23rd September 2020 - Event #364
#349 Event Report
Event Report Delivery
This weeks event report is another corker written by parkrun tourist Jan whose home parkrun is Abingdon, Oxfordshire in the UK.
We think you'll agree it captures #parkrunday a treat.
Continue reading
#327 Event Report
Great day today parkrun volunteering for the first time overseas at the iconic East Cost Park parkrun. To explain, my home parkrun is Futakotamagawa parkrun in Tokyo - if that’s too hard to say or too long to remember, just say “FTG”.
As I’m running the Singapore Half Marathon tomorrow, today I was tailwalker and enjoyed a nice long chat with parkwalker Shireen as we tailed the course. I heard ECP had 150 walkers, joggers and runners last week and was a bit overwhelmed but today there was less than a third of that total. I guess some were staying at home because they’re running the full or half marathon tomorrow. Anyway, the important thing is that the atmosphere was homely, friendly, welcoming and inclusive (BTW, what parkrun isn’t?!).
Weather-wise, it felt very “unSingapore” as it was pleasantly mild with good cloud cover and a bit of a sea breeze from the Singapore Straight.
Shoutout to 4 year old Ethan who with his 100 parkrun teeshirt-clad mum, stayed ahead of me and completed 5k without a single moan or groan!
And of course kudos to Stephan and Witold, our two 50 parkrun milestoners today!
The great thing about parkrun - of the many there are - is how small a world it can be. To give today as an example, ECP ED Karianne is a friend of fellow FTG parkrunner, Vickie. Scanner Alan as a kid knew FTG ED Tim. And by complete coincidence, fellow FTG parkrunner and Tokyo running club Namban Rengo member, Mika turned up!
In closing, I must tell you all a story! Before parkrun was established, I last ran ECP in December 2018. Back then, I really didn’t have much idea about its workings or history. So here I am, and in my usual social self manner, I struck up a conversation with this tall British guy wearing an apricot-colour parkrun teeshirt saying “Founder”. I said to him, “What does that mean?” and replies in the most unassuming way - truly unassuming, honestly - “Umm, I founded parkrun”. Me goes “Oops, sorry!”. It was Paul Sinton-Hewitt. I saw him again at the inaugural parkrun launch at FTG the following April but am glad he didn’t remember my face nor my dumb question!
Hope to see you all again - if not on Red Dot City, then in Tokyo at FTG parkrun! Keep on walking, jogging, running AND volunteering!
Cheers
Roger Berman
A1214140
#loveparkrun
#325 Event Report
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!
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.
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!
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!
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!
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.
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.
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!
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!
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.
#loveparkrun #lovevolunteering
Event Report: K Di Salvo
Photography: K Di Salvo; P Owens
#324 Event Report
Wow this is starting to become a habit…
We enjoyed a delightful 324th parkrun at East Coast Park, led by our amazing run director Karianne, who always goes above and beyond!
Today's parkrun was considerably drier than the swamp we waded through last week and we welcomed back our parkrun royal couple Valerie and Norman who have both done around 300 parkruns each!!
Although there was some rain overnight, we were lucky enough to have a dry parkrun and some glorious sunshine immediately following sunrise at 06:45. With sunshine comes heat and todays parkrun was a little more challenging due to the increased temperature, nevertheless it was still an absolutely stunning view across the beach.
Today the park was quite busy with training runs ready for the Singapore Marathon in less than a month, so we had to spend some time ducking and diving to avoid the flocks of marathon running machines.
The highlight of my day were the 6-8 ladies in pink tutus who must have been training for a charity run - they looked like they were having an absolute ball and were always happy to give us a wave as we ran past!
We welcomed 106 park runners this week of which we had 35 first timers at East Coast Park.
One of whom (Norman) got a stupendous 17:17 and 4th spot in only his 13th parkrun!! Even more amazing was Heng just behind him who came 5th with 18:58 in his first ever parkrun (and he’s over 40 like me). Heng was joined by 9 other parkrun virgins, who I now hope will have the “parkrun” bug!
We also reached some parkrun milestones with Natalie, Ioan and Arne completing their 10th parkrun today!
Naturally a huge congratulations to Malachy for not only having the coolest name on our roster but also winning todays parkrun with a quite frankly ridiculous 16:29 in his 6th parkrun. (I don’t think I could beat that time in my car)
And a loud cheer for Paulina who came first amongst the females with again a ridiculous 21:59! She literally screamed for joy when she saw her time!
