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#184 – Our 5th birthday

Posted on May 20, 2024 by conynghamhalloffice

Thanks to Katy for writing the run report this week.

Ah the dawn of our 5th birthday for Conyngham parkrun. Conditions for participants just about perfect. For volunteers the tricky layering question came into play as many of our locations offer a degree of shade.

'Bring a Friend' was in the invite for the 5th birthday party parkrun and with over 170 runners, joggers and walkers it appears many took note. I managed to get Petranova, my invisible friend to keep me company at Squirrel Corner although she made me do all the clapping, cheering, whooping and chatting to passers by. Apparently I am quite good at this.

Thanks to Amelie who kindly invited Petranova to spend time with her family for the remainder of the day. I hope she wasn't too much bother.

Balloons and banners adorned the course (and the marshals).

It was amazing to see the tide of runners heading towards me at the second marshal point on the course.

As indicated it's a very social spot to interact with others passing into the hall park. One lady spotted a young chap, who she was able to recall seeing when first started as a boy. I believe the name of said runner was Caleb.

I so enjoy feeling a real part of the family here, being able to name- check people as they pass by.

There were lots of smiles, waves and thanks from those taking part.

Once over the finish line, birthday cake awaited those amazing people who joined the party.

We hope you all enjoyed it as much as we did.

Hope to see you next year, or possibly earlier.

Thanks again Katy.

It was great to see so many visitors this week. Leeds and Bradford Tri Club were here last year, and again followed parkrun with paddle boarding on the river. Congratulations to Vicky Miller on her 50th parkrun.

It was also a special event for Andy Hull, who ran his 300th after setting up..

Parkrun is always a good place to catch up with friends, which is exactly what Brenda and Colin, visiting from Paignton, did this week.

Thanks to everyone for helping celebrate our 5th birthday (and for eating all the cake). We look forward to seeing you next time.

And now for the stats:

Conyngham Hall parkrun
Event number 184
18th May 2024

This week 174 people ran, jogged and walked the course, of whom 48 were first timers and 31 recorded new Personal Bests. Representatives of 35 different clubs took part.

The event was made possible by 19 volunteers:

Katie GRAY • Brenda GRANT • Derek DOBINSON • Nicola CARTER • Emma HARROP • Andy HULL • Ian MITCHELL • Alan CARTER • Debbie HERRIDGE • Colin GRANT • Debbie GIBSON • Stuart CHARLTON • Fraser DOBINSON • Geraldine GORDON • Jackie KNIGHT • Caroline GREEN • John DICKSON • Andy KNIGHT • Katy GALLANTRY

Today's full results and a complete event history can be found on the Conyngham Hall parkrun Results Page.

Conyngham Hall parkrun started on 18th May 2019. Since then 6,328 participants have completed 22,364 parkruns covering a total distance of 111,820 km, including 2,997 new Personal Bests. A total of 549 individuals have volunteered 3,566 times.

Event #183 – The one with sunshine, ice cream and a new course record

Posted on May 12, 2024 by conynghamhalloffice

Many thanks to Andrew Trigg for this week's run report

A family outing to a wedding brought us all the way from Plymouth to Harrogate this weekend. Of course the opportunity to bag a new parkrun location presented an added bonus.

Although tempted by the reputation of Fountains Abbey, we plumped for the more pragmatic option to run at Conyngham Hall. It was a decision that we certainly didn’t regret.

We were blessed with a gorgeous, sunny Saturday morning, which helped us to appreciate the great course. Although not as hilly as some of the demanding Devon courses, it’s challenging, varied and beautifully situated by the River Nidd. The venue also offered plenty of distractions for the non-running, younger members of the family.

There was a really warm and welcoming atmosphere around the start area and at the briefings. Conyngham Hall definitely deserves a great reputation of its own!

Thanks as always to all of the great volunteers who enable our parkruns for us to enjoy every week. Notably, this week was Stuart Charlton’s 50^th volunteering session, qualifying him for a red v50 T-shirt. Thank you!

