THE FOUNDER of the Thurrock parkrun, Trevor Rawson is moving away from the borough.
Without Trevor, there probably would not be a parkrun in Thurrock. In case you don’t know, a parkrun is a 5k timed run that takes race at 9anm every Saturday.
Thurrock’s takes place on Orsett Heath.
For some, the parkrun has transformed their lives and given them a focus and a tremendous sense of well-being.
So, thanks Trevor. Bon chance and au devoir. Maybe see you at the second birthday for Thurrock parkrun on October 2nd.
Let Trevor put his parkrun journey in his own words.
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After 10-months of thinking about it and parkrunning at Gunpowder and Basildon I was convinced it was a great idea. On 4 January 2015 I began the application process to set up Thurrock parkrun on Orsett Heath. Funding was applied for and received from Thurrock Public Health via Thurrock CVS. Thurrock Council Parks Department gave us the go ahead and then all we had in the way was the football pitch works.
And in September 2015 we held our test run with many of the regulars from Basildon parkrun and local running clubs. Two weeks later on 10 October 2015 we held our inaugural event with 16 volunteers and 113 parkruners.
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Since that day your parkrun has grown into a thriving community within the community. Thank you everyone for following the parkrun code.
There have been some great events, anxious moments, sad times and plenty of smiles along the way. I would personally like to Thank the Flood/Mann families for their contribution to your event. Reg volunteers regularly despite all that has been happening; even joining us on his 50th Wedding Anniversary last week! It was great to see him and Irene at Laura’s today.
We had our first parkrun Baby; Grace the beautiful daughter to Lucy and James.
We had a parkrunners wedding; Shirley and Colin jumped their Broomstick.
And we are getting our Milestone T-shirts, today it was core-team volunteer Jo’s turn to complete her 50th parkrun as our Tail-runner.
I have now volunteered at parkrun on 109 occasions and completed 92 parkruns at 17 different events. I now live in Norfolk so my commute to the start this morning was 115-miles. Not sure if this qualified me as a tourist but Thurrock will always be my home run. During my time I have made some great friends who have inspired me to do my best for others. I would go as far to say that parkrun has made me a better person. I sincerely thank everyone for your encouragement and building a community within the community.
On the 18 February I had the pleasure to hand over Thurrock parkrun to the capable hands of Liz and Peter.
Your co-Event Directors will take your event forward with a new impetus. Under way is the refurbishment of the changing rooms and they will liaise with Thurrock Council so we can have access. We now go to the welcoming Chadwell Cafe in Riverview for a post run social and Results Processing. Plans are afoot with parkrunner Boomy to create a community cafe on Orsett Heath.
Despite asking for a quiet send off, I gratefully received your presentation and made myself quite sick eating that Chocolate Egg!
I shall remain your volunteer coordinator for the next month or so and then it’s down to the fantastic volunteers and runners of Thurrock parkrun to make the magic happen every Saturday at 9am. I urge you to volunteer with as much notice as you can it keeps the worry out of not having sufficient volunteers to hold a safe event.
And now this weeks statistics:
This week 73 people ran, jogged and walked the course, of whom 15 were first timers and 16 recorded new Personal Bests. Representatives of 14 different clubs took part.
Today we achieved the milestone of 1,000 parkrunners have participated in 1 or more events at Thurrock.
We welcomed parkrun Tourists from; Gunpowder, Harrow Lodge, Hockley Woods, Oxford, Shrewsbury and Wanstead Flats.
The event was made possible by 15 selfless volunteers; Amy ALLEN, Colin AUSTIN, Jo BRETT-WAKELING, Peter EATES, Irene FLOOD, Reginald FLOOD, Sandra HARNOR, Michelle HOEY, Debbie MACINNES, Michael MALT, Ray MILLER, Marcus PREOU, Trevor RAWSON, Robert VINICOMBE and Shirley YOUNG.
