#345 Event Report

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EVENT REPORT
This weeks event report is written by regular parkrunner Imran.
Imran starts out with a very important plea, and then the reports takes on a decidedly futuristic theme, you will want to read to the end:
Plea! Before we start todays event report! We had a wonderful turnout of volunteers today as we usually do on the weekend of a big race (OSIM Sundown - good luck everybody) - however next weekend and for June the volunteer roster is looking empty and we need the help of our amazing community to host these events!!

 

Now on to the main report - I forgot to do a Star Wars style parkrun event report on 4th May - so I am doing a belated one today!

 

A long time ago in a park not too far way…


The East Coast Park parkrun was in session with event 345! 

Today Emporer Renee VAN DE BULT was in charge of proceedings at todays podrace (aka parkrun). She was ably assisted by her legion of stormtroopers:

Shireen BAILEY, Simon BAILEY, Damaris CARLISLE, Les CHAPPLE, Karianne DI SALVO, Alexandra HARVARD-WALLS, Nicholas HILLIER, Kaita IGARASHI, Stuart MCINTOSH, Punam OWENS, Martin TAY, Diana TOAPANTA, Renee VAN DE BULT, Riko WATANABE, Imran ZAFFAR

88 Runners of all abilities gathered to participate in the free, weekly, timed 5k event.

The course was flat and fast, and was perfect for parkrunners and walkers of all levels. The event was timed, so runners could see their official time for the run with a barcode scanning system, so runners could collect points towards their parkrun milestone scores.

The East Coast Park parkrun is a great way to get fit, meet new people, and enjoy the outdoors. On this particular day - it felt like we were running in the desserts of Tatooine - it felt HOT!

The parkrunners lined up at the start line, eager to get started. The starter gave the signal, and the runners were off. They quickly spread out across the course, each runner running at their own pace. Imran as usual started out like a Pod speedster and ended up limping home like a Bantha!

The park was especially beautiful today with a stunning sunrise! And some of the trees looked like they were from the Jungles of Naboo.

Todays podrace winner was parkrun debutant Ezra Ganske running his first ever parkrun with a hyperdrive time of 19:25 that puts the Millenium Falcon to shame!

Joining him on the Kessel Run podium were Viraaj Mehta and Stephen Ramwell who came 2nd and 3rd.

We had 13 parkrunners who completed their first ever parkrun today! 5 of whom came in the Top 30! The Empire is still deciding whether to punish these individuals with double the entry fee for next weeks run for being far too fast for us mere mortals!

A huge galactic commendation must go to Zoe B (in the 11-14 age group) who was running her 2nd ever parkrun and finished as the fastest female finisher with a time of 24:12!!


A special mention to young Alex Ko who joined us for parkrun today after hearing about it on veteran parkrace speedster Pris Chews running blog (prischew.com).

The runners ran and ran, until they reached the finish line. They crossed the line, cheered by the volunteers who were there to greet them. They collected their finish tokens and their barcodes, and they headed off to the Starbucks to enjoy a well-deserved drink and a chat with their fellow runners.

It had been a great day at the East Coast Park parkrun. The runners had enjoyed the run, the company, and the weather. They had all made new friends, and they had all gotten a little bit fitter.

And as the runners headed home, they all knew that they would be back next week for another parkrun.

May the force be with you…

Report and Photography: Imran Zaffar
Thank you your highness, Imran. Truly wonderful the event report is.
And that is indeed a wrap and we look forward to seeing you all again same time, same place next week!
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#337 Event Report part II

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parkrun #337 @ East Coast Park

 What a beautiful start to the morning, which as usual resulted in a hot parkrun.

As per usual the worst part of parkrun is getting up at such an ungodly hour!

The glorious sunshine was out early and was a great wake up for those of us out last night!

We had an amazing 129 parkrunners and walkers, just 21 off our record!

Today was not a day for PBs, unlike last week where we had a break in the rain perfectly timed for parkrun and leading to many PBs. So it’s even more impressive that 18 parkrunners got their PB today.

We welcomed some lovely tourists from South Africa, Australia, the U.K. and Thailand to our wonderful parkrun, including Judy who was running her 444th parkrun with us today and Annie from Sheffield who ran her 409th parkrun.

Annie showed extra commitment to join us this morning having spent the whole evening playing Rummikub until 06am this morning and then running to join us from car park E.

