Event 319: 31 July 2021

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The first weekend of the current school term is already here, which did not stop 84 parkrunners and 12 volunteers braving the cold conditions this morning. The track was very moist from the previous few days of bad weather and it is also the last day of July. The winter days are almost coming to a close and everyone had a great time during the event. Today was also the first time I tried the post-run coffee cart near the picnic table. The person who runs it is very multi-talented with different jobs on the side and is able to manage his time very well each week.

We are also disappointed that the Trans Tasman bubble is paused until Friday 17th September and it is likely to be extended. Our parkrun friends in the affected states with their lockdowns are disappointed with how this virus is spreading, devastating economies and putting livelihoods in jeopardy. A few weeks ago, we had an Australian visitor in one of our Wellington region parkruns who has done over 150 different parkruns said to some of us that he was fortunate to have made it back to Brisbane before the lockdown was enforced. Parkrun tourism is not easy and it takes a lot of commitment to achieve this goal.

There were 7 first timers, 2 of whom were doing their debut parkrun, although one of the two debut parkrunners has already completed their 25th volunteer achievement. The rest of the first timers were visitors from Hamilton, Palmerston North and the Greater Wellington region. 3 personal bests were recorded. 2 parkrunners have achieved their milestones today, one official and one unofficial. Congratulations to Allen COTTLE on reaching his 50th and Matt BURDEN on reaching his 150th. Allen has done the majority of his parkruns at Kapiti Coast and once each at Rotorua and Flaxmere. Matt has done all of his 150 parkruns at Kapiti Coast.

Another handy tool for other parkrunners is that they can obtain their parkrun achievements by downloading the 5K app on their phones, either on iOS or an Android. You can see all the achievements by typing your barcode number and even follow other parkrunners on the app, should you choose to. I was able to get 32 seconds on my time today, which is a step closer for me to complete the stopwatch bingo challenge. Hopefully by the end of this year that I can achieve the stopwatch bingo challenge and the position bingo challenge is far off for me. You will be amazed at how addicted you will be with this app. There is a screenshot below of what it looks like.

Dan Joe2

As most parkrunners were not aware of the unofficial tour guide book that was delivered by myself to this parkrun when I visited Invercargill the weekend before. It was great to see this book being looked at by attendees today and of course, it will be off to a new destination next week. Having a great community such as parkrun is a great way to build new friendships, travel for just a parkrun as part of their parkrun tourism challenge or even form a team to create a new event. The photo of this book is shown below and this can be purchased on the website - https://runswithabarcode.co.nz/. This book describes each parkrun, where the nearest showers/toilets are, how to get there by public transport, walking distance and also explains how the course was founded.

Dan Joe3

We cannot thank our volunteers enough for helping out today. The team was led by run director Bruce Wilson, The rest of the volunteers were as follows: Lorraine BOVEY, Randall WALKER, Mari DAVENPORT, Michelle HOLMES, Graeme CROMPTON, An WELLS, Bruce ALLEN, Jeff STARK, Dan JOE, John GLYNN-BEGBIE and Lucy LAWLOR.

Until next time, have a great weekend and welcome to the last month of winter. It has not been as cold as I thought it might be.

Many Thanks,

Dan Joe

parkrunner and parkrun tourist

Dan JoePhoto: Jeff Stark

 

 

Event 317: 10 July 2021

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Positivity Breeds Positivity

A few weeks back my wife and I turned up early for Kapiti Coast Parkrun. We have just recently moved up to Paraparaumu Beach and are still run directors at Porirua Parkrun. It is a habit to turn up early and just help out if and when needed.

As we were hanging around before the start a lovely lady called Barbara turned up and was asking about Parkrun. This was her very first event and she was very nervous and explained she had registered for parkrun a year earlier but never had the confidence to go. I talked to her about the process for the day and also about my parkrun journey. Barbara seemed to be a bit more relaxed which was great to see so I thought I would share my journey with you all.

Having started back in 2014 after my wife dragged me along I was really nervous. Why on earth would I want to go to a running event when I can't run and all these super fit athletes are around me. I was just picturing myself being everyone's joke for the day. I turned up and did the run/walk and it was nothing like what I expected, there was no judging just people out doing their thing. Over the next few years I only went occasionally, I would get injured and just not go.

My weight was close to 125kg. I didn't feel good about much but started getting more active at parkrun. This time when I got injured and was out for weeks/months I still went with my wife but volunteered just to keep being part of the atmosphere. I didn't want to volunteer at first because I did not want to stuff anything up, however before long I had done 50 volunteers and 50 runs. I had covered every role from Run Director & Results Processing to Barcode Scanning and Timekeeper.

