Happy birthday Hanley parkrun

This weekend was the second anniversary of parkrun in Hanley – the free weekly timed 5km run.

I know I blog a lot about parkrun, but it’s the main reason I started running and they do form the majority of the events I run at.

It was also a great opportunity to go back and see some familiar faces, revisit a hilly course and, of course, celebrate afterwards with cake.

As it was the second birthday, the field of runners (over 100 for the first time in two years) was filled with fancy dress ranging from giraffes to supermen.

Although I didn’t get a PB – I blame the lack of hills in my training – I ran my socks off in my new Saving Lives vest I’ll be wearing in my Birmingham half marathon (don’t forget you can still sponsor me!).

Because it was the anniversary, there were a few awards presented at the start, including for the top three men and women across the past 12 months.

This included Stephen Askey, who was the third place man in the points competition but sadly passed away just over a week ago.

His bronze medal and certificate will be displayed at his club, Newcastle (Staffs) AC.

It was great to see all of these people recognised on the start line – but at the same time it reminded me how things had changed since the first event in 2011 when there were 17 runners.

I really had no idea when I set it up that it would attract so many people, change the way they approach running and bring different clubs together.

But under the stewardship of Bryn Holmes and Liz Tideswell, things are pretty much the same. After all, it’s the same course run every week, which is the beauty of parkrun!

To find out more about Hanley parkrun, and to see more photos, visit www.parkrun.org.uk/hanley