THIS week 98 runners took part in the Barry Island parkrun, on a slightly damp and breezy Saturday morning.

Amongst them was Richard Wilder (San Domenico RC), who was running his 350th parkrun in total and 36th at Barry Island. Richard has run at 43 other parkrun locations and finished in first place at 15 of them.

He’s also just one short of completing 250 Cardiff parkruns. Race director Julie Broughton led a round of applause for Richard before the start of the run. Richard went on to claim his 14th Barry Island first place in a time of 18:52.

Julie also paid tribute to two of the six run directors who’d recently passed their 50 event volunteering milestones, Ian Jenkins and Lyn Evans, and to the rest of the day’s 23-strong volunteer team.

There were 16 first time Barry Island parkrunners participating this week, including parkrun tourists from Norfolk, Shenley and the Forest of Dean. They all enjoyed the undulating course, especially Heartbreak Hill, and looked forward coming back for another visit in the future.

It was another week of strong running, as 24 runners achieved new personal best times. Jeff Cox (Les Croupiers RC) ran an impressive 19:00, for a new PB and a second place finish. Jeff took 26 seconds off his previous best time.

One of the younger runners, Jack Cafaro, also achieved a PB of 23:25, knocking nearly two minutes off his previous best. Regulars John Dyer, Sam Broughton, Sophie Gott and Nige Rees also made the PB list.

There were two new faces and one very familiar one in the women’s top three places. First time visitor Megan Lewis was first over the line in 22:31 and another first timer, Etain O’Carroll was third in 24:00. In second place in her 31st Barry Island parkrun (including 23 first place finishes) was mum-to-be Sally Wilder (San Domenico) in a time of 22:51.

On the lead-in to Barry Island parkrun’s first anniversary earlier this month, some of the runners talked about their experiences of their first year’s parkrunning. Here’s what Jason Elworthy, from Barry Island had to say: “My name is Jason Elworthy and I have cerebral palsy and Bell’s palsy.

"parkrun at Barry Island has helped me get fitter, with the supportive marshals helping me by shouting encouragement and running with me. I have improved my 5k time by nine minutes in nine parkruns since I started in January this year.

"The great thing about parkrun is it is free and all standards of runners are welcome, no matter what the shape or disability of the parkrunner; the volunteers and fellow runners will support you around the course.

"Barry Island parkrun is a very well run event with friendly volunteers and fellow parkrunners chatting to each other before and after the run. parkrunners and marshals will also meet up for a drink and a bite to eat at Marco's cafe after the parkrun.

"After nine parkruns, I am now ranked second in the UK in the T38 parkrun category. My parkrun PB is 53:01. I recently ran in the IAAF World Half Marathon championship race, after completing seven parkruns. My time of four hours 56 minutes was a Welsh T38 record and an All Classes All Time Men’s record.”

Barry Island parkrun is a free, weekly 5k timed run and is open to anyone of any ability - runners, joggers or walkers alike. It starts at 9am every Saturday morning under the Eastern Shelter of Barry Island promenade, near the beach huts. Find out more on the run website at parkrun.org.uk/barryisland. It’s entirely run by volunteers. Anyone wishing to help out can get in touch by sending an email to barryislandhelpers@parkrun.com.