First-time visitors made up almost a quarter of the 99-strong entry for the weekly Snowden Field parkrun in Crowland.
Among them were tourists from London, Norwich, Nottingham, Gloucestershire and even Auckland, New Zealand.
There were an impressive 21 personal bests this week, including Snowden Field regular Kim Bush, who celebrated her birthday in style by going under 34 minutes for the first time, with a time of 33mins 36secs.
Junior 11-14 boy Solomon Stuart completed his 150th parkrun at his 17th venue, while volunteer Linda Wright chalked up her 50th.
There was a familiar face entering the finish funnel first, with Peterborough & Nene Valley AC’s Ryan Anderson picking up his 86th first place at the venue, in 18:47.
Junior 11-14 female runner Iris Thomas was the first female to finish, in 22:16.
Janet Strickland was the sole Halmer Harrier runner, 66th in 34:37.
Thanks were expressed to the 21 ‘hi-vis heroes’ who made the event possible.
More volunteers are needed for this Saturday’s run – email [email protected] for details.
Organisers are also looking at putting on a Christmas Day and New Year’s Day parkrun but need enough volunteers to make it happen.
The two Friday events would be on top of the usual Saturday parkruns, so lots of volunteers are needed.
While Janet Strickland was the sole member of Spalding-based Halmer Harriers at Crowland, her club colleagues were taking to the 5K courses across the country.
At Wollaton Hall near Nottingham, fancy dress was the order of the day with Kathryn Chapman, 426th 35:33; Lisa Gill, 454th 37:10; Becky Webster, 455th 37:10; and Jayne Peel, 498th 40:37, all making an impression among the 550 finishers.
At King’s Lynn, Richard Williams was 45th of 401 in 21:54, while Emily Brown came home 219th of 383 at Market Harborough in 29:58.
Adam Caress’ time of 22:54 earned him 102nd place of 572 at Southwark, with Karen and Martin Wallis finishing within a second of each other in 133rd and 134th places at Letchworth in 36:25 and 36:26 respectively.
