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A TALE OF TWO PARKRUNS WITH PAPHOS RUNNING CLUB · The Folkestone & Hythe Sports Podcast

• 0:07
  Around two thousand and three, theres to crash test dummies and a song with
• 0:11
  a strange title is called well that's what it says here. Okay. Now,
• 0:18
  I've just got back from Cyprus and I want to tell you about a
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  tale of two park runs that I took part in whilst on holiday. Now,
• 0:26
  over the years me and missus Ferrett have been going to Cypress and we've
• 0:29
  got to know a very friendly bunch that are the path Hoors, a running
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  club. They have their own independent park run based on the same principles as
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  a UK park run. It's a five k course for all ages and all
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  abilities, is held once a month at eight o'clock on the first Sunday of
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  the month along a traffic free paved coastal path and all you have to do
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  is register once for your barcode which records your time, how it compares with
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  others in your age group, and of course it's free. Sounds familiar,
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  Well, it's the same prince as the UK park Run, but they only
• 1:03
  do it once a month now. They start eight o'clock to try and beat
• 1:07
  the hot weather. So on the first of May I went along with Sue
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  Elkins, but the forecast wasn't good, it said storms on the way around
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  eight o'clock. A bit of a coincidence that volunteer and good friend of ours,
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  Andy Bashford, jogged off with an armful of signs to the two and
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  a half k turnaround point, while Sue and I decided to do tail walking
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  duties with and his wife Jane. The run started just as it was about
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  to rain. We'd been out about ten minutes when the rain turned into hale,
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  and then a few minutes later this turned into a hailstorm of biblical proportions,
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  coming straight into our faces. Some runners decided to turn around and head
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  back. However, we carried on, but not for long. With hailstones
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  pounding us like the machine gun, we reluctantly turned round the least the hailstones
• 1:57
  hammered into our backs, not our faces. Now, I would say,
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  and I'm not sure about this, but at least twenty five percent of the
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  runners decided to do the same. However, many hardy souls carried on,
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  and they actually did the whole course. I suppose they got out there so
• 2:12
  far and what's the point in turning back because they were the fast runners.
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  Though the marves ahead of us. Anyway, when we got back, people
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  were diving into their cars or they were huddled into any tiny bit of shelter
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  that they could find. As the fierce storm carried on for another twenty minutes
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  or so and slowly slowed down, but it didn't really abate for about another
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  half an hour. Now you had to remire people like Andy at the turning
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  point and the finished Barcoe team who stuck to their posts like true park run
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  professionals. We found out later that Andy had tried to find the start line
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  as he could see the potential dangers as he got soaked first, but he
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  couldn't get through. He was trying to warn him not to start, but
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  hold off for a little while as the storm headed along the coast. Now
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  it has to be said, this flash storm has never happened to us before
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  in any of our visits to Cyprus, and it's just to say, just
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  a shame. It coincided almost to the minute that the park run started,
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  and in all of my years of running, looking back, I've never encountered
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  anything like this. Now Pathos Running Club not only have a running section,
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  they also have a walk in and a cycling groups within the club. And
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  their own club runs may always end somewhere near a bar or a cafe where
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  you can get a breakfast or club members turn up with copious amounts of cake.
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  Now they hold fundraising coffee mornings for various worthwhile causes, and the biggest
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  one they support is a charity called Breast of Friends. With this offers friendship,
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  support and advice for people who've been diagnosed with breast cancer. Now over
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  the years they've raised more than twenty thousand euros that's around seventeen pounds to support
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  this worthwhile cause. So if you're ever on holiday in Pathos and fancy a
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  park run, just contact Pathos Running Club dot org. Or if you're taking
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  a break around October time, you might like to join the joined the team
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  on their fundraising Breast of Friends five k walk, where you will look out
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  a place if you don't wear pink. Okay, So it's time for a
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  bit of music now, And you know what I was thinking about this one?
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  I thought it's got to be a running type song, so I found
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  this. I think this one that sums up that I'm at home now,
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  but I did run for home, So what better song than to choose this?
