After a week of seemingly continuous rain, the Chesapeake and Ohio National Historic Park Tow Path was nothing but puddles, puddles, and more puddles for this week’s parkrun. Swamp-like, so to speak. And looking a lot like the Preakness that took place later in the day, and the Kentucky Derby two weeks prior. The rain gods were ‘sort of’ smiling on the Fletcher’s Cove parkrun as the rain became only a drizzle by our 9:00 a.m. start.
Hardcore is the only word to describe the 21 runners who braved the elements. Of the finishers, six have run more than 50 parkruns and one has run more than 100. Today’s top finisher was Robin Larner with a time of 20:30. Running in his 88th parkrun, Jeff Neradka came in second at 24:45. The third finisher and top woman was Mary Lowe Mayhugh with a time of 26:45. You can see all the run results at http://www.parkrun.us/fletcherscove/results/latestresults/.
Special thanks go to the Kingsbury Center’s Innovation 5K. They had priority use of the Tow Path for their 8:00 a.m. run, but graciously agreed to share it with Fletcher’s Cove parkrun. And in the spirit of kindred runners, we entered a team in their 5K – Team parkrun: Cindy Cohen, Susan Crammond, David Donahue, Andres Falconer and Henry Wigglesworth. Cindy finished first in the Adult Women’s Division; Andres was 3rd in the Adult Men’s Division. And Henry graciously stepped in midway through the race, to course-correct the midpoint turn-around. Final note: Not getting enough puddles, puddles, and more puddles – Cindy and Andres double ‘dipped’, running Fletcher’s Cove parkrun on short rest!
Thanks go to volunteers Tita Chico, David Donahue, Sylvia Lesic, Nico Foxley, Tomas Foxley, Jason Legum, and Manuel Rivera. Please sign up to volunteer in a future run. Your help will be greatly appreciated by your fellow runners!
As with other Saturdays, the Fletcher’s Cove parkrun does not really end when the last finisher crosses the line. It continues with fellowship at Black Coffee on MacArthur Boulevard. Join us!
Finally, an important reminder: We are now enforcing the parkrun policy – No Barcode, No Time, No Exceptions. It also means you will note get credit for your next parkrun milestone. So remember to bring it, wear it, wristband it, laminate it and have it with you every Saturday.
- Joseph McKenzie, Run Director #117