14/10/2026
🌳 Abbot’s Wood parkrun #23 – Cookie Takes the Helm, Kevin Finds His Way and Nobody Gets Sacked! 🌳
Well, what a lovely Saturday morning in Abbot’s Wood! After the excitement of recent weeks, event #23 was a refreshingly uneventful affair. No major incidents, no unexpected dramas and, remarkably, nobody was sacked in the finish area. (At least, that was correct at the time of going to press).
This week's Run Director was the ever-dependable Cookie (Peter Cook), who steered the ship with his usual combination of suitable guile, quiet authority and the occasional look of someone wondering how he'd ended up in charge of this lot. Nevertheless, everything ran remarkably smoothly, proving once again that a well-organised event is entirely possible when the right people are in charge.
In a particularly inspired piece of volunteer management, our Event Director was dispatched to a marshal point somewhere in the woods. Officially, this was to ensure the safety and encouragement of our participants. Unofficially, it was widely regarded as an excellent opportunity to keep him well away from the finish area, where actual work was taking place. The strategy appears to have been an overwhelming success.
Meanwhile, Kevin Burton was entrusted with the important responsibility of marshalling the turnaround point. This appointment was made primarily due to a severe shortage of suitably experienced and qualified turnaround volunteers. Despite concerns about his navigational abilities, Kevin successfully located his position without getting lost. An achievement worthy of recognition in itself, although we're not yet ready to promote him to more complicated junctions.
We were also delighted to welcome Helena Szymanska to the volunteer team! Helena is undertaking her Duke of Edinburgh's Award and has chosen Abbot's Wood parkrun for her volunteering. A huge welcome, Helena! We're thrilled to have you joining our slightly unconventional Saturday morning family. Please don't let the behaviour of the regular volunteers put you off. We promise some of us are relatively normal! 💜
🏃♂️ Now, onto the actual running!
This week, 106 people ran, jogged and walked our beautiful woodland course, including 44 first timers to Abbot's Wood, with 7 people completing their very first parkrun anywhere. A fantastic 24 personal bests were recorded!
🥇 First male finisher: Gary Manley – 18:20
🥇 First female finisher: Jenny Thorne – 21:17
A special mention to Sarah Morris, who achieved an incredible age grading of 94.13%, and young Charlie Fawls, who recorded 81.15% alongside a new PB of 19:27. Absolutely brilliant performances!
🎉 Milestone celebrations!
👏 Finola Westcott – 25 parkruns
👏 Charlie Fawls and Jonathan Bate – 50 parkruns
👏 Daisy Carpenter – an incredible 200 parkruns!
Congratulations to you all!
💜 The Saturday Morning Dream Team
A massive thank you to our 24 wonderful volunteers, without whom none of this would be possible. Whether you were marshalling, timing, scanning, handing out tokens, tail walking or simply trying to prevent the Event Director from interfering, your efforts were hugely appreciated.
Particular congratulations to John Gilkes and Helena Szymanska, who both earned their very first volunteer credits!
And finally, the finish area deserves special recognition. The tokens behaved themselves, the timekeepers appeared to press the correct buttons, and nobody was relieved of their duties. Frankly, we're not entirely sure what to do with this level of competence. Investigations are ongoing.
🌳 And that's a wrap!
All in all, a thoroughly lovely weekend in the woods. A brilliant bunch of participants, a fantastic volunteer team, a Run Director who knew what he was doing, a marshal who found his way to the turnaround point and an Event Director safely deployed at a considerable distance from anything important.
No major incidents, no sackings and no chaos.
We appreciate this may come as something of a disappointment to our regular readers, but rest assured, there's always next Saturday!
Thank you to everyone who joined us. We look forward to seeing you all again on Saturday for another adventure in Abbot's Wood.
Same time, same place, and hopefully the same number of finish tokens! 🌳💚
