After two days of torrential rain, the Hogmoor course was not as flooded as could reasonably been expected on a Saturday when many parkruns fell victim of the wet weather.

Conditions for running were surprisingly decent and there was no rain during the run.

As ever, huge thanks to the volunteer team which this week, was made up of members of Alton Runners –

Jim Armitage, Terry Blake, Molly Byrne, Sarah Dugdale, Caroline Freeman, Jenny French, Lynsey Hobbs, Hollie Ibbs, Jenny Ibbs, Xavier Ibbs, James Kidwell, Adrian Lambeth, Jane Law, Gordon Law, Fran Light, James Perrett, Pippa Perrett, Kathryn Powell, Lola Powell, Philip Scrase, Richard Scrase, Lisa Woolnough

Of 308 starters, there were 57 Hogmoor first-timers this week, 28 of whom were first time anywhere parkrunners.

44 PBs were recorded - congratulations all - that, had the bell been rung for all, would have had us thinking morning worship was to follow.

Other items of note from Hogmoor #234 –

• 1983 London Marathon winner Mike Gratton ran his 8th Hogmoor parkrun finishing in 95th place. Mike has run 59 parkruns at 34 different venues. Alton Runners Chairperson Jim Armitage was over the moon at handing a finisher’s token to the marathon running legend
• Ken Steel completed his 100th Hogmoor parkrun; having started in 2018 and now done 131 in total. Ken was brought into the parkrun fold by Alton Runner’s very own Fran Light and her “rookie runners” programme.
• Jess Cross, Gemma Reeder and Samantha Arlow achieved the 50-parkrun milestone
• Caroline and Ryan Partner (Basingstoke parkrun veterans) ran their 377th and 324th parkruns respectively -both first timers at Hogmoor.
• Timothy Cummins of Farnham completed his 550th (!) parkrun; an extraordinary ongoing achievement; many congratulations

It will be a few more wintry runs at Hogmoor before the sand becomes like a beach again in the sunshine. Until then, good luck on this “commando course” of a parkrun which is more of a test than most.

Alton Runners looks forward to hosting future Hogmoor Inclosure Parkruns.