LAST weekend saw a huge turnout of runners as Barry Island parkrun saw in the New Year with two parkruns.

As well as the usual Saturday event there was also a bonus New Year event on Sunday.

New Year’s Day 2016 saw Barry Island parkrun reach a new attendance record of 236 runners but would that be beaten this year?

Saturday, December 31, saw 128 runners descend on Barry Island for New Year’s Eve and the first of the two runs that were taking place over the New Year weekend.

A team of 27 volunteers came together to ensure that the event went without incident and to clap and cheer the runners on through the two lap course.

The first runner over the line was an unknown runner and therefore no time was recorded, in order to have a time you must be registered with parkrun and present your barcode at the finish.

Second to finish was Chris Heron completing the course in a time of 19.26 with Nigel James in third place crossing the line in exactly 20.00 minutes.

The first female finisher was junior runner Jessica Wadey of Cardiff AAC in a time of 20.01 finishing fourth overall. Megan Lewis came home second at 21:03 and Rachel Eales of Hyde Park Harriers rounding off the women’s top three in 22:49.

Saturday’s turnout of 128 runners far exceeded expectations and left the organisers wondering what New Year’s Day would bring.

New Year’s Day saw a record breaking attendance for the first run of the year. A whopping 303 runners took part in the 88th running of Barry Island parkrun, breaking the previous attendance record of 236, set on the corresponding day last year.

The later mid-morning start time of 10.30am meant that, in true parkrun tradition, runners were able to ‘do the double’ with many opting to take part in the earlier event that took place in Cardiff’s Bute Park

Samuel Richards was the first finisher of 2017 recording new personal best time for the course. Samuel, of Pontypridd Roadents AC, crossed the line in 17:35 in his 157th parkrun, two of which have been at Barry Island.

The second placed runner as the previous day did not present a barcode and was recorded as unknown runner.

Rowan Hobbs of Brackla Harriers, was third over the line in 19:15, his course personal best time.

Among the first time visitors to the Barry Island parkrun was Ruth King of Lliswerry Runners. Ruth was the first female finisher crossing the line in 21:43, 31st overall.

Cheryl Evans of Victoria Park Harriers and Tower Hamlets AC, was second female (41st overall) over the line in 22:41.

Catherine Barker of Penarth and Dinas Runners, first female finisher on a previous visit, was third female over the line in 23:18, 50th overall.

Amongst the record breaking event, 130 runners were first timers, 14 of which were taking part in there very first parkrun. The event saw 32 runners recording new personal best times with 41 running club being represented on the day.

Taking part in her first ever parkrun, spin instructor Emma Parker said: “It was a great run – I’ll be there next time”.

Reaching parkrun milestones of completing 50 runs, and joining the '50 club’ were Beverley Warburton of Penarth and Dinas Runners, Vicki Jones of Islwyn RC and Alan March.

Among the regular influx of New Year’s Day parkrun ‘tourists’ were runners from the 23 in 23 group.

Led by Steve and Celia Marsh they have set out on a challenge to complete all 23 Welsh parkruns in consecutive weekends.

Further information on their challenge can be found on their Facebook page 23 in 23.

Barry Island parkrun is all inclusive to runners and walkers of all abilities and this weekend welcomed a visually impaired runner Stuart Ball, with his guide Karen Chadwell, they completed the course in a time of 31:54.

With the annual New Year’s Day swim taking place shortly after the run there were key areas of the course that needed additional safety measures. To ensure the safety of the runners, and with larger than usual number of general public expected, no less than 34 volunteers braved the rain and the cold.

Joining the volunteer team this week was Barry Island parkrun founder and previous event director Andrew Frayling.

Upon witnessing the record attendance Andrew commented on how well the course coped with the huge increase in numbers and expressed how pleased he was to see how the event has grown since it began back in May 2015.

Since the inaugural run on May 2, 2015, 2,148 different runners, including participants from 199 athletics clubs, have completed 8,421 runs covering a total distance of 42,105km, and there have been 1,747 new personal best times recorded.

Held on Saturday mornings, parkrun is a series of 5k runs held in areas of open space around the UK and the world.

They are open to all and are safe and easy to take part in. It is entirely organised and run by volunteers and is completely free to take part in but registration is required before your first run.

Register at parkrun.org.uk/register.

Each event needs a minimum number of volunteers each week in order to go ahead safely.

Safety is paramount at each event and the volunteers ensure the course is well marshalled. If you would like to join the volunteer team contact barryislandhelpers@parkrun.com for further information.