We headed to Stonehouse Juniors parkrun. Having previously done Stonehouse parkrun so knew where we were going. Initially it was for warm up leader, marshal and barcode scanning but my husband was kindly asked if he could also switch to marshal. You can read more about Junior parkrun on my previous post.
Oldends Lane Playing Fields, Oldends Lane, Stonehouse, GL10 2DG
Facilities
- Free parking
- Toilets
- Play area
- Skate park
The Course Stonehouse Juniors parkrun
This is a lovely 3 lap course all on grass. Just like the 5km at Stonehouse parkrun but as it is 2km in distance it meant that everyone was in sight of me on marshal point 4. Obviously also not going off the grass. This is a nice flat one making it ideal for children.
Starting not far away from the skate park and running clockwise. There are some cones to go round and a marshal (me) which is the end of each lap. After 3 they then cut off and head for the finish. My only concern was that some were sprinting towards the goal post!
About our time at Stonehouse Juniors parkrun
The Welcome
We received a lovely welcome. Made even better by the fact that the Run Director (Kat) knowing exactly who we were. I really appreciated being asked which marshal point I would prefer. Personally it made sense to be nearest where I would do the warm up and so that’s where I had. Obviously my husband said he didn’t mind where he went.
Kat asked if there were any questions and so this time I asked if there was anything I needed to know about where I was. It was just to try to know whether they were on lap 2 or 3 in order to help them filter off to the finish.
Other Touches
Things I really liked were seeing the Juniors volunteering. That was from pre course set up, helping with the warm up, right through to token sorting. With most likely helping with the post even close down too but I was busy helping myself and then we left as my husband had a race.
That there was a trolley with an array of hands to choose from to get those all-important high fives.
Before we all moved over to the skate park we all had a guess about how many participants there would be. Going with 50 it was nowhere near high enough as there were 66 finishers.
Of course it is a Junior parkrun thing however I loved the warmth from Kat when people told her that they were not from the local area but had an achieved a milestone band. Obviously she happily gave these out.
Warm up Leader at Stonehouse Juniors parkrun
Once again I took along my speaker to be the warm up leader this time at Stonehouse Juniors parkrun. Armed with a list of exercises and a row of children standing at the front who were very versed in what to do.
This week the music was Shake it off and everyone seemed happy to get involved. Once again starting with jogging on the spot. Next was squat and jump to the sun. Must admit it was easier not having to do ten of these. Followed by jogging with the front swinging arms and then back.
Then we did hula hoop circles with the waist each way. Both directions and feet of ankle circles, high knees, bum kicks, before reaching the Gorilla Stomp countdown. We all then cheered and they made their way to the start line.
This was not far away and near my marshal point 4.
Results Stonehouse Juniors parkrun
All children did great running and it was a pleasure to receive so many high fives!
- 66 participants finished in times ranging from 8:08-21:30.
- 41 male and 23 female, plus 2 unknown.
- First finisher was JW11-14
- Also with the highest age grade 72.47 %.
- First male finished in 9:01.
- A JM10
- And highest male age grade with 66.38%.
- 10 first timers
- 3 tourists
- 13 PBs
12 participants finished in under 10 minutes – a time I would love to be able to do!
26 children finished in under 12 minutes – the equivalent pace of a 30 minute 5k parkrun.
It was also really lovely to see all the new milestone t-shirts. Obviously I didn’t take photos as they were on children I don’t know but they are such lovely colours.
Visit these other bloggers who cover parkrun: Sarah at Mum of Three World, Jackie at Never Imitate and Chrissy at It’s Me Chrissy J and Nickie at I am Typecast