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  Is for all. The path was running Club members Lindy's Farm, Run
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  for Home, travel with the guitar run for Home There from Lindy's Farm,
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  Lovely Gentle running song. Now to tell you about the second part run.
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  Now, this one was again different. It was this one was under the
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  what can I say, the UK banner. It was an official UK part
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  run, but it was in a place called the Happy Valley Lovely Aimed Place
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  and now that's in Episcopy in Cyprus and it's about thirty miles from Pathos.
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  It was technically on UK soil as it was set in an Army garrison.
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  Now you can't just turn up at this one. There's a lot of security
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  around and so you have to be invited. They take your passport number and
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  all that sort of stuff. So the Army invited all of the Pathos Running
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  Club along and around fifty of its members turn up and ran, including myself
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  and Sue Elkins. Well mine was more of a walk really, you know,
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  it was a long time since I did a bit of running of had
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  injuries, so my running career was curtailed early to speak. Anyway, to
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  add a bit of spice to the morning, it was also was known as
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  a color run where this is where at various points along the route you're pelted
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  by powdered paint. Now, these stations were manned mainly by the children of
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  the garrison families, supervised by their parents, of course, but one would
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  say how can I put it? And they were very enthusiastic when it came
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  to spraying us adults with the paint. But the army had a great idea.
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  You know, when we got there, they provided everybody with a plain
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  white T shirt as a brilliant idea. Now the run started. They've got
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  great facilities to forces. I don't know. The run started on a lovely
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  running track at eight o'clock and this time it did get holt, but there
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  was no storms. There were some classic tunes being pumped out on the PA
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  system, and then there was also some traditional sounds coming from the army band.
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  The corpse was flat, thank goodness, but the temperature did start to
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  rise. There was a cake stand. There's always a run a cake in
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  Cyprus. Go together ar Tellia. There was a cake stand and they were
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  all raising money for a services charity called Sappha, which stands for Soldiers Sailors
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  and Airman's Families Association. All this added to a carnival atmosphere and all the
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  pafles Runners entered in the spirit of things. The services fire station, they
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  had a fire station on board. There was a big fire tender. Even
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  they provided a water spray just when you needed it right at the finish.
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  Myself and Sue felt very lucky being invited by the Pathwas Running Club, and
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  we're very grateful because it was a brilliant fun event. Now, Matt,
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  the run director, in his brief in welcomed the Pathwas Runners and the club
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  president, Sue Caudrey, made a short speech and presented Matt with a yellow
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  engraved plaque, which is a lovely idea because yellow is the club colors.
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  And this was in thanks for the invitation. On the running side of things.
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  Two hundred and eighty seven runners took part and they were all invited.
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  Let me tell you they couldn't just turn up and listen to this bit.
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  This is the Pinuria's back. Sit down, make yourself a cup of tea
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  and listen to this bit. I came two hundred and fourteenth, yes,
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  and out of two hundred and eighty seven, I was fourth in my age
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  category. That category is a male seventy to seventy four year old fof I
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  thought, of course, you know what, I'm really tough with that.
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  I was really pleased after I hadn't been running for years. And then I
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  looked closely at the results. I discovered there was only four in my age
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  category anyway, so never mind I was there now. They must have had
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  it in for one of my friends, Andy Bashford at one of the paint
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  stations, because he came in looking like the jolly green Giant, absolutely plustered
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  in green paint. But this was a holiday memory that only runners could understand,
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  running around an army base in twenty eight degree temperatures at eight o'clock in
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  the morning getting plastered in paint. Once again, Sue and I want to
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  say a big thank you to the Pathwass Running Club and all its members for
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  making us feel so welcome. The Eagle eight amongst us are like myself,
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  Andy and Darryl all spotted a sign that said the Nag's Head and I'll tell
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  you what a point of keo would have gone down really well even at that
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  time in the morning. So star for another song now, and because I've
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  been out in Cyprus for three weeks and the temperatures had been lovely. In
• 9:00
  fact, it was getting a bit too hot just before we left. I
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  just want to play a little bit of a beach boys. It's got to
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  be a summary sound, isn't it, So have a little listen to this.
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  This might take you back, wouldn't it be nice?