And let's have a hooray for our group of parkwalker's led by regular volunteer, Shireen and this week's tail walker, Veronica who joined us from her home parkrun in Queensland, Australia safely bringing everyone home. Well done to you all.
As always we ended the event with a cup of tea and a natter at Starbucks.
My 5th parkrun and they keep getting better each time (shame my times don’t seem to).
Finally a massive thanks to all the volunteers without whom parkrun could not happen:
Shireen BAILEY, Les CHAPPLE, Karianne DI SALVO, Darren GOSS, Katasonov ILIA, Veronica LIGHTFOOT, Frances NIELD, Punam OWENS, Pranav VENKAT, Sharon YONG, Imran ZAFFAR
Event Report: Imran Zaffar
#323 Event Report
Remember it’s 7.30am, remember it’s 7.30am… parkruns at home (Perth, Western Australia) start at 8.00am, and I had nightmares about trying to chase down the Tailwalker after rocking up late! It may have been at a different time, and in a different country, but beautifully parkrun is parkrun wherever you go, with the same wonderfully warm welcome and familiarity irrespective of country, and East Coast parkrun did not disappoint!
When my sister-in-law, Jo, asked what I thought of a short 5 day stay in Singapore, my answer was “as long as one of those days is a Saturday so I can get in a parkrun”! I can’t be the only one, right?!
Judging by the ‘first timer’ flags on the results and the enthusiastic welcome of tourists, East Coast is a lover of visitors! Then came the careful selection of location, which involved a bit of cyber-stalking of Singapore’s parkrun Facebook pages, results and course pages and the all-important assessment of parkrun Challenges. I’m very glad I need an extra E for Namely and an East for Compass Club, which brought me to your wonderful event (and if you have no idea what challenges I’m talking about, do yourself a favour and download the 5K parkrunner app and head down a magical rabbit hole of primes, Fibonacci numbers and the alphabet!)
It wasn’t all smooth sailing… A close call with possible cancellations, firstly due to a lack of volunteers and secondly, when we woke early this morning there was thunder, lightning and hammering rain – with a 30-minutes of no lightning required to start the event. The weather also caused taxi issues, and after a nervous wait and our driver overshooting to Carpark 3, we got there in the end (phew!)
Event 323 had a fantastic feel from the minute we arrived, with friendly regulars and a merry band of volunteers making us feel right at home. A huge shout-out to RD Karianne who made it all look effortless, while ‘working the room’ chatting and welcoming the newbies. First Timers Welcomer Pris had her work cut out for her, with tourists almost outnumbering regulars (22 First Timers today out of a field of 56)! She did a fantastic job with a humorous and thorough briefing (hopefully nobody got as far as Changi Airport!!)
Who doesn’t love a fast, flat out and back – even if it’s raining with a few flooded sections! It clearly didn’t bother some, with 5 new Personal Bests (woohoo, congratulations guys!!)
parkrun cannot happen without fantastic volunteers, and while everyone wants the participation tick, volunteering gives a unique perspective to parkrun and a chance to make new friends and deeper connections than you would if only running. Please take a look at the Future Roster page and put yourself forward – you’ll never look back (remember the 5K app? There are volunteer challenges too!).
Thanks to Damaris for checking the course and making sure everything was safe (albeit wet), to Stuart and Yeng Ling for helping ensure we turned around at the appropriate spot, to Jackie and Shireen as the parkwalk cheer squad, Damaris gets another high five for tailwalking, while Anna, Li Ying and Alexandra cheered everyone across the line while timing and tokening and Punam snapped everyone for posterity. Hopefully our final high-viz hero, Pranav, got everyone’s token back and they haven’t been souvenired. (Editor's comment: we can confirm, all back, safe and sound :))
Thank you to all of you (and Pris and Karianne) for putting on a fantastic event… If ever you’re in Perth, come visit Lake Joondalup parkrun, which is a very similar flat and fast out and back – we’d love to see you!
Event Report written by Michaela Miller
#322 Event Report
It felt great to be back at parkrun after a week away. parkrun has been such a big part of my life since 2018 – and since then, I’ve tried not to miss a week (running, walking or volunteering) where possible. However, a trip to Indonesia meant that I didn’t have a parkrun to visit!
Being away made me realise how much I love parkrun and everything it represents. I missed the cheerful good mornings from everyone as they arrived. I missed cheering everyone into the finish funnel. I missed the high fives and hugs. I missed seeing people achieve something they previously thought they couldn’t do. And I missed the coffee, cake and catch up with friends (old and new)! parkrun really is so much more than just a 5k run – it is an awesome community of amazing people and I’m proud to be a part of it.
