The conditions for today’s Parkrun were very difficult, over the last few days we have had a lot of wet wintry weather, so some parts of the course were still lying under a thin layer of Snow and the grassed areas were very muddy. I think this was enough to put a lot runners off as the total number of Park runners this week was down to 122 compared to the previous weeks record attendance of 226.

Today’s Parkrun started on a sombre note for Stoke F.I.T. as news had reached us earlier in the week that one of our runners Alex Cartwright had sadly passed way, Hanley Parkrun were fantastic as usual and allowed Stephen Minshull to open the preceding run talk with a few words about Alex which were followed by a minutes applause by everyone at today’s Parkrun, this was a fantastic tribute for the lose of a fellow runner. R.I.P Alex

We had 20 club runners that are listed in the final standings, Out of our 20 listed club runners we had 3 PB’s and 2 First Timer’s.
Our highest placed male runner was Gareth Jones in 4th place with a very impressive time of 20:49 PB The highest placed Stoke F.I.T. Female runner was Sharon Simpson who came in 73rd with a fantastic time of 31:03

Stoke F.I.T. had another fantastic turnout which meant that yet again we were the most represented Club at today’s parkrun.

As it was the last Saturday of the month Parkrun asks for volunteers to wear pacer shirts, this is a fantastic idea as it helps other runners to step up and push themselves that little bit harder and hopefully come away with a shiny new PB. Stoke F.I.T. had two of the pace positions, myself (Paul Glover) and Stephen Willett were wearing the pacer shirts 25 & 30 minutes respectively.

As well as all our amazing runners we also had a number of club members who were there to cheer us all on and several more that were volunteering as Marshall’s to help provide a safe and fun Parkrun for all.

Yet again another superb day to be part of Stoke F.I.T.