?? An outpouring of support shown for Craig Barstow’s family and friends and an emotional parkrun for Vegan Runners this week as VRs came together to dedicate this event to Craig, running with his picture and with Craig in mind. For those who don’t know, Craig sadly passed away at the parkrun event in Chevin Forest on 15th June. A much-loved member of Vegan Runners, Craig was also a member of the Harrogate Harriers and members from both clubs ran together at our biggest meetup this week in Leeds, at Woodhouse Moor parkrun. Thank you to Jo Rickerby for sharing the photo commemorating this event. 

On this last parkrun of June 2024, numbers surged back up into the 900s. 913 VRs attended 369 different parkrun events. 844 gained a finish token and we had over 70 wonderful volunteers. 

Here are the meetup locations with numbers of VRs attending: 

35 Woodhouse Moor parkrun 

24 Vogrie parkrun 

23 Poole parkrun 

17 Jersey Farm parkrun 

13 Eastville parkrun 

11 Hampstead Heath parkrun 

11 Worcester Pitchcroft parkrun 

8 Ganger Farm parkrun 

7 Shorne Woods parkrun 

6 Pegwell Bay parkrun 

6 Pomphrey Hill parkrun 

6 Bognor Regis parkrun 

6 Hastings parkrun 

6 Sixfields Upton parkrun 

5 Brighton & Hove parkrun 

5 Hull parkrun 

5 Eastbourne parkrun 

5 Colwick parkrun 

5 Southampton parkrun 

5 Southsea parkrun 

5 Braunstone parkrun 

5 Arrow Valley parkrun 

5 Long Eaton parkrun 

5 Wycombe Rye parkrun 

5 Barnstaple parkrun 

5 Rising Sun parkrun 

5 Folkestone parkrun 

5 Tooting Common parkrun 

5 Catford parkrun 

5 Isabel Trail parkrun 

5 Centre Vale parkrun 

5 Warwick Racecourse parkrun 

5 Hunstanton Promenade parkrun 

5 Peel parkrun 

5 Storeys Field parkrun 

5 Beacon Hill Country Park parkrun 

5 Wakehurst parkrun 

There were also: 

• Four Vegan Runners at 13 parkrun locations 
• Three VRs at 40 parkruns 
• Two at 99 events 
• And one hundred and eighty of you were solo repping 

Outside of the UK, we had Vegan Runners representing our club at the following number of events in these countries: 

?? 3 Germany 

??            2 Sweden 

?? 2 South Africa 

??           2 Netherlands 

?? 2 Denmark 

?? 2 Canada 

??           2 Australia 

??           1 United States 

??            1 Poland 

?? 1 Italy 

?? 1 Ireland 

Our top ten fastest men this week, with phenomenal times, were: 

?00:16:45 Philip Nind Colwick parkrun 78.31% age grade 

?00:17:19 Matt Edmonds Fulham Palace parkrun 75.07% age grade 

?00:17:25 Geoffrey Gregory Shepton Mallet parkrun 80.19% age grade 

?00:17:39 Neil Sexton Poole parkrun 80.93% age grade 

?00:17:54 Joe Burn Isabel Trail parkrun 73.65% age grade 

?00:18:02 Matthew Du Cros Poole parkrun 71.72% age grade 

?00:18:03 Joseph Brown Milford Waterfront parkrun 72.30% age grade 

?00:18:06 Alex Hinchcliffe Vogrie parkrun 71.27% age grade 

?00:18:11 Michael Slack Woodhouse Moor parkrun 77.36% age grade 

?00:18:13 Shane Conroy Warwick Racecourse parkrun 74.38% age grade 

And incredible perfomances also from our top ten fastest women, with eight out of ten running their parkrun course in under 21 minutes: 

?00:20:07 Fiona Newman Ferry Meadows parkrun 86.58% age grade 

?00:20:07 Katie Louise Wright Hove Promenade parkrun 76.47% age grade 

?00:20:11 Paula Blackledge Brighton & Hove parkrun 83.07% age grade 

?00:20:19 Kelsey Wiberley Warwick Racecourse parkrun 73.34% age grade 

?00:20:29 Clare Meraz Gloucester North parkrun 75.10% age grade 

?00:20:41 Lesley Connors Woodhouse Moor parkrun 80.10% age grade 

?00:20:41 Caroline McAleese Stratford Park parkrun, Stroud 78.32% age grade 

?00:20:41 Helen Seymour Marine Parade parkrun 72.28% age grade 

?00:21:33 Charlotte Barton Pegwell Bay parkrun 68.68% age grade 

?00:21:34 Julie Oswald Vogrie parkrun 81.76% age grade 

I’ve checked out the age grades of our top tens this week purely out of interest, national class level is 80%. World class is 90%. Just goes to show how effectively a vegan diet can fuel top class performance. ???? Absolutely amazing – congratulations! ?? 