So, this morning, when I arrived at 6:30am, I set up ECP parkrun with a huge smile on my face – I was home!
And what a great morning it was! Today, we were joined by 89 finishers and 10 super volunteers (thanks to the team of hi-vis heros!). 31 were first timers at East Coast Park parkrun – and 11 of these were first time parkrunners! Thank you to everyone who joined us and we hope you will be back!
Congratulations to the 16 finishers who set personal best times today! An awesome effort was put in by some of our younger under 11 runners today, who put on some amazing sprint finishes to smash their personal best times this week! Well done!!
As always, a big thank you to our volunteer team – but an extra thank you to our volunteer parkwalker, Michael (who completed his first ever parkrun!), and tailwalkers, Alison and Malcolm, who were visitors to ECP today! It’s always a joy to meet parkrunnners from all over the world. Thank you for helping out at ECP today!
Although this may be the last week of the official ‘parkwalk’ campaign, please remember that you can walk at parkrun every week! It is, and always will be, 5k YOUR WAY!
And finally, an appeal for help! In order for East Coast Park parkrun to take place, we need a small team of volunteers every week to fill our mandatory volunteer positions (run director, timekeeper, barcode scanner, finish token giver-outer, marshal and tailwalker). Without these roles being filled, we are not allowed to run the event! Sometimes, it is touch-and-go on a Friday evening – and we never want to have to cancel! So, if you can help us out on any Saturday, please email us at eastcoastpark@parkrun.com – every role is simple and fun, and you get to wear one of our snazzy hi-vis bibs!
Thanks to all walkers, runners and volunteers for another brilliant morning at ECP! See you next week!
Event Report: Karianne Di Salvo
#319 Event Report
After a rainy week in Singapore, the parkrun weather fairies were kind to us and gave us a dry morning for East Coast Park parkrun #319.
87 people joined us to enjoy their Saturday morning 5k - congratulations to everyone who took part! We had 22 first timers at East Coast Park today and for 8 of you, it was your first ever parkrun. 11 of you also set personal bests today! WELL DONE! We also welcomed tourists from Australia, UK and Poland. Thank you to everyone who joined us!
A big shout out to Jodie, who achieved her 100 milestone run today. Congratulations! We are looking forward to seeing you in your black t-shirt soon.
During October, we are celebrating parkrun’s 18th birthday with parkwalk, where we encourage people to walk at parkrun! parkrun is all about inclusivity – although it is called parkrun, it is your 5k to run, walk, hope, skip or jump however you wish! There are no winners and no one finishes last (that’s what our tailwalker is for)! We all understand the benefits of exercise for physical and mental health – but some people may be concerned about taking part in what they feel is a running event. The parkrun initiative is about bringing new people into our parkrun community and showing them that walkers at parkrun are equal to runners at parkrun. We value everyone who takes part! Thank you to Sharon for being our volunteer parkwalker today – we hope you enjoyed wearing our new blue parkwalker bib!
Talking about volunteering….. every week, we need volunteers to make East Coast Park parkrun happen. Without our hi-vis heroes, we cannot safely put on the event. Volunteering may seem daunting – but it is really good fun (just look at the smiley faces of our volunteers as you cross the finish line or as they scan your barcode)! 84% of people that took part in the parkrun survey said that volunteering at parkrun had made them happier! All of the roles are straightforward and the run director can give you training on the day – and you get to look stylish in our awesome hi-vis vests.
So, what can you do to help!?
- Volunteer with us: If you would like to help volunteering, please email eastcoastpark@parkrun.com. You can see the future roster here: https://www.parkrun.sg/eastcoastpark/futureroster/. Just let us know what role you would like to do!
- Opt-in to volunteer emails: in your parkrun profile, go to email options and opt-in to receive East Coast Park parkrun emails. You will then receive volunteering updates from us.
- Tell people about parkrun/bring people along: growing our parkrun community, including volunteers, runners, walkers and spectators, is really important to us. These people may decide to help with volunteering at some point in the future. So spread the word and let’s keep growing our East Coast Park parkrun family!
A big thank you from Run Director Karianne for the awesome team of volunteers at this weeks event!
Event Report written by: K. Di Salvo
Photographs by: P. Owens
#318 Event Report
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).
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.
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!).
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.)
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.
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!)
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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