Chris Heggs
In true parkrun Challenge race report style, let’s start with a tenuous musical reference.
Mark Morrison had a mid 1990’s hit with his song “return of the mack”, where the chorus consists of Mark repeating the phrase “return of the mack” punctuated with inspirational conclusions to each line, such as “come on”, “pump up the world”, “watch my flow” and “here I go”.
Sadly, Mark Morrison is not a member of Totley AC. Thus, it is unlikely that he was inspired to write the song whilst attending a Thursday night improvers session in horizontal hail, in the middle of February, whilst Marcus Adams encourages you to stretch muscles that you weren’t sure you even had.
Why am I rambling on about this? Simply to pad out a page of the newsletter? (perhaps) or my mind linking the “return of the TAC” (Totley AC) parkrun Challenge to the aforementioned tune?
The return of the Totley AC parkrun Challenge for its 2nd season began with a real bang.
Wow, where to start with the turnout for this one? Amazing, Astonishing, Astounding, Remarkable, Wonderful, Incredible, Startling, Marvellous (that’s enough synonym replacement using Microsoft Word for now).
80 attendees (78 runners and 2 volunteers) donned their finest greenery and traipsed the tarmac of Millhouses Park. It was fantastic to see so many familiar faces and those who were participating for the first time.
This was the inaugural use of a gender open draw for the pairings. It may be interesting to monitor the results as we progress through the events.
Our assembly may best be remembered for the funnel congestion that affected anyone finishing at around position 80 or higher. This did lead to some Totley personal bests, due to the course becoming ever so slightly shorter, as participants were not able to cross the finish line, due to the crowds. There was a brief rumour online that Totley had taken over the event and were responsible, which Scott Blanks took rightful umbrage to. It was quickly quelled.
What was in no doubt though, was that we gathered to share our enjoyment of running and of being a part of the wonderful Totley AC community.
We convene again at a new venue for the Challenge, Rother Valley Country Park, on the 20th of April. We are using this location to assist members in familiarising themselves with the course ahead of the Rother Valley relays, which take place on Tuesday 14th of May.