New Year, more cake!

Happy New Year one and all! And what better way to kick off 2024 than with parkrun, GoodGym, cake and a healthy dose of mud?

This morning Maidenhead parkrun #390 met GoodGym Windsor and Maidenhead Community Mission #1070.

326 parkrunners put on their trainers to run, walk and skip their first 5km of the year around the Braywick Park route, and 33 volunteers put on parkrun hi-viz and their best cheering voices to welcome the runners and help make the event a success.

14 of those volunteers were GoodGymers, showing up for our first good deeds of our January Challenge. If this event was the first time you've come across GoodGym, then welcome! Please do have a browse of our listings and sign up to join us on a session. This month we'll be doing everything from planting trees to taking down Christmas decs for Age Concern. We meet every Wednesday evening in Maidenhead and Thursday evening in Windsor, and have plenty of other activities to choose from during the daytime and at weekends too. Everyone is welcome and there is no minimum time commitment. Any questions, email amylovell@goodgym.org.

Many thanks to parkrun Run Director Nick, who welcomed us in his GoodGym t-shirt and kept everything running smoothly. No time for his famous poetry today, but a sign language volunteer and lots of milestones to celebrate meant his briefing was still characteristically welcoming and engaging.

Milestones included Isla Ralph and Robin Lovell joining the Junior 10 club, Katie Colwill, Harry Povey, John Furley and Maggie Hyndman reaching 25 parkruns, Jemma Springle, Sue Kitson, Dalton Crook, Laurence Derx, David Gordon Smith and Emily Bullock reaching 50, Lyndsey Cunningham and Richard Coleman reaching the big 1-0-0 and Joanne Whitfeld hitting an epic 250. Congratulations to these heroes!

There were 38 people running/walking Maidenhead for the first time, 8 of whom were doing their first ever parkrun. 27 people celebrated PBs this morning, which is no mean feat on a muddy course and following late nights seeing in the New Year. Well done to Steve Francis and Louise Fry, who zoomed round to be the first male and female finishers respectively - inspiring stuff!

The numbers always give cause for celebration and are of interest for the stats geeks among us, but the reason we all love parkrun is the supportive and friendly atmosphere we find there every Saturday morning, and as a bonus on Christmas Day and New Year's Day. Like at GoodGym, it doesn't matter how fit you are, the main thing is that you're getting out, being active, being sociable and doing something positive...

...and there is often cake! Thanks to today's baked goods providers Claire, Juli, Susan Maskell, Ros Ralph and Sol, who helped make parkrun extra rewarding today!

Happy New Year, happy parkrunday and many happy returns!