Hogmoor turns yellow for Alton Runners takeover
What a beautiful Saturday morning it was for parkrun—perfect sunshine, light breezes, and flip-flop conditions for some of our marshals! The 298th event at Hogmoor Inclosure saw 255 participants take part, including 28 first-timers to Hogmoor, with 8 of them being completely new to parkrun. If you're one of those newcomers, welcome to the parkrun family! I hope this is just the start of your parkrun journey, and I look forward to seeing you back again soon—parkrun really is the best way to kick off your weekend.
Anyone who was there couldn’t have missed the sea of yellow vests around the course. This week, local running club Alton Runners took over all volunteer roles—31 of us in total, filling every spot from Run Director to Barcode Scanning to Course Marshal. It was a fantastic way for us to give back to the parkrun community and show our support for this event we love so much.
As one of the volunteers (Barcode Scanning and Report Writer, obviously), it was a real pleasure to be part of the team. Jim Armitage, Alton Runners’ Chairperson, kicked things off with the first-timers briefing, welcoming everyone new to Hogmoor. Then, Darren Mansfield, our Run Director for the day, did the usual event briefing, sharing that the course conditions were looking good. He handed over to Jim, who gave a brief intro to Alton Runners and plugged our upcoming Alton 10-mile road race on 11th May. Jim encouraged anyone interested to grab a flyer, speak to one of us in a yellow vest, or visit www.altonrunners.co.uk to find out more and sign up.
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Darren also introduced our pacing team, all provided by Alton Runners. With pacers covering times from 22 to 36 minutes, it was no surprise that 48 participants achieved a Personal Best (PB) this week—what an achievement!
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We also had some great milestones to celebrate. Huge congratulations to Nigel Downing for completing his 25th parkrun, and to Neil Hopkins and Ethan Armstrong for hitting 50 parkruns. Ethan, who ran with a 50-balloon attached to his back, even managed to achieve a PB—quite remarkable, especially considering he's only 6 years old! Another huge well done to Ros Crawford, who completed her 450th parkrun, and to Jenny French, who marked her 100th volunteer credit. You’re all amazing!
After the briefing, the crowd excitedly made their way to the start line, and then they were off! Rob Peters crossed the line first in an impressive 17:56, while Wenjia Chen was the first female finisher in 23:39. Huge congratulations to both of you!
Special mentions go to Sara Rhimes and Andrew Lowton, who both achieved the highest age-grade percentages of the day. Well done to both of you!
Reflecting on the event, Darren shared his thoughts: “It was a fantastic parkrun and one of my favourites as RD. I felt extremely proud looking across a sea of yellow t-shirts, knowing I was part of this incredible club. A gentleman came over to me after his run and thanked me for the fantastic experience. He was so pleased he’d chosen Hogmoor for his parkrun this week and had no idea Alton Runners were doing a takeover. He mentioned he struggled to keep up with the 26-minute pacer but was still happy with his time. He was impressed with how involved the club members were and took a moment to thank me again for a wonderful morning.”
A big thank you to everyone who made this event so memorable, especially the amazing volunteers from Alton Runners. I’m so proud to be part of this incredible club and can’t wait for the next parkrun! See you all next week!
If you’re looking to volunteer—and I really recommend it—do get in touch with the Hogmoor parkrun events team. I know they would love to hear from you! The Hogmoor Inclosure parkrun future volunteer roster can be found here.
Article by Lydia Andrews
12/04/2025