These VRs came first in their gender position at their parkrun: 

?00:16:45 Philip Nind Colwick parkrun 

?00:17:25 Geoffrey Gregory Shepton Mallet parkrun 

?00:18:03 Joseph Brown Milford Waterfront parkrun 

?00:19:13 Scott Hunter Sharpham Estate parkrun 

?00:20:11 Paula Blackledge Brighton & Hove parkrun 

?00:20:19 Kelsey Wiberley Warwick Racecourse parkrun 

?00:20:29 Clare Meraz Gloucester North parkrun 

?00:20:41 Caroline McAleese Stratford Park parkrun, Stroud 

?00:20:41 Helen Seymour Marine Parade parkrun 

?00:21:34 Julie Oswald Vogrie parkrun 

?00:22:26 Geraldine Larham University of Northampton parkrun 

?00:23:01 Sophie Burnett Sizewell parkrun 

?00:23:18 Lydia Kindred Swaffham parkrun 

?00:25:37 Kirsty Atkinson Shiraz Trail parkrun 

Marvellous milestones this week were achieved by: 

?25 David Webb 

?50 Rebecca Webster 

?300 Sue Waller 

Fantastic dedication and repping for the animals ?????? 

The average time for all Vegan Runners to complete the course on this last event of June 2024 was 30:15 ⏱ 

One hundred and thirty-four VRs gained a new Personal Best for 2024 – check back tomorrow to find out who! ? 

Shoutouts to seventeen Vegan Runners who finished their parkrun in a multiple of fifty position: 

?50 00:29:51 Kay Cottrell 

?50 00:31:40 Rachael Ban 

?50 00:22:21 August Frew 

?100 00:26:25 Carrie Leach 

?100 00:33:23 Derryn Wenhold 

?100 00:33:42 Wendy Brigstock 

?100 00:28:29 Andrew Johnson 

?100 00:28:24 Darren Phillips 

?150 00:25:48 Jon Taylor 

?150 00:26:15 Rajiv Mulchandani 

?150 00:28:27 Akos Marton 

?200 00:34:02 Diane May 

?250 00:32:11 Stacie Long 

?250 00:41:42 David Sharratt 

?250 00:28:12 David Anderson 

?300 00:31:28 Emma Gaut 

?400 00:31:33 Sofia Liubarova 

On the noughty step this week we have seventeen again, penalities and forfeits for: 

?20:00 Richard Foster Ashton Court parkrun 

?20:00 Adam Kirsh Pegwell Bay parkrun 

?22:00 Jamie Kinghorn Montrose parkrun 

?23:00 Jason Corden Brierley Forest parkrun 

?23:00 Sean O’Connor Severn Bridge parkrun 

?25:00 Dani Ross Winchester parkrun 

?25:00 Carrie Webb Storeys Field parkrun 

?26:00 Chris Dhondee Catford parkrun 

?27:00 Sean Dickinson Felixstowe parkrun 

?28:00 Andrew Collinson Poole parkrun 

?28:00 Alison Unwin Whinlatter Forest parkrun 

?28:00 Nicola Lewton Cirencester parkrun 

?30:00 Damien Walsh Storeys Field parkrun 

?32:00 Alice Peillon Mile End parkrun 

?47:00 Neil Byrne Waterworks parkrun 

?49:00 Andrea Lynda Gnoll parkrun 

?65:00 Steve Proudley Hafan Pwllheli parkrun 

And last but not least, let’s hear it for our amazing repdigit reppers! Ice cream and strawberries this week for: 

??11 Gareth Davies 

??11 Helen Seymour 

??11 Julie Oswald 

??11 Lydia Kindred 

??11 Matt Dyer 

??11 Nathann Thornton 

??11 Richard Thompson 

??22 Lee Billinghurst 

??22 Michael Jefferys 

??22 Nehal Lavey-Khan 

??33 Charlotte Skipper 

??33 Craig McAllister 

??33 Dan Russell 

??44 Gareth Rogers 

??44 Lesley Connors 

??44 Matthew Perrin 

??44 Richard Twine 

??44 Steven Buck 

??55 Joseph Molyneux 

??55 Josh Skipper 

??55 Roseanne Soar 

??66 Ben Parkinson 

??66 Steve Proudley 

??77 Emily Pereira 

??77 Ian Everett 

??77 Olivia Deacon 

??77 Rebecca Lait 

??77 Ruth Jordan 

??77 Samantha Tapp 

??88 Emma Blackmore 

??88 Rachel Charnock 

??99 Claire Louise Carroll 

??99 Heath Harvey-List 

??111 Chris  Dhondee 

??222 Janet Birchnall-Travers 

??222 Joanna Cruttenden 

??222 Sarah Priestley 

??222 Stephen Miller 

??333 James Porter 

No closing words from me this week, your posts and pictures have said it all.
RIP Craig Barstow, clearly a much-loved member of the Vegan Runners’ community. ??