A huge congratulations and welcome to the parkrun newcomers - who I hope will become as addicted to parkrun as the rest of us:

Jesse WOLTER-SMITH (19:24)

Reuben Ming Gui ONG (20:08)

Andre DIBIAGIO (21:23)

Damian QUEK (21:50)

Andreas DANNERT (22:17)

Khor YI SHENG (22:29)

Ang TZE SEE (22:36)

Callum OBRIEN (24:08)

Johan Van Stiphout BLOM (24:40)

Kevan NG (27:01)

Susanne DIBIAGIO (27:22)

Alan CHEUNG (30:35)

Pepijn KETS (30:44)

Lucas KEE (35:01)

Eva CHONG (36:01)

Pitchaya PERGCHOEI (42:50)

Finally a huge thank you to the parkrun volunteers without whom we couldn’t host the event.

Imran Zaffar

 

#328 Event Report – A Spontaneous Singapore

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A huge thank you to Josephine Johnson for this weeks event report. We think you will agree, it's a heartwarming read:

#328 10/12/22 – A Spontaneous Singapore

On Tuesday lunchtime I was all set to meet friends at Colchester Castle parkrun (England). Then I got the text from my partner, saying he had to fly out to Singapore for work on Thursday and would I like to join him. I automatically knew there would be a parkrun involved (that’s why he’s a keeper lol) a few phone calls to reschedule this & that later and my flights booked BOOM… I’m on my way!

I’m chasing my international parkrun compass challenge so East Coast Park was at the top of the to do list. I am totally smitten! It’s a beautiful park, with lush green trees, bird calls I didn’t recognise, loads of space for cyclists, rollerbladers and the non-parkrunners. I adored running past the Tai Chi class, the fishermen busy on the beach and families just enjoying the early morning.

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Today captured everything about the parkrun ethos I love. Thanks to Punam the RD encouraging me to write this report. I am very glad she did, as her team of orange bib hero’s, Alan Simpson, Damaris Carlisle, Hua Peng Wang, Imran Zaffar, Karianne Di Salvo, Katja Baxter, Michael Ballard, Priscilla Chew, Shireen Bailey and Stuart Mcintosh totally smashed the day! They were very friendly, approachable and very encouraging as I shuffled by through jetlag & the humidity. I really wanted to share what a super community it is and how easy it is to run & volunteer. If you are reading this and haven’t volunteered at East Coast Park yet, please do! The core volunteer numbers would love a local or visiting speedier participant to complete their 5K and then help with barcode scanning or a slower shuffler like me to write the report.

parkrun is all about the people and I love how strangers just “chat” as we all have that same connection. It was fab to meet Mick from Sydney who is an outreach Ambassador, Mollie who did her first EVER parkun, well done you! You soooo have to aim for a t-shirt now no excuse lol. Rebecca from Cardiff who is in town for a conference and Steve from London who is visiting his son. We all joined the core team of regulars & fellow tourists for the obligatory coffee at Starbucks. With its amazing aircon and fast friendly service and loads of space in & out, we continued our chats until jet lag called for a nap.

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Well done to all to all the 74 runners, jeffers & walkers. Thank you East Coast Park parkrun I will return on my next Singapore visit!

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#loveparkrun

Event Report: Josephine Johnson

 

#325 Event Report

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As the crowds gathered on Saturday morning, so did the clouds!  But what threatened to be another very wet and rainy parkrun (who remembers the small lake that everyone waded through a few weeks ago!?) turned out to be a slightly damp, but pleasantly cool run!  And considering it was the first time I have actually run at parkrun for nearly three months, I was very grateful that the sun decided to stay hidden behind the clouds and the slight drizzle kept me cool!  Thank you parkrun weather fairies! 

