After the flooding, snow, and ice, parkrun was back on the table in Greater Manchester. Juno and Ben were marshaling at South Manchester event #679. A whopping 647 runners took part, which is their 5th highest EVER and the most since the COVID pandemic. 28 volunteers made sure the event went ahead, with some last-minute double funnel action required at the finish line due to the large numbers!

Hope the other GoodGymers had a good parkrun morning

After the New Year flooding, Didsbury Sports Ground was badly damaged after the River Mersey burst its banks. Following the snow and ice, the Environmental Agency were finally able to pump the water out to enable to clear up to start over the past week. Fletcher Moss parkrun planned a last-minute clear up of the storage container also used by personal trainers, cricket team, plus other community group users of DSG facilities.

Despite the heavy mud and water damaged interior, we managed to clear out the storage container, discard any items damaged beyond repair in the skip, and pressure washer items to remove mud, sludge, and sewage leaving things looking at little better than previously. It was much muckier than expected so hope Gameel was able to get clothes cleaned and warm!

After 2.5 hours, we managed to successfully clean, semi-dry, and return undamaged items to the container in the hope that it will remain tidy and used by groups in the near future.

Did the course check, pre event set up, and 1st timers briefing at Fletcher Moss parkrun this morning. For one marshal, he got his "dream come true" marshal point at Old Bedians in the furthest corner of the park from the start finish area.

Lots of tourists and 1st timers.

Nearly 300 runners and walkers completed the 5 km course at a muddy Fletcher Moss parkrun event #232 this morning. Gosia and I were on hand go help with the setup before Gosia marshaled at point 7 near the bench. I was funnel manager and photographer for the morning.

Lots of Christmas cheer and excellent outfits for the penultimate event of 2024. Christmas tunes were on hand to welcome runners at the start and through the finish funnel.

Juno and I helped with set up and marshaled at Old Bedians (marshal point 5) at Fletcher Moss parkrun event number 231. 312 runners and walkers completed the 5 km course.

Afterwards went to pick up my high viz ready for the Stockport 10 where we'll be marshaling tomorrow, with more festive attire.

parkrun is completely run by volunteers. Regularly we get 400+ at Fletcher Moss parkrun.

With Storm Darragh being highlighted in the media and weather warnings around, many other local parkruns cancelled ahead of time, awaiting winds of 50+ mph and heavy rain. The course remained clear on Friday and actually OK on Saturday morning (after removing the odd stray branch or small tree that had come down). However, with only 3 marshals (two having to leave early), many first-time volunteers handing out finish tokens, barcode scanning, and timekeeping, and likely much higher participant numbers due to local cancellations, we had to cancel as the forecast remained high winds and the poplars were starting to sway a bit.

I managed to recruit some sign language support for the pre-run briefings and actually ran >5 km by running to the course and then running the course to check it was safe.

Thank you to all the volunteers, who continued to receive their parkrun volunteer credit despite the cancellation.

Marshal at Mount Fletcher and helped with set up for Fletcher Moss parkrun event #230. 372 (ish) runners and walkers completed the 5 km route on a mild November morning.

Gosia and Juno ably helped, with Laura at Cheat's Corner to make sure everyone completed their 2 laps.