Bumper field turns out for 500th Havant parkrun

There were some 280 finishers in the landmark running of the free weekly 5k event at Staunton Country Park.

Matthew Russell led them home in a time of 18 minutes and 20 seconds. It was his first Havant victory since last August, having finished second once, third three times and fourth on one occasion in five subsequent appearances.

Russell’s Denmead Striders clubmate Michael Harrison was 47 seconds back in second place and Oliver Craig completed the top three in 19:34.

Joanne Stanford, of Victory AC, was the first woman – and 18th overall – in 22:32. Zoe Gill, from the same club, was second in 24:16 and Lisa-Marie Peckover (Denmead Striders) third in 24:51.

Two of the competitors – Jane West and her husband, Dr Peter West, aka Little Boy Blue and Lady Nancy Puddle – dressed up for the occasion.

Jane has referred to Peter as Nancy Puddles because, according to her, he ‘nancies around the puddles’ on the course.

Peter finished 157th in 32:47, with Jane just a second and a place behind him.

There was a close finish in the Southsea parkrun, meanwhile, as only one second separated the first two finishers in a field of 472.

Christopher Edward Wilson, of 26.2 RRC, narrowly got the better of Gianni Shipp to claim only his second win in 57 Southsea outings with a PB of 16:53.

Wilson’s sole previous Southsea victory came in January 2017, although he was second on his last two appearances (in September 2022 and March 2018).

Rebecca Pearson, of Hatch Warren Runners, was by some distance the first woman across the line in 18:53. Nicola Thomas (Denmead Striders) was second in 21:08 and teenager Scarlet Dalrymple (Riverside Runners) a close third in 21:17.

Elsewhere, Rob Wilson claimed his seventh Portsmouth Lakeside parkrun success in 72 appearances overall – and third in his last four outings (the previous two coming last June and July).

The Denmead Striders member came home in 18:49 to win by 35 seconds from Stuart White, who clocked a PB.

The first two women produced brilliant runs to finish third and fourth overall on their course debuts.

Kirsty Armstrong, a Burgess Hill Runners representative who is on the 45-49 age category, clocked 19:26 to finish only two seconds behind the overall runner-up, while Evie Bramall, in the 11-14 age category, wasn’t far behind in 19:43.

There were 245 finishers in total.