Another great turnout, with a 114 of you out there, giving it your all. Congratulations to Poppy with yet another PB this week and due to her age, will only get faster. Would be great to see a local female hold the Parkrun record for Kapiti again.

As the longer, warmer days arrive, we tend to get a bit more adventurous with our runs and hikes, venturing further a field. Would like to give all our folk a timely reminder to stay safe and preferably to partner up with someone else. If the destination is remote, always let someone back home know your intentions. Go prepared for a change in the weather, our climate (particularly in the hills), can change very quickly. Take water, snacks and first aid. Most of all, enjoy.

Parkrun is a great, safe way to start out running and a great way to meet others to partner up with for something more adventurous. Perhaps training for your first 10k or something even bigger. No matter what it is, have fun.

A big thanks to all our volunteers this week. Have a great week everyone and don't forget to put your name down on the volunteer list, from time to time.

Welcome back, again,

I am a failed long distance runner from the 1980s. Pasta loading was all the rage. Our “go to” Friday night dinner prior to a Kapiti park run is a chicken and mushroom risotto, in keeping with the Italian theme.

Now, I have a secret girl friend, Giada de Laurentiis, celebrity Californian chef and TV presenter. (don’t tell Jocelyn). Giada sent me a spicy rigatoni recipe for last night’s dinner. It got the tick from the Greens. No meat! Did it help? Well, the jury is out - 55 seconds outside my PB.

Six people did complete PBs this morning. I wonder what their recipes were? Bolognese, fish and chips, or pizza? Probably just hard work in reality. Well done to each of you.

We are down to 120 second pre-run briefings so no time for the usual welcomes and acknowledgements of achievements.

I read in the results that we had 8 first timers at Kapiti. A post run welcome to you all. I hope you enjoyed your Kapiti experience and that we see you again in the coming weeks.

Just one milestone I think. Lorraine Bovey completed her 50th park run. Well done Lorraine. You can set your sights on another goal now. Sorry, if I missed any one, but if I did, well done also.

Let hope the virus remains contained and the track doesn’t disappear into the river so that we can continue with this wonderful Saturday morning event.

See you next time,
Graeme Fountain

Photo: Jeff Stark

This week 84 people ran, jogged and walked the course, of whom 8 were first timers and 6 recorded new Personal Bests. Representatives of 5 different clubs took part.

The event was made possible by 11 volunteers:

Sandi COOPER • Jeff STARK • John GLYNN-BEGBIE • Lucy LAWLOR • Gary CRILLEY • Matthew WATERHOUSE • Graeme FOUNTAIN • Martin HILL • Nicholas WALBRIDGE • Michelle HOLMES • Bruce WILSON

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 2,407 participants have completed 21,056 parkruns covering a total distance of 105,280 km, including 3,348 new Personal Bests. A total of 318 individuals have volunteered 2,690 times.

Well, aren’t we lucky, three weeks down while the rest of the world looks on from chaotic situations with envy. We might get some international park run tourism out of this eventually.

So, are you back into the Saturday morning routine? For us, that is timing the consumption of a cup of tea, an orange and a banana to get to the start line eager to go at 8 o’clock. A few less goose bumps on the start line this morning. Our Kapiti routine concludes with a cheese scone from a popular beach bakery with a coffee at home. That puts a smile on my face.

Park run is clearly a happy place for many people. I motor along at a sedate 8 kilometres per hour and that gives me the opportunity to observe the faces of the returning runners. So many of you manage to get a smile out through the pain.

We were tourists ourselves last week, going to the second ever Whanganui park run. Many smiling faces there, with a number of familiar faces from the Wellington region park runs. If you are looking for a PB, it is basically out and back, flat and fast. You could indulge yourself at a famous kitchen in Sanson on the way there or/and back.

At Kapiti we are incredibly lucky to have volunteers who churn the results out in a very quick time. My coffee was not empty this morning when the email results arrived. Well done Jude and John!

I think I counted 16 PBs this morning. Perfect conditions, although a little cool. I note that John Glynn-Begbie is improving just like fine wine, proving that age is no barrier to a PB!

Finally, thank you as always to all our volunteers, but particularly Matthew, broken arm and all. If you have got a niggle and can’t run, get out of bed and come and volunteer. it is a great way to start the weekend, and you feel good about yourself.

I think we are at Bothamley next week, so see you in August.

Graeme Fountain

(Photo credit: Jeff Stark)

This week 95 people ran, jogged and walked the course, of whom 7 were first timers and 16 recorded new Personal Bests. Representatives of 4 different clubs took part.

The event was made possible by 13 volunteers:

Declan MURPHY • Jude WADSWORTH • Jeff STARK • John GLYNN-BEGBIE • Adam LAWLOR • Matthew WATERHOUSE • Dave THORBURN • Lizi EADE • Graeme FOUNTAIN • Don KEATS • Judy KEATS • Bruce WILSON • Carolyn MURPHY

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 2,388 participants have completed 20,700 parkruns covering a total distance of 103,500 km, including 3,314 new Personal Bests. A total of 313 individuals have volunteered 2,643 times.