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This was a week for lots of 'first times'!  Out of the 101 runners that completed the course on Saturday morning, 30 were total first timers at parkrun. We had a big group join us from a local junior college - it was great to see them running the course in their college t-shirts, supporting each other on the way round! I love seeing that kind of team spirit at parkrun! We also had lots of tourists joining us from Australia and the UK.
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This week, Punam also made her official Singapore parkrun Run
Director debut - and what an amazing job she did! From being there early to welcome our runners, to getting all of our finishers safely across the line and cheering everyone in with a smile, ECP parkrun #325 ran like clockwork. Thanks Punam!
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A big thank you to all of our other volunteers as well!  We also saw a couple of new faces
to the volunteer team this week, which we always love! A big well done to Imran, who was a first time first timers briefing-er - it was great to see Imran welcoming a big crowd of tourists and first timers to our event with his big smile! Imran's positivity and love for parkrun shines is always obvious for everyone to see!
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And we also welcomed first time volunteer Kate to the team as this week's timekeeper - great job! (Editors comment, Kate's partner was also a volunteer marshal this week alongside our regular volunteer Les and is pictured below. What a great team!) We hope you loved your morning volunteering with us and are looking forward to getting back in hi-vis soon.
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Pablo, our tailwalker, was also a first time ECP volunteer, visiting us from Canberra - and had a chatty walk along East Coast Park with Chris Bickhoff, who was visiting from Mirboo North, Australia.
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And finally, a big shout out to Denice Garbutt who was also visiting from Canberra. For me, Denice sums up what parkrun is about and why it is so important. Denice has recently been told by her cardiologist that she doesn't need any medication and she doesn't need a checkup for another 5 years - instead, she just needs to keep doing parkrun. On Saturday, she crossed the finish line with a sprint finish and a big smile on her face - how amazing! A big congratulations on your 199th parkrun Denice - we hope you have a great time celebrating 200 next week!  Bring on 250!
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We have been loving watching the event grow since its return after the Covid-19 pause - and we want it to keep growing! So, please spread the word - tell your friends and colleagues, share things on social media, bring your friends along!
Remember, it's 5k, your way - no one ever finishes last (except our tailwalker!). We also have parkwalkers (thanks Shireen for this week!) to encourage people to walk at parkrun!
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We'll be back, same time, same place, next week.  If you would like to help us put on the event by being a hi-vis hero, please just drop us an email at eastcoastpark@parkrun.com.
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#loveparkrun #lovevolunteering
Event Report: K Di Salvo
Photography: K Di Salvo; P Owens
 

#318 Event Report

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Editors Comments:
A huge thank you to Chris and Garry who joined us from Preston Park parkrun this week.
Chris has kindly written a super event report for us. Read on below...what a treat!

As a visitor to Singapore I really wanted to experience parkrun here, as I'm a regular at my local Preston park parkrun near Brighton, in the UK. (Editors comment: Chris is a member of the 100 volunteer club and has completed 228 parkruns. Awesome!)

On arrival at East Coast Park, Run Director Karianne and the team of volunteers were very welcoming and friendly. Attendance numbers were up this week, probably due to it being Grand Prix weekend (of the 114 runners today 44 were doing this parkrun for the first time and many of these were visitors).

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Before the start, volunteer Martin gathered us round for the first timers welcome talk, which was followed by the safety briefing from RD Karianne before we made our way to the start point for the out and back, flat, 5k run/walk.

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Inclusivity and participation, rather than speed, has been a key principle of parkrun since day one. For the month of October, parkrun has introduced a new volunteer role of parkwalker, with the aim of supporting and encouraging more walkers to join parkrun and for walkers to feel part of the parkrun community. My husband Garry, who is definitely not a runner, was able to join in as the volunteer parkwalker today and he really enjoyed it. (Editors comment: Garry was our first official volunteer parkwalker at East Coast Park. Thank you Garry!).

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As parkrun depends on volunteers we are always looking for new ones. It's not difficult, is good fun, and gives you a whole new perspective on the wonders of parkrun. There are some roles that you can do as well as run or walk. We'd love other people to volunteer, so please contact us via Email or Facebook to help. (Editors comment: We love our hi-viz heroes! Email us here: eastcoastpark@parkrun.com or leave a comment on our social media page.)

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It was great to see 13 people doing their very first parkrun today and 19 people who got PB's....well done to you all.

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Once again thanks to East Coast Park parkrun volunteers today who did a great job of welcoming and supporting participants. Special thanks to to this weeks volunteer photographer, who also helped us get to the event! (Editors comments: Photo's will be up soon. A slight interruption due to the Grand Prix!)

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Lastly if anyone reading this is doing a parkrun in Sydney next Saturday (Sandon Point) look out for me, as I'll be running with my granddaughters!

Event Report: Chris Archer
Photos: Punam Owens

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