THERE have been some strange sights at Barry Island over the years but a panda on the promenade must be one of the strangest?

Barry Island parkrun had some varied visitors for their 70th running this week. Amongst visitors from other parkruns as well as the regular runners was a panda from Penarth and Dinas Runners.

The nature of the course means that running with animals is not normally allowed but for this time an exception was made for the panda.

With the rain holding off for the duration of the 5km run along the headland and seafront of Whitmore Bay, 139 people - the third highest attendance - completed their regular Saturday morning run. Only the first event and New Year’s Day attracted more runners, 197 and 236 respectively.

There were 29 people taking part in their first ever Barry Island parkrun this week, taking the total to 1,749 different runners that have completed the run.

When you register with parkrun at parkrun.com/register you are given a barcode to print, this means you can turn up at any of the 970 events worldwide that take place every Saturday morning.

Every event follows the same guidelines so it’s the same if you run at Barry Island or Mudgeeraba in Australia. Same rules for the 134,861 people around the world that completed a parkrun this weekend.

Although not so far away, this is what a group from Pomphrey Hill parkrun did this week. Making the early morning trek across from Bristol the group from Emerson’s Green Running Club took on the challenge of Heartbreak Hill. With a highest place of 23rd, Steve Burge finished the 5km in a time of 22:46.

Of the first to cross the line this week was Andrew How of Hendre Lake Running Club in a time of 18:27. Exactly 30 seconds later, John Morris crossed the line to record a new personal best of 18:57 with Lawrence Gooch taking 19:05 minutes to complete his first ever Barry Island parkrun.

For the ladies it was Joanne Donnely that was first past the post in a time of 20:28, Ruth Johnstone of Emerson's Green Running Club was the second lady to finish with a time of 24:52, closely followed by Bethan Frost stopping the clock at 24:58.

This coming week there will be another club takeover as Pegasus Running Club from Cardiff take over the volunteer roles. Barry Island parkrun organise club takeovers from time to time as a way of promoting running and giving local running clubs the chance to introduce themselves to the runners and promote their club.

This has a positive benefit to the clubs and ultimately gets more people out running and therefore leading a healthier, more active lifestyle. A good example of this is regular volunteer and core team member Kirstine Hughes who has been with the team from the beginning and had no interest in actually running the event. This time last year she completed her first ever parkrun and one year later completed her first but hopefully not last half marathon when she competed in the Severn Bridge Half Marathon over the Bank Holiday Weekend.

Barry Island parkrun is organised and run entirely by volunteers and takes place every Saturday morning at 9am under the Eastern Shelter on the promenade at Barry Island. If you’d like to get involved in volunteering, you need to first register with parkrun at parkrun.com/register and the get in touch at barryislandoffice@parkrun.com

Each week a minimum of 18 volunteers are needed to ensure the event can go ahead safely. With roles ranging from cheering and clapping to timing and barcode scanning there’s plenty for everyone to try, with full training of all the positions given on the day.