THE latest parkrun, event number 152, saw participants come from across the Vale and beyond once again to run, jog or walk the two-lap course.

19 runners recorded new personal best times, with representatives of 13 different clubs taking part.

Kicking off proceedings was Katie Wright, greeting the first time visitors and introducing newcomers to parkun proceedings. Katie, delivering the briefing herself for the first time, was joined by 22 first time visitors.

With the Island once again showing signs of the affectionately known pseudonym of ‘Barrybados’, the safety briefing was soon over and the 141 parkrunners were heading down the promenade towards the 180° turn at ‘Seafood Swerve’ before making their way up through the gardens and out towards Nells Point.

There were some great runs from the youngsters with Oliver Larkins recording a time of 30:16 and Sophie Lee posting 31:47 in their very first parkruns.

Edward Pritchard clocked 31:48 in his 40th run with parkrun ‘veteran’ Caitlin Williams of Seriously Mad Runners (Barry) first of the ladies home in 23:12 in her 127th run. Reuben Hopkin of Vale SLSC also put in a superb run, recording a personal best time of 19:40, a time that saw the young runner 1st across the finish line.

Also getting in amongst the PBs were some of the grown-ups with Ruth Morgan (25:00), Robert Webb (24:21), Renee Gwatkin (34:51) and Chris Johns (20:56).

This week saw 10 runners taking part in their first ever parkrun, including Mathew Fowler (31:56), Scott Ingram (33:33), Aimee Pearcey (40:31), Hugh Simkiss (28:35), Paul Ford (33:01), Blathnaid Walsh-Heron (29:36), Sian Thompson (33:09), Louise McCann (33:27) and Nabeel Rahman (31.56).

Among the first timers was Sugandha Singh. Taking part in only her 4th event having volunteered on 34 separate occasions, shared between Barry and Cardiff juniors, Sugandha swapped the v25 t-shirt for running shoes and completed the 3.1 miles in a time of 40:39.

Simon Crew, visiting from Cwmbran and a member of the Cwmbran parkrun core team crossed the line in 27:36.

Among the volunteers this week was Martyn Parsons of Seriously Mad Runners. Martyn, who is currently in training for the SWYD Triathlon which will soon be taking place at Barry Island, said: “I had a great time out on the point this morning”.

Martyn very generously opted to take some time out from his training schedule to join the volunteer team, his 20th time in the hi-viz vest.

Another parkrunner to adopt a new role for the first time was Tracey Elliston of SMR. Tracey, volunteering for the 22nd time, took on the role of event timekeeper alongside husband Michael, who co-timed the run for his 24th official volunteering stint, with both doing a fantastic job and making easy work for the results processing.

Saturdays full results and a complete event history can be found online at www.parkrun.org.uk/barryisland/results/latestresults

Barry Island parkrun started on 2nd May 2015. Since then 3,556 participants have completed 17,615 parkruns covering a total distance of 88,075 km, including 3,383 new Personal Bests.

parkrun is a free weekly, timed 5k run that takes place every Saturday at 9am, starting at the Eastern Shelter of Barry Island promenade.

Each event requires a minimum number of volunteers to ensure it can go ahead safely.

To get involved in parkrun you need to first register online at www.parkrun.org.uk/register.

• Barry Junior parkrun

A bright Sunday morning brought a change to warmer weather to Junior Parkrun in Barry.

A total of 55 runners turned out for the event, celebration milestone wristbands for half marathons this week were awarded to Morgan Anstey, Harrison Mavelly and Poppy Osborne.

Without further-ado the runners were heartily warmed up with the even higher knee lifting abilities of Colin Caesar and they were ready to line up on the start line very eager to go, last minute toes over the line checked by funnel manager Claire Thorne and the runners were off clapped and very enthusiastically cheered on by our volunteer marshals across the course.

The juniors achieved a total of 13 Pb's and we welcomed 6 first timers to the park.

We welcomed back our RD's from their marathons last week Catherine Barker and Ian Thorne.

The junior event was made possible by our team of 25 volunteers.

Catherine Barker • Charles Cummings • Claire Louise Thorne • Colin Caesar • David Brown • Denise Aplin • Esme Lees • Harriet Kehl • Ian Thorne • Joanna Dee • Jon Osborne • Karen Taylor • Kathryn Harries • Mathias Maurer • Mike James • Natalie Hayes • Nick Jones • Paul Kehl • Rebecca Helmore • Rhian Osborne • Rhys Davies • Sarah Jones • Sarah Lees • Sarah Thomas • Steven Barker • Susannah Kingdon

If you would like to get involved in Barry junior parkrun or want more information you can get in touch via email at barry-juniorsoffice@parkrun.com