The parkrun series final standings for 2018
Happy xmas Areenz!,
And welcome to the final race report of the 2018 parkrun series: Hove Park.
As is tradition, the Hove Park Age graded parkrun was held on the day of the Christmas party, so for those members attending it was an unmissable opportunity to bank a calorie deficit to replenish later on with a slap up xmas meal. And with 65 members running on the day, the event proved the second most popular of the series to date.
Whilst we’re on the subject of attendance, below is a summary of the attendance for each of the events over the course of the year. With Bevendean held on Pride day and in the summer holidays, it proved the least popular of the series, so we may look at a different date for that in2019, but since that event the attendance has bounced back again, with 13runners making their parkrun series debut at Hove Park alone (where were you for the other 5 guys?!), so more of the same next year please all!
Conditions on the course were wet and blustery, but not as bad as the hailstones that bounced off my bonce on my jog home, so it certainly could have been worse. As most of you know, the Hove Park course is a 1 mini lap and 2 big lap course, and despite having a hilly(ish) back straight always produces some quick times. Therefore, despite the tricky conditions, there were still 14 PBs set on the day, including a superb one for Tara (more on that later).
The other 13 PBs came from Rebecca Knights, Helen Moss, Rachel Burgess, Aled Anderson, Jim Callender, Greg Young, Nick Green, Helen Block, Tim Lodge, Charlie Hempstead, Ross Gardner, Neil Fulkes and Teo Van (not feeling) Well.
So on to the race, and it was a fast start with a small group of chaps, containing Richard Clayton and sometime Arena training participant Rueben Hoyte, almost immediately breaking away. Close behind were Jim Risdale and Aled Anderson, and not too far behind them Tara leading the way for the ladies.
With the windy conditions coming down the home straight, those who were sitting in a group benefitted from a bit of shelter so lots of people were tucking in until rounding the south corner. As the finish neared, Rich Clayton was able to ease off and become first Arena home (4th overall) in 17:01 (or sub-17 if you take the time that Rich actually stopped his watch, around the basketball courts). However it was evergreen Paul Gasson who led the way for the men on the age graded results front, with an excellent 79.09%)
For the women, Tara once again came home as first lady in 18:08, and she was also able to take the age graded top place with brilliant 90.26%, and 1 point to add to her rather small tally.
Second home for the Arenas were Aled Anderson and Emily Proto with times of 17:50 and 18:45 respectively. But for the age grading results it was El Capitan Dan (77.21%) and Chris Naylor (84.44%) who gain the 2 points.
Then in the 3rd finishing places, it was Jim Risdale and Katherine O’Hara. However on the age graded front, Richard Clayton takes the 3 points for the men, and Katherine actually also taking 3rd place for age graded also.
Bonus points and club records
Slim pickings on the bonus points front this race I’m afraid. No club time or age graded club records broken, but one small update is Tara’s 90.26% giving her 3rd place in the age graded top 5 ladies scores (see appendix for updated club records). Additionally none of the Hove Park parkrun age category records were broken, so no bonus points for anyone this time round I’m afraid.
Overall standings
Now, the bit you’ve all been waiting for! The final series standings! Drum roll……
Ladies
As a reminder, after round 5, the top 3 women were Tara in 1st on 5 point, Nicky Yeates in 2nd (65 pts), and Fiona Jamie in 3rd (74 pts). However with Nicky not running the last race, 2nd place was up for grabs, and grab it with both hands Fiona did. After running all 6 of the events in a ROW, she really stuck her OAR in and her 15th place at Hove Park secured her 2nd spot with 89 points. Canoe believe it?!
In third place (92 points) was Sue Brumwell who left it late to shoot up from 6th to 3rd after her 6th place finish at Hove Park. However it was a very close call as Helena Rooney finished 11th at Hove Park to also score 92 points, but just loses out on her head to head record with Sue as Sue outscored her in 3 of the 5 races in which they both raced (hopefully that’s clear? – I’ve had a few beers whilst writing this!).
But top billing goes to Tara, who has averaged just 1 point per race (6 total), with 4 first places over the 6 races. Amazing and consistent running to cap off a great year.
Men
For the guys, after 5 races it was Rich Clayton who was sitting on top of the pile with 58 points, closely followed by Michael Miller (64 pts) and Dave Robinson (67 pts), so all to play for going in to the final round.
However, top spot remained the same after Hove Park, as Rich added only an additional 3 points with his 3rd place age graded finish. Michael also ensured it was Miller time once again, with an 8th place finish to end on 72 points. And finally Dave Robinson, on red alert for impending bambino no.2, finished in 13th spot to finish on 80 overall. Special mention goes to John Thompson who ran them all close finishing in 4th spot on 89 points, so well done John.
Well there we are. I don’t know about you but I for one have immensely enjoyed this series and in case you were worried, it WILL be back next year in a bigger and better format, but details to be confirmed! So please watch this space and rest assured the team at Arena 80 Parkrun Series HQ will be working hard (well jotting down some ideas whilst eating more burned mince pies) over the holiday period thrashing out the plans for next year.
If you do have any suggestions on what you’d like to see, please do email / Facebook me to offer it up for consideration, and I will happily pretend I came up with the idea and take all the credit 😉
Congratulations again to our winners, but also everyone else who turned out for 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 or all 6 of this year’s races. I hope you managed to enjoy it and perhaps achieve the odd PB.
See you in 2019 (Jesus, how is it 2019?!)
Al
Final Series standings: Men
Final Series standings: Women
Club records
Brighton & Hove parkrun Men
1 Joe Ashley 2016 16m 25s
2 Al Silvester 2016 16m 27s
3 Jim Roberts 2008 16m 29s
4 Timmy Gedin 2011 16m 32s
5 Richard Clayton 201616m 38s
Age grading
1 Charlton Rudwick – 85.46%
2 Paul Gasson – 84.14%
3 Joe Ashley – 81.68%
4 Paul Arscott 81.66%
5 Dan Vaughan – 80.89%
Brighton & Hove parkrun Women
1 Caroline Hoyte 2009 16m 43s
2 Julie Briggs 2008 17m 31s
3 Emily Proto 2014 17m 44s
4 Tara Shanahan 2018 18m 08s
5 Louise Vallier 2011 18m 23s
Age grading
1 Caroline Hoyte – 90.63%
2 Chris Naylor – 90.36%
3 Tara Shanahan – 90.26%
4 Caroline Wood – 89.71%5 Louise Vallier – 88.20%
5 Louise Vallier – 88.20% �w