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A report from the inaugural Woolpit parkrun

The volunteer team was small but very efficient and friendly, setting up the course, conducting the new runners’ briefing, and even finding time to help with the all-important selfie. Some of the equipment for the course seemed non-standard: apparently the official kit hadn’t arrived so some Kennel Club Rally equipment had been repurposed.

Ready by the start line, with parkrun tourist buffs

Fortunately for an inaugural with an inexperienced team, the turnout was manageably small. The course instructions given were a little vague, but one of the runners who is on the core team confidently declared that he’d run the course 57 times already during 10 years of planning for this event, so just to follow him.

The finish funnel – small, but adequate for the numbers taking part

There was a noticeable shortage of marshals out on the course, but route-finding wasn’t difficult and there was plenty of cheering and encouragement from the other runner.

Lucy climbs the only significant hill on the route, location of Stephen’s local hill repeats sessions
Stephen runs past the church

The timekeeper seemed distracted at the end and I reckon our official times when they arrive will be about nine seconds slower than we logged, but it’s all good fun – we’re grateful to the volunteers for being there.

Finish tokens 0001 and 0002

So, first and second – that hasn’t happened before, but I’ve always fancied a small parkrun to get a high finish position. Thanks to the team for putting on such a great event.

Lucy does post-event tear-down, with our results in the parkrun Virtual Volunteer app ready for uploading to parkrun HQ
The slightly dodgy timing results in the parkrun Virtual Volunteer app – the timekeeper had the phone in his running belt.

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