Saturday 11th May 2024
The most Step-tacular parkrun photographers?

It was a beautifully sunny, clear and warm start to the day as we gathered for our Saturday morning parkrun fix. I was glad I had got up extra early to travel down the M5 from Cheltenham (where I’m usually found with the rest of the core team at my local parkrun King George V Playing Fields) before visiting my mother in a nearby village.

Cheddar was bathed in golden sunshine, as warming as the welcome from the volunteers (and their lovely dogs!) and regular parkrunners at Sharpham Road Playing Fields. This is a must-visit parkrun if you are in the area. The event webpage and Facebook page give helpful advice about visiting, and there are great facilities in the bright and clean Community Pavilion by the start and finish, including toilets (a pre-run essential) and a snack bar selling hot and cold drinks and sausage rolls (a post-run essential!).

Pete and his canine assistant Edna gave a friendly and informative first timers’ briefing where he described the course layout and explained that he would be the event photographer so would see us out on the course. Then it was time for the 91 walkers, joggers and runners to gather for Run Director Jen’s briefing. There were visitors from Cheshire, Dorset, Cheltenham, as well an informal hen party.

The course is a nice flat two lap out-and-back and begins along with edge of a grassy playing field at the side of the reservoir before turning on to the Strawberry Line (https://www.thestrawberryline.org.uk/) and heading up to the first turning point.

Good for the soul are the views of the surrounding Mendip Hills, Cheddar reservoir, and the greenway of the Strawberry Line (a previous railway line), which I found helped the 5km distance feel less than usual. Listening to the symphony of birdsong was a welcome distraction from listening to my ragged breathing!

Something else I appreciated about this parkrun was the two photographers Martin and Pete who gave their time and talent to capture literally hundreds of brilliant memories of the event. Pete and his Edna who must have covered a lot more steps than the participants (and more than any other parkrun photographer this weekend?) with running up and down the Strawberry Line to get the best range of photos and poses, calling encouragement (and asking for the occasional ‘jump’ for the camera). It’s great to be able to download photos that you don’t usually have of yourself like this.

Shouts of encouragement from the volunteers at the finish funnel spurred us through the last stretch, and the weather was perfect to sit outside and enjoy a drink and snack from the café in the Community Pavilion after a hot parkrun.

I highly recommend visiting Sharpham Road Playing Fields parkrun, and also exploring Cheddar afterwards. It’s also an ideal parkrun for people in the local area, with a real community feel and a very dog friendly welcome.

29 people were visiting SRPF for the first time, including four who were doing their first parkrun – Kath Foster, Harlie Newsome, Laura Brain and Martin O’Driscoll. Hope you enjoyed it and will come back next week.

Congratulations to the 13 people who achieved Personal Bests despite the heat and to Terry Hill achieved his 25th parkrun milestone. Well done and thank you to the volunteers celebrating their milestones:

A huge thank you to all the volunteers who made this event possible, and if you’d like to volunteer for a role, please email the event address.

Sarah Clark (King George V Playing Fields parkrun, Cheltenham)