It was also Ziva Aylesbury’s 250^th run, qualifying her for the green T-shirt. 70 of her runs have been at Conyngham Hall. She’s also run 164 junior parkruns!

Lesley Anne Pearce from South Shields Harriers chose to run her debut at Conyngham Hall for her 400^th run – no T-shirt for this one, but a still a great achievement!

We also witnessed a new course record with Tom Adams speeding round in 16.13!

Congratulations to Thomas Paley, Samuel Davis, Luke Sandford and Mark Harris who all ran their first ever parkrun – we hope to see you again many times! Another 38 runners also ran their Conyngham Hall debut and 22 people ran around Conyngham Hall faster than they have before, to record a PB.

Overall, a great morning enjoyed by all! Thank you Conyngham Hall.

Many thanks Andrew, always great to have a view from a visitor and especially when it's so complementary Just a few extras...

The logs were back so we were back to walking up bed race slope to the start. We brought it forward 10m or so though to make it easier to get everyone lined up at the start. This definitely didn't hurt the chances of PBs and to be consistent, we'll be starting here from now on.

Here's your top 4 today (Tom ADAMS, new course record of 16:13, Tom Calvert 18:30, Caleb Aylesbury new PB 18:51, Chris Edmond new PB 19:09).

To round off the gorgeous morning, it felt right that after parkrun, breakfast and parkfaff, proceedings should be finished off with ice-cream. Any excuse.

Finally. Next week will be our 5th birthday so please grab a friend, bring them along to help celebrate how we have changed a lot of people's Saturday mornings in Knaresborough. We love our event and are very proud of it. Maybe bring a balloon?

And now for the stats:

Conyngham Hall parkrun, Event number 183, 11th May 2024

This week 150 people ran, jogged and walked the course, of whom 43 were first timers and 22 recorded new Personal Bests. Representatives of 27 different clubs took part.

The event was made possible by 17 volunteers:

Sean BRENNAN • Andrew TRIGG • Stephen MORLAND • Michelle Jane SMITH • Linda DODSWORTH • Steve DODSWORTH • Janet WEBSTER • Stuart CHARLTON • Katharine WOODHEAD • Linz MCCOOKE • Paul MCCOOKE • Jackie KNIGHT • Ruth MANN • David SINTON • Dawn ROBINSON • Charlotte KNIGHT • Katy GALLANTRY

Today's full results and a complete event history can be found on the Conyngham Hall parkrun Results Page.

Conyngham Hall parkrun started on 18th May 2019. Since then 6,280 participants have completed 22,190 parkruns covering a total distance of 110,950 km, including 2,966 new Personal Bests. A total of 547 individuals have volunteered 3,547 times.

Wow.

Event #182 – The one with Darth Vadar and a May Pole

Posted on May 6, 2024 by conynghamhalloffice

This week's run report was kindly written by Fin, visiting from Northallerton:

Rather than a usual run report about how nice the park is (it was; I was
too concerned about falling over to sightsee), now friendly the
volunteers were (they are; I don't think I've ever been to a parkrun
where the volunteers weren't), and how nice the chocolate brownie was
afterward was (it was nice; yes, I went to the dark side), I thought I'd
grind out some "interesting" statistics about the history of Conyngham
Hall parkrun (lord that's hard to spell).

The event with the most athletes was #31, on New Year's Day 2020, with
460 participants. With the fewest was #21, on 26th October 2019, with
only 43. The average number of participants is 121.

The event with the most volunteers was #24, on 16th November 2019, with
45, and the fewest was #156, on the 11th of November 2024, with 13. The
average number of volunteers is 19.

The fastest event (the event with the quickest average time, across the
whole field of participants) was #92, on the 13th of August 2022, with
an average time of 26:26. The least-fastest was #62, on New Year's Day
2022. You may notice, from the average-time plot, that the parkrun tends
to be slower in summer. This is common for many events - it seems to be
that the warmer summer months attract new runners and more walkers,
whereas the colder weather winnows this down to only those fast enough
to fight off the cold.