As I was running/walking I would get the regulars at parkrun starting to make comments like "Good work" "keep it up" and I am thinking to myself that these are the super fit athletes who I was afraid of the very first time. The fact that they did not really know me or need to encourage me was a real boost. Before long these comments kept inspiring me to get better. I was losing weight and all of a sudden I am actually able to run the whole 5km.

The Run Grumpy Finish Happy team started inviting me along to run with them at other times. I went from having no confidence to feeling like I belonged as part of a group. I signed up for the 50km Taupo ultra-marathon last year (and completed it) which would never have been possible without these guys. I went from being a type 2 diabetic on insulin to having no medication and my levels being below even prediabetic. I had also dropped 45kg.

Unfortunately I had a neck injury which caused me to stop running for a long time and caused me to put weight back on. However by sticking around parkrun and the positive attitudes and either just walking or volunteering these guys have helped me start getting to where I want to be now that the neck injury is sorted. The weight is dropping off again and I have signed up for the Tarawera 100km next year. Can I go that far? Who knows, but without a goal I will not have anything to achieve and I will be giving it my best effort possible. Failure isn’t not finishing, failure is not making an effort to start.

None of my journey would be possible if it were not for all the positive comments along the way from the people at parkrun. For the reasons above Porirua Parkrun will always be my home Parkrun however I couldn’t ask for a nice place than Kapiti Coast Parkrun to be my second home.

It doesn't matter if you are passing the fastest or slowest person you never know what words of encouragement might do for a person. Thank the volunteers because without them we wouldn’t be running. Thank all those that do things behind the scenes as there is a lot more than goes into parkrun than what we see as runners.

Positivity Breeds Positivity.

Steve

Steve

 

This week 79 people ran, jogged and walked the course, of whom 0 were first timers and 10 recorded new Personal Bests. Representatives of 7 different clubs took part.

The event was made possible by 13 volunteers:

Sylvia MEAKIN • Steve MACDONALD • Jake ROOS • Arend LANSER • Jeff STARK • John GLYNN-BEGBIE • Lucy LAWLOR • Adam LAWLOR • Hazel OLLERENSHAW • Terry B MORRIS • Sharon HURMAN • Maggie JONES • Martin HILL

Today's full results and a complete event history can be found on the Kapiti Coast parkrun Results Page.

The female record is held by Hannah OLDROYD who recorded a time of 18:19 on 17th February 2018 (event number 157).
The male record is held by Paul MARTELLETTI who recorded a time of 15:30 on 1st January 2020 (event number 257).
The Age Grade course record is held by Michele ALLISON who recorded 92.16% (22:20) on 19th June 2021 (event number 314).

Kapiti Coast parkrun started on 24th January 2015. Since then 2,736 participants have completed 25,064 parkruns covering a total distance of 125,320 km, including 3,751 new Personal Bests. A total of 388 individuals have volunteered 3,154 times.

 

Event 316: 3 July 2021

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Now that I have the feeling back in my fingers, I can type out this run report.

Woke up 6.30am to a frosty 2 degrees but there was little time to sleep in as I’d to drive 30 mins to Otaihanga Domain, Waikanae for another Park Run. I knew it would be a special day. It should have been event #316 but it was cancelled last week due to being at Covid Alert Level 2. And I knew that the cold wouldn’t keep these hardcore runners away. Hello Carl and Gabi! Alan, where were you and Ruby?

It sure was a special day. We had a couple of runners join us all the way from Wellington and also from even further- Edinburgh. Special mentions to those who achieved their milestone t-shirts. Shout out goes to Peter Ellis who celebrated his 80th birthday! What a legend! It was wonderful to see him cross the line with so many of his fellow park runners.

We had over 100 attending this event including runners, dogs (hello Tess the Sheepdog), supporters and volunteers braving the cold and were rewarded with some of the most beautiful scenes of glistening frost, fog hovering over the river and the sun streaming through the canopy of the trees. I thought that I’d be able to get a new PB if I ran faster to warm up but alas, not this time. Maybe I spent too much time admiring the scenery. Next week perhaps, there is always a next week.

Well done to everyone, see you all at the next one.

Sandy

Sandy

Photo credit: Jeff Stark

This week 100 people ran, jogged and walked the course, of whom 5 were first timers and 12 recorded new Personal Bests. Representatives of 7 different clubs took part.

The event was made possible by 12 volunteers:

Linsay MAY • Jeff STARK • John GLYNN-BEGBIE • Lucy LAWLOR • Alan ORANGE • Matt BURDEN • Sharon HURMAN • Dave THORBURN • Sandy CHAN • Graeme CROMPTON • Mike HOSEGOOD • Svenja DONLON

Today's full results and a complete event history can be found on the Kapiti Coast parkrun Results Page.

