IT WAS a late switch to the alternative course for International parkrun Day, when heavy rain was expected to play a significant part at Barry Island parkrun number 74. However, the forecast didn’t quite get it right and the 76 runners and 29 volunteers enjoyed near perfect conditions.

International parkrun Day is the occasion when every parkrun event in the world celebrates parkrun’s birthday - the day when the first ever event was held in London's Bushy Park in 2004. It comprised just 13 runners supported by four volunteers. One of these was the founder of parkrun as it became known, Paul Sinton-Hewitt.

The weekend marked parkrun’s 12th anniversary and this milestone was used to raise the profile of parkrun amongst members of Parliament. MPs across the UK were invited to attend a Parliamentary reception in Westminster to explain more about how parkrun supports local communities. They were also invited to attend parkruns in their constituencies on International parkrun Day.

Vale of Glamorgan MP and secretary of state for Wales, Alun Cairns, a keen runner himself, gratefully accepted the invitation, and welcomed the runners to International parkrun Day. Alun had done his homework and noted that since the very first parkrun 1,803,793 people had completed a parkrun thanks to 214,866 volunteers. The runners had run more than 90 million km (56 million miles) in 14 countries.

In true parkrun tradition, Alun led a round of applause for the volunteer team then joined the runners on the start line and marked his visit to the Island with an impressive top 10 finish, presenting his barcode and posting a time of 24:15.

First to cross the line this week was Barry Island parkrun core team member and regular volunteer Ben Butler-Madden. The Penarth and Dinas Runner said he would be "taking it easy" as he is in final preparations for the Chicago marathon next weekend. Approaching Ben’s Bend, a feature of the alternative course, he had a healthy lead and crossed the line shortly afterwards in a time of 19:39.

A close second place was taken by Jeff Cox, from Les Croupiers RC (19:59), with Island first timer Wayne Stephens finishing third in 20:26.

Current female points table topper Caitlin Williams led home the ever strong presence of Seriously Mad Runners (Barry). Caitlin, who runs in the JW11-14 category, was first female across the line and a superb tenth overall in a time of 25:01 with dad Richard (also of SMR) close behind clocking 25:03. Second female finisher, Harriet Kehl (also JW11-14) clocked 25:31 with Island first timer Emily Hopkinson third female home in 26:22.

There was a parkrun milestone homecoming for one of the runners this week. Paul Thomas, originally from Barry but now residing in Leighton Buzzard returned to his home town to mark his 100th parkrun with his first run at Barry Island.

Among the 22 first timers to the Island were Derek Stainsby of East End Road Runners (22:09), Christopher Evans of Pencoed Tri Club (24:43), Jessica Woolcott (28:03) and Sandra Heryet (30:55) of Hook Norton Harriers. Jane Williams (37:19) and Simon Williams (27:39) were also making their first appearances in SMR (Barry) colours.

With the Cardiff Half Marathon taking place on Sunday, there was no shortage of volunteers this week. Every parkrun requires a minimum number of volunteers for each event to go ahead safely and the minimum number for Barry Island was easily reached by mid-week.

The organising team is always on the lookout for volunteers and a few runners decided to save their running legs, offering to volunteer instead of run. This presented an opportunity for some to try out different roles.

SMR runner Paul Buckle kept a cool head in his first stint as main timekeeper, qualifying for the role following two previous events with the backup stopwatch. First time volunteer Beth Apglyn, a new Penarth and Dinas Runner, was keen to see how parkrun operates and opted for a finish area role. Another Barry Island regular runner, Stuart Keeping also opted to join the team for his first outing as a volunteer.

Anyone who’d like to get involved with parkrun, either as a runner or a volunteer, will simply need to register with parkrun. Registration is completely free - just visit parkrun.org.uk and click on the register tab.

Barry Island parkrun takes place every Saturday at 9am on the promenade. Contact the team by email at barryislandoffice@parkrun.com for further information.

Since it started on May 2, 2015, 1,829 different runners, including participants from 173 athletics clubs, have completed 6,748 runs covering a total distance of 33,740 km, and there have been 1,423 new personal bests.