Participants who completed Conyngham Hall parkrun the most were:

Caroline DICKSON (138 events)
Steve DODSWORTH (114 events)
Aidan MCNAB (100 events)
Denise CULLINGWORTH (98 events)
Christian TURNER (98 events)
Chris PERRY (98 events)
Andrew SPENCER (97 events)
Sean BRENNAN (96 events)
Claire BURTON (96 events)
Peter COOPER (96 events)
Georgina BACHELLERIE (96 events)

And the most active volunteers were:
Linda DODSWORTH (138 events)
Ruth MANN (132 events)
Jackie KNIGHT (120 events)
David SINTON (115 events)
Stephen MORLAND (95 events)
Steve DODSWORTH (90 events)
Nicola CARTER (65 events)
Geraldine GORDON (58 events)
Daisy GARBUTT (54 events)
Katy GALLANTRY (48 events)
Stuart CHARLTON (47 events)
Caroline WALKER (47 events)
Pete NOBLE (47 events)
Ethan NOBLE (47 events)

Some people volunteer at parkrun but never participate - the top
"angels" are:
Shannon SINTON (40 events)
Louise BUCK (33 events)
Sally HOUGHTON (11 events)
Emily HOUGHTON (11 events)
Imogen WATTS (10 events)

Thanks to everyone at Conyngham Hall parkrun for a super run, and may
the force be with you all.
Fin.

PS A special mention to our visitors from Hull (who didn't quite make it to Fountains Abbey) who were celebrating an unofficial 600 parkrun milestone and who between them have clocked up over 1,700 parkruns!

Conyngham Hall parkrun
Event number 182
4th May 2024

This week 146 people ran, jogged and walked the course, of whom 66 were first timers and 9 recorded new Personal Bests. Representatives of 28 different clubs took part.

The event was made possible by 20 volunteers:

Helen BENNETT • Stephen CONSTABLE • Derek DOBINSON • Andy HULL • Alan CARTER • Linda DODSWORTH • Jim FEWTRELL • Finlay MCWALTER • Stuart CHARLTON • Katharine WOODHEAD • Jackie KNIGHT • Ruth MANN • David SINTON • Judith BROWN • Sally DANIELS • Nick COUPLAND • Racheal BLAKE • Daisy GARBUTT • Nicole CALVERT-MCKEAG • Katy GALLANTRY

Today's full results and a complete event history can be found on the Conyngham Hall parkrun Results Page.

Conyngham Hall parkrun started on 18th May 2019. Since then 6,237 participants have completed 22,040 parkruns covering a total distance of 110,200 km, including 2,944 new Personal Bests. A total of 545 individuals have volunteered 3,530 times.

An initially drizzly and quite fresh morning was the start of Conyngham Hall parkrun’s 181st event and my first visit here.

Posted on April 28, 2024 by conynghamhalloffice

Having been home visiting my mum, who lives in Derbyshire, we decided to make a little weekend trip to Knaresborough and what a lovely place it turned out to be. We arrived into town by train on Friday afternoon and found one of the many independent tea rooms for a bite of lunch. It was then a matter of trying to get my mum around the various attractions with as few crazy steps as possible, not an easy task when only equipped with a flat map! We did though have a really nice look around finishing by narrowly avoiding being locked in Mother Shipton’s Cave as it was closing. A nice meal at the hotel completed the day and was followed by an early breakfast ready for another parkrun adventure.

Conyngham Hall parkrun started back in May 2019 and after nearly 5 years it was easy to see it has a loyal and supportive local community. Joining them today we had 24 first time tourists visiting from Lincoln and Milton Keynes, to mention a couple, as well as several places across the county. There was also one person brand new to parkrun - Stuart STEEL - hopefully this will be the first of many! We hope you all enjoyed yourself today and will visit again soon.