The female record is held by Hannah OLDROYD who recorded a time of 18:19 on 17th February 2018 (event number 157).
The male record is held by Paul MARTELLETTI who recorded a time of 15:30 on 1st January 2020 (event number 257).
The Age Grade course record is held by Michele ALLISON who recorded 92.16% (22:20) on 19th June 2021 (event number 314).

Kapiti Coast parkrun started on 24th January 2015. Since then 2,736 participants have completed 24,985 parkruns covering a total distance of 124,925 km, including 3,741 new Personal Bests. A total of 388 individuals have volunteered 3,141 times.

 

 

Event 314: 19 June 2021

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Today at Parkrun #314 we had 100 finishers plus #314.

I opted to be lead bike so wasn't present for the briefing and missed most of the finishers as well!

Lovely to see so many appreciative runners still able to talk and run at the half way mark who thanked me for volunteering.... which involved little more than setting the cone up and waiting for the last group. A few even offered to change places with me. Not to worry, Parkrun is always looking for volunteeers. Alas, I had to take the day off running, despite looming within a minute to my goal time, as this week's Parkrun took place between two sessions at a swim meet, and I wanted to conserve energy!  We were fortunate to have not a drop of rain despite the prediction for a rainy weekend. I'm looking forward to next week when I can join you on the course!

Some of our newer runners noticed that we have a little alphabetically ordered file card box on the picnic table. If you don't have a bar code token or wrist band, its great to leave a back up in here (I actually use this system most weeks). This would be especially handy for those who come sporadically, or those for whom organisation at 7:30am could be a challenge. Finish the race, take your printed bar code out of the box and back to the scanners and then replace ready for next week. Simple!

Deborah

Deb2

This week 101 people ran, jogged and walked the course, of whom 17 were first timers and 14 recorded new Personal Bests. Representatives of 7 different clubs took part.

The event was made possible by 13 volunteers:

Sylvia MEAKIN • Michael MEAKIN • Jeff STARK • John GLYNN-BEGBIE • Lucy LAWLOR • Deborah HAMBLY • Michelle HOLMES • Graeme CROMPTON • Anna PATERSON • David DOWNER • Glen CATTERMOLE • Lynne RUSSELL • Esther RICHARDSON

Today's full results and a complete event history can be found on the Kapiti Coast parkrun Results Page.

The female record is held by Hannah OLDROYD who recorded a time of 18:19 on 17th February 2018 (event number 157).
The male record is held by Paul MARTELLETTI who recorded a time of 15:30 on 1st January 2020 (event number 257).
The Age Grade course record is held by Michele ALLISON who recorded 92.16% (22:20) on 19th June 2021 (event number 314).

Kapiti Coast parkrun started on 24th January 2015. Since then 2,731 participants have completed 24,885 parkruns covering a total distance of 124,425 km, including 3,729 new Personal Bests. A total of 386 individuals have volunteered 3,129 times.

 

 

Event 313: 12 June 2021

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It was perfect running conditions cool and calm for my 5th parkrun at my newly adopted home parkrun. Sub 30mins for me today which I am happy with.

As Bruce called the briefing it was a locals only today.

Plenty of smiles as the photos show. Gosh my photo had this amazing shot of the craziest ponytail. Wow check out the amazing photo of the birds. Yes, heads up to the guy running with his shirt off.

Great coffee at the finish. Thanks to the volunteers. Always a great way to start the weekend.

Debbie

Debie

Photo: Jeff Stark

This week 95 people ran, jogged and walked the course, of whom 1 were first timers and 14 recorded new Personal Bests. Representatives of 8 different clubs took part.

The event was made possible by 13 volunteers:

Bruce JENKINS • John GLYNN-BEGBIE • Lucy LAWLOR • Gary CRILLEY • Kate JENKINS • Kent LE QUESNE • Belinda Mary WILSON • Ruth CARTER • Joanna MARTIN • Carl RANKIN • Gabi BERTO • Rebecca ROOS • Debbie BLY

Today's full results and a complete event history can be found on the Kapiti Coast parkrun Results Page.

The female record is held by Hannah OLDROYD who recorded a time of 18:19 on 17th February 2018 (event number 157).
The male record is held by Paul MARTELLETTI who recorded a time of 15:30 on 1st January 2020 (event number 257).
The Age Grade course record is held by Paul MARTELLETTI who recorded 88.06% (15:30) on 1st January 2020 (event number 257).

Kapiti Coast parkrun started on 24th January 2015. Since then 2,714 participants have completed 24,784 parkruns covering a total distance of 123,920 km, including 3,715 new Personal Bests. A total of 383 individuals have volunteered 3,113 times.

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