Porthcawl parkrun 10 year anniversary special

The club at Porthcawl parkrun

355 different runners are currently listed as Ogmore Phoenix Runners and have completed the course at least once (this does include a few juniors). This is the most of any club. Those 355 runners have completed 9,642 Porthcawl parkruns between them.

The inaugural and record attendance growth

Although not all had joined the club at the time, current members who ran at the inaugural Porthcawl parkrun on 13th April 2013 include David Sheard, Chris Pratt, Peter Harrop, John Burridge and myself.

There were 134 runners in total at the first Porthcawl parkrun and the average for the first year was only around 100. By the end of 2015, there were regularly 200+, then 300+ in 2016 before a huge record attendance of 425 on Christmas Eve that year. In January 2020, there were 667 finishers which remains a record. Numbers were significantly lower after returning from the parkrun pause but are now around the 400 mark again.

Most individual Porthcawl parkruns

I believe the record for most Porthcawl parkruns in held by Michael Davies (Porthcawl Runners) who has completed all of his 391 parkruns at Porthcawl despite serious illness during that time.

As for our runners, our top 10 for most Porthcawl parkruns are…

  1. Nick Harris 323
  2. David Sheard 295
  3. Chris Pratt 293
  4. Gareth Jenkins 255
  5. Peter Harrop 227
  6. David Kembery 212
  7. Claire Goldsworthy 204
  8. Chris Roberts 176
  9. Liz Davis 175
  10. Bev Sheard 162

Gareth Davies, Angharad Rees, Ian Lewis, Debbie Bennion, Ben Davies, Kris Denholm, Sharon Pritchard, Gary Loo, Dai Power, Sara Davies and Jo Jenkins have all also completed over 100 Porthcawl parkruns.

Fastest Phoenixes at Porthcawl parkrun

Our fastest listed Porthcawl parkrun time is 16:21 by Jacob Tasker which is also the 13th fastest time recorded by any runner at Porthcawl parkrun, just behind former GB international James Thie and ahead of Olympian and World Triathlon Champion Helen Jenkins. Nicky Bennett is next up with 17:20 and then returning member Dai James with 17:42. Gareth Richards, Ryan Evans, Gareth Battle, Niki Puleio, Neil Price, Josh Parry, Aled Hughes and John Burridge have all run sub 19 at Porthcawl whilst former members Neil Jones and Adrian Pearce also fall into that category. We then have a further 16 members that have run sub 20.

Jacob Tasker, Nicky Bennett and Neil Price Worth noting that Neil Jones has run 17:01 at Porthcawl and was first finisher on 5 occasions at Porthcawl whilst a member of our club. Dai James has been first finisher on two occasions whilst Jacob Tasker, Nicky Bennett and Neil Price have all been first finishers as well in what is a very competitive parkrun at the front.

Our top 10 fastest females are

  1. Anneliese Loveluck 20:41
  2. Sian Price 21:14
  3. Amy Roberts 21:53
  4. Claire Dunbar-Bowen 22:20 – fastest current member
  5. Shelley Smithson 22:34
  6. Josie Bishop 23:05
  7. Lorna Domachowski 23:05
  8. Sarah Littlewood 23:21
  9. Kirsty Evans 23:41
  10. Emma Loyns 23:50

Current female members with sub 25 times at Porthcawl include Denise Bradley, Julia Esmond, Rosie Salvatore, Sarah Davies, Jo Jenkins, Fiona Drysdale and Liz Davis.

Both Anneliese and Sian have also been first female finishers at Porthcawl.

Random stats

Biggest variation in fastest and slowest time: Chris Pratt 19:54 to 01:02:54

Oldest Porthcawl parkrun PB: Martin Beard 22:34 (27/09/14)

Fastest average Porthcawl parkrun time: Nicky Bennett 19:00 from 9 runs

First current Phoenix member to reach 50 parkruns at Porthcawl: Chris Pratt

First current Phoenix member to reach 100 parkruns at Porthcawl: Chris Pratt

First current Phoenix member to reach 250 parkruns at Porthcawl: Nick Harris

Most parkruns away from Porthcawl even though it’s considered their ‘home parkrun’: Gareth Jenkins 156

Volunteering

It seems fitting to end with some stats on the volunteers and the 436 Porthcawl parkruns wouldn’t have been possible without them. We’re very fortunate a Porthcawl to have a super dedicated and experienced core volunteer team – many of which have close links with Welsh Athletics and organise / volunteer at numerous other running events.

One of that core team is a a former club member – Maria Lalic who has volunteered at Porthcawl on over 250 seperate occasions. Of our current members, Angela Parry, Chris Pratt, Peter Harrop, David Sheard, Liz Davis, Chris Roberts and myself have all volunteered at Porthcawl on a dozen or more occasions.

Well done to everyone who has represented our club at Porthcawl parkrun whether it’s running, volunteering or supporting.