My morning brain didn’t quite visualise the course from its description but wow, what a great 2-lap mixed terrain course it turned out to be. After a warm welcome from Run Director Ruth MANN we walked upwards to the start and then the 146 peoples and a number of excited doggies were on our way.

The event would not, however, have been possible without 18 wonderful volunteers: Libby BRENNAN, Damian BAKER, Alan CARTER, Stuart CHARLTON, Stephen CONSTABLE, Linda DODSWORTH, Steve DODSWORTH, Katy GALLANTRY, Anna GLAZIER, Jackie KNIGHT, Richard KNOWLES, Ruth MANN, Chloe MCCOOKE, Kaelin MCCOOKE, Linz MCCOOKE, Paul MCCOOKE, Pauline REDMAN and David SINTON.

Special thanks though to Linda DODSWORTH who reached a fantastic 250 volunteering occasions today, with not one but three roles this morning – event day course check, pre-event setup and barcode scanning! (We were all rather impressed with your Mum’s 400 volunteering occasions too, Damian!)

Thank-you to you all and if you are reading this and want to get involved in future weeks then all details can be found at http://www.parkrun.org.uk/conynghamhall/futureroster/. There are many different roles to choose from.

Conditions were really quite good today considering how wet it has been in previous weeks but with more frequent dry spells over the last couple the ground was fine, and I didn’t in the end need my trail shoes as I had thought. With a random light rain shower clearing just as we were getting started there was nothing left to discourage an impressive 25 new personal bests being set.

First finisher, and today’s fastest junior, was Caleb AYLESBURY in an excellent time of 19:25 followed very closely by Craig MACAULEY just 3 seconds behind but rewarded with a new PB. In third place was Guy CLOSE (literally – sorry I had to! J) completing this trio of sub-20 finishers.

Our first female finisher was Sarah GUMMER setting a new PB of 24:40. Second and third places both went to a successful ‘Team AYLESBURY’ – Amelie followed by Clare – crossing the line just a second apart.

This morning’s highest age grade performance didn’t come from any of those previously named but from a great effort from Martin Conroy WILSON whose time of 25:21 in the VM70-74 category earned him just over 72%.

Congratulations to all of the above but also to everyone who came along today and completed the course, whether running, jogging or walking or a mix of everything. Full results can be found at http://www.parkrun.org.uk/conynghamhall/results/latestresults/

Today there were just a couple of attendance milestones achieved. Firstly reaching 50 parkruns we had Chris SPENCE (37 at CH) and then up to 100 parkruns we had Alison ILES (14 at CH). Well done to you both and maybe we’ll see you in your new T-shirts in the next weeks.

Also mentions for first time visitor Laura BARRETT, more regularly finding herself looping around the racecourse at York, who reached 150 parkruns and Norman DRISKELL who was both today’s parkruniest parkrunner and touristy tourist!

After crossing the finish line, getting my breath back and getting scanned I was unfortunately up against the clock again with an early hotel checkout. We did though manage to seemingly gate-crash an event at Henshaws Arts & Crafts Centre but they were more than welcoming and managed a quick coffee in the cafe.

I’d like to finish with a final thank-you to Conyngham Hall parkrun and all its fantastic volunteers and wish you all the best for the future.

Damian BAKER, a tourist from Daventry (via Chesterfield), signing off.

1st three finishers

Damian and his Mum

End of an era - when its the first time you beat Dad!

Boston, London and Manchester marathon runners

Squirrel corner

Lucy got a PB by a whole 2 mins

Event #180 – The one where Norman made his debut

Posted on April 21, 2024 by conynghamhalloffice

The morning was dry and sunny, the extra car parking area had been opened and the grass in the farm ruins had been cut. As we set out the course, a bed practice started up the slope. Aaah, April/May in Knaresborough, nothing like it. Although it was dry and sunny, the shade of the ruins aka parkrun HQ, lead to discussions around layering for volunteers.

