Weather-wise it was a perfect morning for Christopher Rawlins Primary School to “Take Over” Banbury parkrun. This was an opportunity to introduce the joy of parkrun to parents, staff and pupils who might not otherwise be involved. As Jude, our Junior Run Director pointed out at the start, the children are taught about the benefits of daily exercise. parkrun is the perfect way to encourage children to get into the habit, and discover the pleasure, of regular exercise. The same of course applies to those of us whose school days are a distant memory. The benefits of parkrun for physical and mental wellbeing are documented in the survey on page 44 of the new parkrun magazine. It was a delight to see so many determined sprint-finishes from the youngest runners.

Our Core Team and one or two of our regular hi-viz heroes were joined by the CRPS volunteers. The 10th landmark was reached by Steve Yeomans, Paul Saru, Charlie Watts, Phillipa Upton and Kate Huggins. Stuart Holder earned his red 50th T-shirt while it was the 100th time out for Fran Morrow. Congratulations! There were also birthday wishes for Helen Inskip. 16 runners smashed their Personal Best while 26 first timers joined us in the sunshine. Hopefully they felt welcomed to the family and have all been bitten by the parkrun bug.

Nadine Sambrook, PE Lead at Christopher Rawlins Primary School

If you would like to know more about parkrun, or get involved in the Banbury run please visit https://www.parkrun.org.uk/banbury/