THIS week’s Barry Island parkrun saw a club take-over and a paced run bundled together into a busy and successful Saturday, January 30, morning at the Island.

After missing out to the icy weather two weeks earlier, Nike+ Run Club from Cardiff turned up again in numbers to take over most of the morning’s volunteer roles. Despite one of the aims of a club take-over being a break for the regular volunteers, most of them instead opted to get kitted up in their running gear and be pace runners for the day.

It looks like they enjoyed the experience in their new Fitbit-sponsored pacer bibs.

The Nike+ Run Club team did a great job encouraging the runners, many of whom were chasing down the pacers in pursuit of a new personal best time. They clapped, cheered, took photos, timed the run, managed the finish area and sorted the finish tokens in the café afterwards. They even provided music out on Nells Point to help the runners tackle their least favourite part of the course, Heartbreak Hill.

Nike+ Run Club is based out of the Nike shop in St David’s 2 Centre in Cardiff and is a free, unaffiliated club that runs together three times per week. They offer a combination of easy runs, sprint/strength sessions and long runs, plus of course, participation in local parkruns and races.

They aim to cater for all levels of runners, and despite doing their best in training sessions, often the cup of tea and big slice of cake afterwards is equally important to them. Check out their Facebook group for more information.

The pacer team set out to provide target runners for people chasing a specific time. The first pacer set out to finish in 19 minutes, the last 39 minutes, with others finishing at two minute intervals in between. Not only did this prove to be popular, it was also very successful, with over a third of the field, 37 of the 108 runners, achieving a new personal best time.

The PB’s were well spread out amongst the pacers, including Ed Morris’s 20:08, Sophie Gott with 26:30 and siblings Taylor and Morgan Hughes with 28:20 and 38:10 respectively. Julie Broughton was the pacer who finished closest to their target time - just three seconds out from her goal of 31 minutes. As usual, she smiled all the way round the course.

Paced runs and club take-overs will become a regular feature in the coming months. If your running club or group is interested in a take-over, then please get in touch by emailing barryislandoffice@parkrun.com

Not everyone this week was chasing a personal best time, 14 runners had come along for their first parkrun experience – amongst them their youngest starter Neil Frost at just two-and-a-half years old. He completed half the course with his dad, Richard and tail runner Ian Warburton - though he opted for some assistance along the way.

Over the course of January’s five parkruns, 556 runners clocked up 2,780 km (roughly the distance from Barry Island to Moscow). Of these, 155 were first time Barry Island parkrunners with 93 personal best times being set (ranging from 17 to 38 minutes).

After eight months of the first annual points competition, Sally Wilder heads the ladies’ table on 2,593 points with the Williams family trio of Lisa, Caitlin and Bethan not far behind. Mike James is top of the men’s table on 2,998 points, closely followed by Richard Wilder and Michael Elliston. Points are awarded for running, based on finish position, and for volunteering each week.

Barry Island parkrun is a free, timed weekly 5km run and is open to anyone of any ability - runners, joggers or walkers alike. There’s no time limit to complete the course. It starts at 9am every Saturday morning under the Eastern Shelter of Barry Island promenade, near the beach huts.

Find out more on their website parkrun.org.uk/barryisland.

If you're new to parkrun or are thinking about joining in on a Saturday morning, make sure you've registered first. You can do so by visiting parkrun.org.uk/registration. You'll be sent a personal barcode which you can print and bring along. There’s a new runners’ briefing at 8.50am to talk you through the whole parkrun experience.

parkrun is free to join and take part in and is run entirely by volunteers. If you'd like to volunteer at any time, please get in touch with us by sending an email to barryislandhelpers@parkrun.com or visit their Facebook page - Barry Island parkrun - for more information.