Kudos to Timekeeper Will Knowles and Marshal Richard Knowles, who along with Hazel Russell got in some training miles before parkrun, arriving ready for duties having already run from Ripon, some 9.5 miles, wow.

The parkrun family welcomed our newest four legged addition. Norman, whose human Stuart Charlton was happy to let several of us have a cuddle. So smart in his green sweater and bow tie. Walter, his canine big brother was on hand to ensure Norm wasn't too overwhelmed or spirited away by at least one volunteer.

We had visitors from Hull, Leeds, Margate, Manchester and South Africa. We recorded a good luck London Marathon message. Caleb Aylesbury achieved a third week of first finisher, with another new PB (keeping the others well and truly on their toes), with Ben and Tom finishing 2nd and 3rd. Ziva had a track event in the afternoon so gave someone else a chance to finish first female, and this accolade went to Katy Morrey, who we didn't manage to catch on camera. Congratulations Katy.

Aidan McNab finished in 6th place as Lee was just too speedy for him to maintain his 5th across the line. Always a smile from him which makes it worth while.

Around the course, bluebells could be found on the edge of Horseshoe field adding to the lovely Spring morning feel.

For those taking part it was pretty much perfect conditions confirmed by finishers whilst having their barcodes scanned. John and Katy even managed to find a sunny spot to conduct scanning in a sliver of warmth.

Milestone congratulations go to

10 parkruns (U18 milestone) - Joshua Tiffin

100 Conyngham Hall parkruns (137 overall) - Aidan McNab

51 volunteering occasions - Pete Noble this week's RD who reached his 50 last week but kept quiet, didn't want to shout out his own milestone

There was a gentleman running in a pair of very open sandals (he wears the toe shoes if it's muddy). Alexander Aylesbury shared a snippet of a gentleman who made his own sandals out of tyre rubber. Bet they had great tread on them (boom boom).

Andrew, aged five, along with his Dad, completed his first event today. The reward was ice cream afterwards and the purchasing of a model van. We hope we see you get a second parkrun result next week!

The final snapshot was from The Black Mulberry. Dave Sinton loves a custard cream so this was taken to show the collective biscuits that were munched in his absence.

A couple of reminders:

Sat 4th May - Star Wars / May Day dress up. Got your outfits sorted yet?

Sat 18th May - Our 5th birthday. It will be a 'Bring a Friend' event

and looking a little further ahead, we will have our usual annual cancellation on

Sat 8th June - The Great Knaresborough Bed Race

Finally, the stats...

Conyngham Hall parkrun, Event number 180, 20th April 2024

This week 107 people ran, jogged and walked the course, of whom 19 were first timers and 19 recorded new Personal Bests. Representatives of 18 different clubs took part.

The event was made possible by 16 volunteers:

Stephen CONSTABLE • Paula NICHOLLS • Tracy ALLISON • Jonathan STEARNE • Linda DODSWORTH • Steve DODSWORTH • Jo STEPHENSON • Stuart CHARLTON • Richard KNOWLES • William KNOWLES • Jackie KNIGHT • Andy EASTON • John NICHOLLS • Pete NOBLE • Sam HEATHCOTE • Katy GALLANTRY

Today's full results and a complete event history can be found on the Conyngham Hall parkrun Results Page.

Conyngham Hall parkrun started on 18th May 2019. Since then 6,146 participants have completed 21,748 parkruns covering a total distance of 108,740 km, including 2,910 new Personal Bests. A total of 540 individuals have volunteered 3,492 times.

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Conyngham Hall parkrun Event number 184 18th May 2024

Conyngham Hall parkrun Event number 182 4th May 2024

Conyngham Hall parkrun, Event number 180, 20th April 2024

Conyngham Hall parkrun
Event number 184
18th May 2024

Conyngham Hall parkrun
Event number 182
4th May 2024