Lockdown shutdown ends for parkrun
MORE than 100 islanders shrugged off high winds and driving rain on Saturday morning as the island’s parkrun returned for the first time since before lockdown.
Event director Lorna O’Donnell said because of its affiliation to the global organisation, it had not been possible to organise the event until a new Covid-19 framework had been drawn up for events worldwide.
The local run was also one of the first to make use of a new app to be used by event volunteers to record times more easily and transfer them to the main group’s website.
Since its inception in the early 2000s, parkrun has set up events in 22 countries and attracted some seven million runners, and locally there are about 3,000 registered, said Mrs O’Donnell.
‘We get maybe 100 to 150 on a winter’s morning, but in the summer you might 200-250, but of course then we also get visitors.’
There were experienced and new runners taking part, and one of the ‘veterans’ was Joshua Hudson, who at the age of eight was taking part in his 10th run.
‘I do it mostly for games, football and Last Man Standing,’ he said of his reasons for running.
Joshua’s mum, Zoe Gervaise-Brazier, said she had done parkruns in the UK before moving the island, and they liked to try to beat their personal bests. ‘I do run a couple of times a week for keep fit,’ she said. ‘This encourages me to get out and do a run.’
First-timer Hannah Pilmanis had started running during lockdown, while her friend and fellow first-timer Tammy Gardner started in January. ‘It’s very addictive,’ said Miss Gardner.
‘I started running in the summer and just want to carry on in the winter,’ said Mrs Pilmanis, who had also done half of the recent marathon.
But what possesses people to leave the warmth of their home on a winter’s weekend morning?
‘So I can eat cake,’ said Miss Gardner. ‘I’m getting older now and I love my food – I run so I can eat what I like.’
