NUMBERS were down for the 294th Queen Elizabeth Country Park Parkrun on Saturday due to the terrible weather.

Nevertheless, 66 people braved the conditions and ran, jogged and walked the course.

Twenty-three were first timers, two recorded new personal bests and representatives of 18 running clubs took part. The first finisher was Simon Kolstoe, who crossed the line in a time of 21min 30secs.

Kolstoe also recorded the highest age grade of the day with 63.49 per cent in the VM40-44 age category.

The first female runner home was Marie Pollitt, who finished in 25th place overall in a time of 26min 55secs.

The first junior runner home was Elliot Lewis, who finished in 23rd place overall in a time of 25min 41secs.

Daniel Phoenix completed his 100th parkrun on Saturday. He started parkrunning at event number two on May 25, 2013. He has run 80 times at Queen Elizabeth Country Park and is one of the team of run directors.

The event was made possible by 11 volunteers who helped out on the day – they were: Phil Henderson, Ivor McQuaid, Jane Woodroof, Kevin McTaggart, Amelie Lewis, Tessa Briggs, Pippa White, Tanya Roberts, Harriet White, Max Becvar and John Roberts.

Queen Elizabeth Parkrun started on May 18, 2013. Since then 5,294 participants have completed 23,337 parkruns, covering a total distance of 116,685km, including 3,673 new personal best times. A total of 517 individuals have volunteered 3,750 times.