Century for Carpenter as Havant parkrun is a scorcher

Both Ali McNiff and Mark Carpenter achieved new milestones.

Carpenter joined the 100 club, while McNiff completed her 50th run.

Amazingly, 27 runners recorded new personal bests in the heat.

A total of 211 finishers enjoyed the morning 5k with 30 of them new to Havant and 18 of them completely new to parkrun.

Havant also welcomed 12 tourists from other parkruns.

Simon Gill, of Tone Zone Runners, finished first over the line for the fourth time at Havant.

He clocked a time of 18min 04sec with Matt Healy next in 18.34.

Alberto Preciados was third with a time of 19.07.

In the female placings, Hannah Lowry was first with a time of 22.54.

It was the 11th time she has been first in 42 appearances at Havant parkrun.

Victory club member Jo Gilholm was second lady with a time of 23.17 and Anita Crawley, of Denmead Striders, finished third in 24.47.

Lowry leads the female points competition as well with 498.

Havant parkrun started on June 16, 2012, and since then 4,850 different runners, including participants from 318 athletics clubs, have completed 37,354 runs covering a total distance of 186,770k.

The female record is held by Rebecca Moore, who ran in a time of 18.36 in 2014.

The male record is held by James Baker who clocked 15.56 in 2012.

The events rely on volunteers who give up their time to do various roles including barcode scanner, timekeeper, finish tokens, pre-event set-up, tail runner, photographer and run report writer.

Havant had 21 volunteers on Saturday and it is ideal if everyone who runs takes a turn at volunteering – there will be different roles to suit anyone.

There is also a volunteer club t-shirt for anyone who volunteers 25 times.

All the roles are easy, and you’ll be given any training that you need.

The Havant parkrun course is at Staunton Country Park.

It is on compacted gravel paths and is undulating.

It takes runners around the lawns, down a hill, around the north side of the lake, through woodland, up a gentle hill and back around the lawns.

Runners complete a short clockwise loop before two larger laps clockwise around the outside of a near figure of eight shape.

The run finishes back at the lawns, close to the start line.

Like all parkruns it takes place every Saturday morning, starting at 9am.

Email [email protected] for more information about how to volunteer.