Newsdesk

Tim Carr in his 400th parkrun at Maidstone

Maidstone's Milestones

'No publicity' Dave Moorekite finishes 100th in his 100th parkrun!

runABC South reporter Alan Newman enjoyed his regular visit to Maidstone parkrun on Saturday 5 August – event #472 and unremarkable at first glance, that is until you look beneath the surface.

The heavy rain had eased to a light drizzle as the Maidstone parkrun fairies worked their magic once again. It seldom rains at 9:00am on Saturday mornings at the Museum of Kent Life, Lock Lane, Sandling, where this riverside course starts and finishes, or the wrath of Maidstone parkrun's Run Director Donna Carr would be incurred!

The highlight of the traditional pre-run announcements was the celebration of Maidstone parkrun milestones but there was a glaring omission as the publicity-averse Dave Moorekite (Larkfield AC) was trying to keep a low profile on his 100th run.

That plan was unlikely to succeed after the VM80 Maidstone age category record holder (25:10 in 2021) managed the statistically improbable feat of finishing exactly 100th in his 100th parkrun, while setting the top age grade (85.76%) for his 26:34 on the Maidstone River Park route beside the River Medway. To add to the spooky stats, the M80 category runner was the 80th male to finish!

The former semi-pro footballer has exceeded 80% age grading every year since his parkrun journey began in 2013 – including a personal best time of 22:14 in 2014 and his best age grading of 87.81% in 2019. His 100 parkrun total includes 93 at Maidstone plus tourist appearances at Bushy Park (for the annual over-80 parkrunner's pilgrimage), Hackney Marshes, Plym Valley, Cardiff, Worsley Woods, and Amager Strandpark in Copenhagen.

Also among the milestones this week was M55 Rob Payne (200 runs) who finished 21st in 21 minutes! Meanwhile, Donna's husband Tim Carr was proudly sporting a bespoke designer '400' t-shirt – official higher milestone t-shirts are awarded for 100, 250, and 500 parkruns.     

Saturday's 26-strong hi-viz army of volunteers, led by the ever-smiling Donna Carr, included Ramon Saiz (Maidstone Harriers), who jogged out to marshall halfway after completing his 250th parkrun the previous weekend, when the MV85 campaigner had finished...260th in 43:10...just two minutes away from another remarkable coincidence. Ramon started running in Madrid as a youngster and has never stopped, despite some significant recent health issues. 

Ramon summed up the special parkrun milestone experience when he said after last week: "On my way out when facing the returning runners, I was overwhelmed by the shouts of support and congratulations. I couldn't answer all of them or I would have been short of breath. Very emotional. What a great family!"

As for this reporter's experience – an unremarkable 149th parkrun I'm afraid. Although, still hugely enjoyable, and pleased to have received a thank you from fellow runner Leonie Nalcioglu (Thurrock Harriers, 22:11) for helping achieve her best-ever parkrun time!               

Photo: Tim Carr in his 400th parkrun courtesy Maidstone parkrun news

Start Fundraising On GoFundMe

GoFundMe

Previous & Next News

top