WITH the festive season rapidly approaching, there are plenty of parties and shopping trips planned for the weekends.

It’s therefore no surprise that the number of runners attending Barry Island parkrun this week was slightly down on recent weeks.

Although this was the lowest attendance since August it’s still more than twice as many runners as the same weekend last year and so the steady increase in popularity continues.

This weekend 74 runners took on the slightly damp windless conditions to take part in the 84th running of the event.

With a total of 7,773 runners completing the 5km course since the event started on May 2, 2015, someone is due to become the 2,000th different runner to take part between now and New Year’s Day.

There were also events taking place over the weekend and this meant that some regular runners were taking things a little easier than usual.

Not the case for Martin Williams of Les Croupiers RC who was first over the line in a time of 18:57, not too far behind was Scott Redfern with a time of 19:07 and third for the men was Phil Cross, making his way around the two lap course in 20:05.

Impressive times from the ladies too. Joanne Donnelly of Necastle (Staffs) Triathlon Club coming home first in a time of 21:03, the eighth time she has finished first, Louise McKee of Eton Tri was second for the ladies in 22:56 and third place went to Caitlin Williams of Seriously Mad Runners crossing the finish line in a time of 23:20.

This weekend saw the last outing for Julie Broughton. One of the core team members that helped get Barry Island parkrun off the ground. She’s stepping down as a run director but promises to remain a regular volunteer.

Barry Island parkrun has a busy period coming up with a fancy dress run on Christmas Eve.

Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve are normal Saturday runs starting at the usual 9am but there will be a bonus New Year’s Day run starting at the later time of 10.30am.

New Year’s Day is the only time of the year that parkruns can vary their start times, this is because runners can log two different runs on that day that count towards their totals.

Barry Island parkrun is starting at the later time of 10.30am to allow runners to take part in Cardiff parkrun (Blackweir) at 9am and still have time to get back to Barry Island for the 10.30am start.

It also means that they are not hanging around too long before the annual plunge in the sea at the New Year’s Day swim at Whitmore Bay which takes place at noon.

Barry Island parkrun is free to take part in and is open to everyone over the age of four and all abilities are welcome.

There is no time limit to complete the 5km course which takes place under the Eastern Shelter on the promenade every Saturday morning at 9am.

All participants should first register with parkrun and print their own personal barcode and bring it along when you take part. You can register at parkrun.org.uk/register

This coming weekend is another full of parties and shopping as well as another local running event taking place on Saturday. This means that there may be a shortage of helpers to marshal the event this weekend and over the Christmas and New Year period.

Barry Island parkrun has to recruit a minimum of 17 volunteers each week to ensure the free event can go ahead safely.

If you would like to get involved or would like to help out at any time, please get in touch at barryislandhelpers@parkrun.com