This week, Run Wales were enlisting extra support to reach out to social running groups in South West Wales as the Run Wales Celebration Relay attended Haverfordwest parkrun. Thanks to Cerianne and Loki for their efforts in spreading the word about social running opportunities and how to increase them.
The Celebration relay provides all Run Wales registered groups with a tremendous opportunity to showcase their group, sharing information about their activities and encouraging more people to participate in social running outside of their regular weekly parkrun. We are encouraging groups to support their local parkrun by offering to volunteer as well as run, jog or walk at the relay events.
13/47: Celebration Relay Run Report – Haverfordwest parkrun
On the outskirts of Haverfordwest, a wonderful thing happens every Saturday morning as people gather from near and far at the Cricket Club to share the rewarding experience that is parkrun.
Whether participating as a volunteer, runner or walker, everyone receives a warm welcome and is encouraged to get the most out of their time together in this lovely location, just as the same thing is happening in 46 other locations across Wales, over 1,100 in the UK and over 1,700 events worldwide!
That is a lot of people running and walking together each week, and thousands of individuals volunteering their time to enable it to happen.
Here in Haverfordwest, on the 189th event, 72 people ran, jogged and walked the one and a half lap course around the edge of the park. There were visitors from other parts of the country, and a warm welcome to the five people who came to parkrun for the very first time this week. We hope to see you again very soon!
The sun managed to peek through the clouds, which always lifts the spirits, and maybe contributed an extra boost to the 7 parkrunners who recorded new Personal Bests this week!
One of the best things about parkrun is that it is so inclusive, and this month’s publicity to encourage more people to join us for a parkwalk contributes to that supportive and friendly atmosphere.
This week’s results show that representatives of 10 different (running, athletics and triathlon) clubs took part in Saturday’s 5km event, but this week also saw Haverfordwest parkrun play host to the national Run Wales Social Running Celebration Relay.
Run Wales is the official social running programme of Welsh Athletics, and supports the establishment and development of social running groups, providing opportunities for people in Wales to enjoy running together safely in addition to their regular parkrun.
With no social running groups currently registered with Run Wales in the area, the team at Run Wales are extremely grateful to local triathlete, Cerianne Palmer, who has been reaching out to identify local groups, and was joined by Ben and the beautiful Loki as they supported the relay at Haverfordwest parkrun this week.
Cerianne has been sharing our poster to discover whether there are already groups around, or if there is an appetite to establish any new groups to provide regular running opportunities outside of a traditional club environment.
If you are a member of a social running group or would like to start one, and would like to know more about registering for free support from Run Wales, head to www.irun.wales for more information.
Thanks to the 12 volunteers who made this week’s event possible:
Laurence WORTH • Jan MILLWARD • Amelie WORTH • Barbara BROWN • Melvyn HORN • Sara HORN • Gareth ELLIOTT • Anderson PHALP • Izzy DAVIES • Helen JENKINS • Kathryn SHEPHERD • Richard ROGERS
Today’s full results and a complete event history can be found on the Haverfordwest parkrun Results Page.
The female record is held by Alaw BEYNON -THOMAS who recorded a time of 18:43 on 7th May 2022 (event number 165).
The male record is held by Jack MILLAR who recorded a time of 15:46 on 2nd July 2022 (event number 173).
The Age Grade course record is held by Dawn Louise GIBBS who recorded 91.75% (22:26) on 18th September 2021 (event number 135).
Haverfordwest parkrun started on 23rd September 2017. Since then 4,516 participants have completed 13,899 parkruns covering a total distance of 69,495 km, including 2,316 new Personal Bests. A total of 287 individuals have volunteered 2,451 times.
Anyone who would like to join the volunteer team on a Saturday morning, can contact them at haverfordwest@parkrun.com
Run Wales are still looking to support local running groups to showcase their activities when the relay moves on to Milford Waterfront parkrun next weekend, so please get in touch if this could be you – irun@runwales.org.uk.