The 5th parkrun series race report – Peacehaven


Hello again one and all,
And welcome to the race report for round 5 of the 6 race parkrun series: Peacehaven.
After literally no one commented on my Britney Spears song name puns from the last report (all those hours of furious Britney music video watching wasted, ahem), I have decided to do myself a favour and stick purely to the facts and figures for this one. That said, I hope it is still an interesting read.
So with Peacehaven being the newest parkrun in the series calendar, it seemed that not many club members had actually ventured all the way out across the meridian line to sample its delights. That was also reflected in some modest club records and therefore the race proved ripe for some record picking.
However, the chilly 3 degree conditions didn’t make it particularly comfortable running conditions so well done all 40 of you who made it along.
For the first time, it was an even Man/Woman split with 20 runners of each gender turning up. Even yours truly stretched his dodgy knee to record his first run of the year.
The course is set around a cracking little park called Centenary Park and looks out across the downs to the north. It is mainly on the park track but does venture off on to some grass for bits of it and with the footing a little unsure along the north edge, it probably makes it the second slowest of the 6 races (Bevendean being the slowest).
For the women, the top 3 was made up of Tara in 1st place (19:03), now giving her 3 first places out of the 5 races undertaken so far in the series. Helena Rooney picked up her highest finish of the series so far in second place with 20:46. Then Rachel Burgess came through in 3rd place in 22:29.
The top 3 men finished with Richard Clayton nabbing first place in a time of 17:22, with Aled Anderson matching him for pace for the first lap or so, before finishing not too far behind on 17:43. Next up were a couple of baldies, with myself just pipping barcode blunderer Teo Van Well. A hair raising finish.
Bonus points and club records
Now then, the bit you’ve all been waiting for the bonus points!
As is becoming the norm these days, Tara broke the Arena overall record of 20m 24s, replacing it with her time of 19:03. In addition, she also broke the parkrun VW45-49 record for the course. Another good morning’s work and 2 bonus points for Tara.
Other changes to the overall women’s club records, Helen Rooney slips in to 3rd place with her 20:46, pushing Lucy May Richardson down to 4th and Gemma Sharp to 5th, with Jenny Hughes just dropping out.
Remarkably both Nicky Yeates and Chris Naylor broke the VW60-64 record for the course, but with Nicky finishing ahead of Chris on 22:34 she gains the record, but both still get a bonus point each. Cracking stuff ladies.
Caroline Wood just about retained her club age graded record for the course, with Nicky Yeates running it close, just 0.5% behind it on 85.97%. Tara’s performance puts her up to 3rd on 85.91%, whereas Chris Naylor is a new entry in 4th with 85.75%. Jenny rounds out the top 5 with her 80.07%.
In terms of changes to the men’s club records, there are a few updates to the overall records, with Richard Clayton taking top overall spot from Gary McKivett with a time of 17:22. However on the age graded front, Rich’s time gave him an age grading of 75.14%, but that is not quite as good as Gary McKivett’s existing record of 76.07%, although it does put him second.
Aled improves his time in the overall standings but drops a place to 3rd overall. Whereas I come in to 4th spot and David Gifford is replaced in 5th by Teo with 18:59.
On the age graded standings Jim Watson has been bumped down one place to 3rd, but two new entries of Michael Miller (73.01%) and Julian Hollingdale (73.00%) pop in with just 0.01% difference between them in 4th and 5th! Dan Vaughan, John Thompson and Rob Derkin say bye (for now).
For the full club rankings for Peacehaven parkrun see the bottom of this report.
Overall standings
With only one more race to go, serious attention (by me at least) is being paid to the overall standings, so let’s dive in to who sits where…
With Dave Robinson sunning himself on a beach and cutting up the rug of the clubs in Ibiza, Richard’s first place saw him retake his place at the top of the table on 55 points. You would think only a no show for the final race could see him lose that spot now. Michael Miller holds on to his second place after another round with 64 points after attending 5 out of the 5 races so far, and with the final race at Hove Park literally yards from his house he is looking strong for a top 2 finish. Finally, Dave sits in third just 3 points back from Michael on 67 so assuming he turns up for the last race, he is also looking good for a podium finish.
For the ladies, Tara actually managed to lower her overall score from 6 to 5, by bagging two bonus points (see above) and further cements her lead at the top of the table. As Caroline Wood wasn’t able to make this one, she has slipped down the table in to 9th place but will no doubt come back for December’s race with bit between her teeth. She is replaced in second by Nicky Yeates on 65 points who has had a 2nd, a 3rd and a 4th place finish this season so maybe Hove Park’s age graded race will give her the elusive 1st place. Fiona Jamie retains her 3rd place on 74 points, 7 ahead of Helena Rooney who is breathing down her neck.
So that’s it for race 5, as mentioned the final race will be at Hove Park on the 15th December, which is also the day of the Arena Xmas Party, so get your crimbo shopping done early and come along and earn that turkey dinner. Alan Claus will also have finalised what the prizes are for the winners by then also.
Al
p.s. there were issues with the barcode scanners at Peacehaven so if you have been missed from the tables below let me know and I’ll revise ready for the last race.
Series standings: Men

Series standings: Women

Club records
Peacehaven parkrun Men
1 Richard Clayton 2018 17m 22s
2 Gary McKivett 2018 17m 33s
3 Aled Anderson 2018 17m 43s
4 Alan Silvester 2018 18m 55s
5 Teo Van Well 2017 18m 59s
Age grading
1 Gary McKivett – 76.07%
2 Richard Clayton – 75.14%
3 Jim Watson – 74.48%
4 Trevor Day – 74.31%
5 Michael Miller – 73.01%
Peacehaven parkrun Women
1 Tara Shanahan 2018 19m 03s
2 Caroline Wood 2018 20m 24s
3 Helena Rooney 2018 20m 46s
4 Lucy May Richardson 2018 20m 49s
5 Gemma Sharp 2018 21m 52s
Age grading
1 Caroline Wood – 86.44%
2 Nicky Yeates – 85.97%
3 Tara Shanahan – 85.91%
4 Chris Naylor – 85.75%
5 Jenny Hughes – 80.07%