WITH a definite drop in temperature on Friday night Barry Island parkrun’s first job of the day was a course inspection.

With the threat of ice underfoot safety is always the priority and so at sunrise on Saturday morning the course was checked and it was decided that it was suitable to run on.

With the ongoing closure of the Eastern Shelter on the promenade the temporary course was again in use.

Starting at the Western Shelter the runners began to gather. Every week there is a briefing for new runners that have not run the course before or have not taken part in a parkrun before.

This week there were 22 ‘first timers’ eager to take on the challenge of the two lap course that winds its way out onto Nell’s Point and back again before turning around and doing it all again for the second time.

Barry Island parkrun like Porthcawl and Swansea Bay parkruns have magnificent sea views and take place along the Wales Coastal Path.

Crossing the finish line first this week was Jon Belcher of Lliswerry Runners in an impressive time of 18:23 ahead of Gareth Poston of Port Talbot Harriers and AC completing the course in 19:06. Third over the line was Scott Redfern in 19:28.

For the ladies it was Antoinette Nurse who was first female over the line in eighth place in a time of 21:28 to make it two first places out of two appearances, second place went to Gemma Spencer who stopped the clock on 22:19 and completing the top three was Gina Hardman of Bridgend AC in 22:28.

This week 128 runners took part including representatives of 17 different athletics clubs with 31 runners recording new personal best times.

One runner feeling particularly pleased with her run this week was Tracy Buckle. Since taking part in Barry Island’s first parkrun back in May 2015 Tracy has now completed 50 runs.

To mark these milestones, parkrun rewards the runners with club t-shirts. There’s ones for 50 runs, 100 runs, 250 and 500 runs. There’s even a 10 Club for juniors.

One other club that parkrun rewards with a very nice t-shirt is the 25 Club for volunteers. When a volunteer has helped at 25 runs they are entitled to claim their reward.

Coming up this weekend there is a takeover event. All the volunteer roles at Barry Island will be taken over by members of Cardiff running club White Rock Runners.

Take Over events are put on from time to time to show runners that there are running clubs in the area that offer much more than just a group of like minded people to run with.

Club take overs are a regular occurrence at Barry Island and this is the first of 2017. There will be members of White Rock Runners around the course this week and on hand to answer any questions you may have about the club.

Whilst there is a fantastic regular core team of volunteers, most of which are members of the 25 Club, Barry Island parkrun is always on the lookout for more helpers.

If you want to help out or want more information about volunteering at Barry Island parkrun you can get in touch at barryislandhelpers@parkrun.com or visit the website parkrun.org.uk/barryisland/volunteer

You don’t have to be a runner to help out and no experience is needed.