Never let it be said that parkrun is a race but last Saturday 22 members of the club toed the start line at Wimbledon parkrun, competing for the honour of the Club 5km championship and valuable Grand Prix points.

It was a cold crisp morning on the common but the sun was shining as we gathered round with the other 346 parkrunners to listen to the briefing.  We had taken a bit of gamble choosing Wimbledon parkrun as the location for the Grand Prix as the course does get very muddy in the winter months.  Luckily the lack of rain in the week and the drop in temperature overnight had firmed up the course and although there were a few patches of mud there was nothing too problematic.  It is a cross-country course however and unfortunately David Pearce took a tumble – or was he taken out by a Womble sniper?  Our club captain and chairman nobly stopped to help him out but it was end of David’s race.  Hope you recover soon David.  At the front, Danny Norman had sped off as normal and would take take 6th place overall and 1st for the club.  There was a bit more of a battle for second place but in the end Steve Ramek proved too strong for myself, David Pimm and Rob Hinton.  David did take the age graded trophy however.  In the ladies race, Maggie Stacey took both prizes finishing ahead of Libby Marchant and Karen Hardy in both competions.  Special mentions should also go to Moustafa Fawzy for battling round a tough course with the buggy and to Karen Hardy and Mike Gray for completing their first ever parkruns.   Hopefully, you have now got the bug.  After the run we gathered in the carpark to drink coffee whilst Danny interviewed various club members for the parkrun show podcast.  I look forward to listening to it!

Updated Grand Prix tables are here:  

http://www.26point2.co.uk/index.php?option=com_phocadownload&view=category&download=98:grand-prix-2013-14-after-race-9-wimbledon-parkrun&id=9:grand-prix-race-results-a-tables&Itemid=251