
| Walthamstow parkrun | 21 |
| Wolverhampton parkrun | 23 |
| Temple Newsam parkrun | 44 |
| Cheltenham parkrun | 63 |
| Upton Court parkrun | 89 |
Thursday, 17 January 2013
parkrun stats of the week...12th January 2013
The parkrun statistics of note for this week are:
196 parkrun events run (up 5 on last week)
29,120 runners (up 1,337 on last week) NEW parkrun weekly record attendance for the second week running (pun intended)!
The average number of runners per parkrun event run was: 148.5 (up 3 on last week).
An utterly ridiculous 41 events recorded a new record attendance this week, as follows:
The longest standing parkrun attandance record is:
Amager Faelled 146 28/08/2010
And in the UK it has finally changed, with Old Deer Park getting a new record attendance this week. So it is now:
Gorleston 156 19/03/2011
The highest attendance this week was 1027 at Bushy Park, the second highest attendance ever at a parkun event and only 24 short of the attendance record set at Bushy park last week.
The lowest attendance this week was 3 at Hillerod parkrun, one higher than the same venue last week
7 new male course records set this week (1 less than last week):
8 new female course records set this week (4 less than last week). The women win yet again this week:
45 runners (down 8 on last week) ran times under 17 minutes this week.
For the second week running, the fastest parkrunner in the World was Wondiye Fikre INDELBU running 15:46 at Albert parkrun.
Just 2 of these 45 runners (down 8 on last week) run under 16 minutes!
The top age grade performance this week was by Hayley Haining who ran 16:49 in the VM40-44 category at Strathclyde parkrun, recording a 90.98% Age Grade in the process. Very impressive!
Only two runners in the 90%+ Age Grade bracket this week:
63 parkrun freedom runs were recorded last week. The fastest freedom run recorded was 18:53 by James Slade at Newcastle parkrun on 5th January 2013.
196 parkrun events run (up 5 on last week)
29,120 runners (up 1,337 on last week) NEW parkrun weekly record attendance for the second week running (pun intended)!
The average number of runners per parkrun event run was: 148.5 (up 3 on last week).
An utterly ridiculous 41 events recorded a new record attendance this week, as follows:
| Event | Record Attendance |
| Aberystwyth | 55 |
| Amager Strandpark | 38 |
| Balyang Sanctuary | 127 |
| Brueton | 212 |
| Camperdown | 117 |
| Cannon Hill | 366 |
| Congleton | 143 |
| Coventry | 385 |
| Delta | 129 |
| Edinburgh | 391 |
| Finsbury Park | 166 |
| Gateshead | 113 |
| Glasgow | 491 |
| Gunpowder | 70 |
| Harrogate | 274 |
| Harrow Lodge | 120 |
| Heaton Park | 370 |
| Highbury Fields | 100 |
| Huddersfield | 337 |
| Hull | 356 |
| Kingscliff | 34 |
| Leeds | 425 |
| Malahide | 377 |
| Mansfield | 62 |
| Modderfontein Reserve | 95 |
| Newcastle | 449 |
| North Lakes | 71 |
| Northampton | 205 |
| Old Deer Park | 86 |
| Pennington Flash | 134 |
| Pontefract | 161 |
| Princes | 183 |
| Roodepoort | 117 |
| Roundhay | 250 |
| Sandgate | 127 |
| Sheffield Hallam | 466 |
| Sheringham | 105 |
| South Bank | 218 |
| Torrens | 81 |
| Wimpole Estate | 292 |
| Woodley | 264 |
The longest standing parkrun attandance record is:
Amager Faelled 146 28/08/2010
And in the UK it has finally changed, with Old Deer Park getting a new record attendance this week. So it is now:
Gorleston 156 19/03/2011
The highest attendance this week was 1027 at Bushy Park, the second highest attendance ever at a parkun event and only 24 short of the attendance record set at Bushy park last week.
The lowest attendance this week was 3 at Hillerod parkrun, one higher than the same venue last week
7 new male course records set this week (1 less than last week):
8 new female course records set this week (4 less than last week). The women win yet again this week:
45 runners (down 8 on last week) ran times under 17 minutes this week.
For the second week running, the fastest parkrunner in the World was Wondiye Fikre INDELBU running 15:46 at Albert parkrun.
Just 2 of these 45 runners (down 8 on last week) run under 16 minutes!
| Event | Athlete | Time | |
| Albert | Wondiye Fikre INDELBU | 15:46:00 | |
| Huddersfield | Richard ANDERSON | 15:53:00 |
The top age grade performance this week was by Hayley Haining who ran 16:49 in the VM40-44 category at Strathclyde parkrun, recording a 90.98% Age Grade in the process. Very impressive!
Only two runners in the 90%+ Age Grade bracket this week:
| Event | Athlete | Time | Age Group | Age Grade | Club | |
| Strathclyde | Hayley HAINING | 16:49 | VW40-44 | 90.98% | Kilbarchan AAC | |
| Huddersfield | Lynne MANNION | 21:41 | VW60-64 | 90.78% | Unattached |
63 parkrun freedom runs were recorded last week. The fastest freedom run recorded was 18:53 by James Slade at Newcastle parkrun on 5th January 2013.
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