In the spirit of International Woman’s Week Sally did the new runners welcome before handing over to Shona, Run Director fresh from being awarded the Avery Jones Medal from the Chartered Institute of Tax, who was coordinating the 742 participants and 44 volunteer team on the day. There were shoutouts to two women completing their first 5k’s having gone through the coach to 5k training program. Burgess parkrun was truly celebrating International Women’s Week.
Runners tend to be a colourful bunch but today I noticed an extra tinge of orange. Upon closer inspection, I realised many of those in orange were sporting the orange shirt of the Clapham PiONNERS Running Club who had come to Burgess parkrun for one of their Club Championship 2024 races.
Clapham PiONNERS describe themselves as ‘...a friendly, inclusive and sociable running club based in Clapham Old Town, providing motivation and support to our members’. Their club Championship is a series of races over different distances throughout the year, with members gaining points for entering and getting PB’s. They pick two London parkruns for their 5k races and this year Burgess parkrun was one of the events. Obviously, parkrun isn’t a ‘race’ but it is a free-timed event, well marshalled and welcoming. People come to parkruns for so many reasons.
Along with runners Clapham PiONNERS brought several volunteers who vocally cheered on everyone adding to the general high-spirited carnival occasion that Burgess parkrun always is.
Shona handed over to the timekeepers who duly set us all off, a more orangey wave than usual.
The Burgess parkrun course is one lap with some sections where participants will go past each other. This allows people to cheer each other on and give out high fives to each other. The Clapham PiONNERS runners seemed very grateful as they dug in for PBs and course bests.
I spoke to Chloe and Charlotte from Clapham PiONNERS who spoke about how the club will do volunteer takeovers at parkrun events and Charlotte explained how she’s looking to complete the Parkrun Alphabet challenge (running a parkrun with each letter of the alphabet). I was struck by the way parkrun brings runners together from all over the place, individuals and clubs; with its various challenges providing opportunities for running chat and camaraderie.
I might not be part of a running club but through my participation at parkrun events, I feel part of a running family.
Next week I’ll be back at Burgess parkrun for a sub 20min attempt, using all the tips in my ‘wear and gear’ section of this site.
Happy running
🧡🍊🧡🍊🧡 The Clapham gang sound like a great bunch, Aq. Great they got to experience the Burgess vibes. Looking forward to next weeks write up on the sub 20!!! Defo need to come back to Burgess soon, that starting point video is reminding me, how fun it is there!