Charlotte Le Rougetel reports on the latest parkruns

There was an exciting mix of apprehension and adrenaline from some of our parkrunners at Wormwood Scrubs this morning – those runners being the amazing athletes that will be tackling the London Marathon tomorrow. Please don't be nervous Andrea, Martin and James – you will be amazing and we're all rooting for you.

38 runners joined us for the 203rd parkrun at Wormwood Scrubs including two flashers – I kid you not. Frances and James McGlynn, who were in the capital for James' marathon run tomorrow, normally parkrun at Pennington Flash in the north west but for this week they were Flashers on Tour. It was a pleasure to have them with us and we wish James lots of luck for his 26.2 miles.

After a rainy start to the morning, the heavens thankfully closed just in time for the off and stayed closed for the duration. The moisture was a welcome relief to the back straight, which has become increasingly knobbly and precarious in recent weeks and meant some of us were back in spikes to make the most of it.

Congratulations to Kirstie Tew who was first female over the line for the first time in her 46 appearances; a fantastic run that saw Kirstie match her PB from just a few weeks ago. First male finisher was Kerr MILLAR of Highgate Harriers in a very fast 17:36.

We celebrated Nick's birthday in the clubhouse with home made cookies and an unlit candle (sorry!) – Happy Birthday Nick!! He is currently third in the men's points competition, less than 100 points behind Peter Jordan. After a week's absence, Riz was back with us today and is still standing firm at the top of the table with 3412 points.

Charlotte LE ROUGETEL remains at the top of the female points table and there are just nine points between second and third place with Marion BRYDSON on 2781 and today's first finisher Kirstie TEW on 2772.That's the last week you'll be taking off, Marion!!

Seven new PBs were recorded today including from some of fastest runners – a clear indication that conditions are improving. Congratulations Andrew, Colm, Peter, Caroline, Lisa Marie, Kathryn and Philip.

Many thanks to our volunteers this week, as ever – run director and marathon major LEGEND Andrea BROUGHTON, timekeeper Anthony STOKES, tea server, cookie monster and report writer Charlotte LE ROUGETEL, scanner and marathon runner Martin GILLIES, the closer Peter JORDAN, the opener Rizwan RAUF , the finisher Stephen HUTCHINSON and photographer Sunday BOVILL-BELLIENI. 74

You can check out the photographs from this week on our Flickr Page . Also, thank you Kirstie TEW for serving in the club house.

Next week there are lots of fabulous opportunities to volunteer – parkrun can't take place without our volunteers, so please do give up your time and help out if you can. Just email us at wormwoodscrubshelpers@parkrun.com. All of the tasks are super easy and you'll be fully briefed beforehand.

Our end of year run and celebrations will be on 13 June in the club house – please save the date!

Parkrun 202 - April 18

We hit a half-century at Wormwood Scrubs this weekend for the first time in a while as 50 runners joined us for our 202nd parkrun. The sun was shining, but the wind was also blowing – pretty perfect running weather.

Seven first timers toed the start line with the regulars – we love welcoming new runners to Wormwood Scrubs, we hope you enjoyed running with us and that you’ll return again soon. A special mention to Peter Reupke who came back to the Scrubs for the first time since June and managed to knock two seconds off his PB time.

Run director Ben Le Rougetel started proceedings with two declarations – a big happy birthday to Andrea Broughton who is preparing for the London Marathon next Sunday and an announcement from Martin Gillies that he was going to smash fellow even director’s parkrun PB of 18:35. He did indeed break his record, nailing a time of 18:32 into the bargain – sorry Rob! Martin is also in training for London. Good luck both of you.

Ben also reminded the field just how important the role of volunteers is and how much we need and appreciate parkrunners to come forward and help out each week. Without volunteers there won’t be a parkrun, it’s as simple as that. So if you can help out, please email us atwormwoodscrubshelpers@parkrun.com. Major rounds of applause to this week’s heroes: Ben LE ROUGETEL  •  Charlotte LE ROUGETEL  •  Fraser BRYDSON  •  Manuel CORRIENTE  •  Martin GILLIES  •  Peter JORDAN  •  Sunday BOVILL-BELLIENI  •  William PAYNTER.

The ‘Scrubbers’ continued to go on tour this weekend – me, Kirstie Tew and William Paynter all headed west on Sunday for the Thames Towpath 10 organised by West 4. A fabulous fast and flat along the river and around Richmond and Kew with the team recording some great times – all ahead of meeting up again at Hackney on 10 May for the half marathon.

While Martin may have ‘smashed’ Rob’s time, he was ‘only’ third over the line. In first place was William DAVIES in 18:12 followed by Dylan KENNEDY in 18:26. First female was the fabulous junior runner Rosie VALLANCE of Thames Valley Harriers in 21:56.

Riz may have missed the run this weekend thanks to a cold, but he’s still standing strong at the top of the men’s points table with 3332 pts. He’s followed by Peter JORDAN 3155 pts – just two runs between them! - and
Nick MICHAEL with 3062 pts.

Over on the women’s points table, things look like this: Charlotte LE ROUGETEL has 3307 pts, Marion BRYDSON has 2781 pts and
Kirstie TEW has 2672 pts. With Marion away at least twice before the end of our year, things are going to hot up for second place!

Talking of year ends, our third anniversary is on 13th June – just eight weeks away!

Final word – congratulations to all 14 runners who secured a PB this week – nice running!

Have a good week.

Charlie.