This weekend Norwich Research Park took over the Colney Lane Parkrun with people from the campus community volunteering, to help at the event, and others participating in the run including AIP LLP’s CEO Roz Bird and COO Nick Goodwin.
Over 300 people ran, jogged or walked the 5km course, of whom 29 were first timers and 42 recorded new personal bests.
There were 50 volunteers from across the research park, including people from the John Innes Centre, Earlham Institute, The Sainsbury Laboratory, Quadram Institute, NNUH, UEA, Anglia Innovation Partnership, NBI Partnership, and companies on the park Tropic and Big C.
Clare Suter, part of the Knowledge Exchange and Commercialisation team at the John Innes Centre, helped organise the takeover event and said, “It was great to see so many people taking part in the parkrun on Saturday and really nice to have the opportunity to chat to other runners from across the research park. Thank you to everyone who came along and a big thank you to Anglia Innovation Partnership for donating a new urn for the tea and coffee afterwards!”
Roz Bird, AIP’s CEO, said, “When the idea of the Norwich Research Park takeover of the Colney Lane Parkrun was first suggested I knew I would have to take part because I do like jogging but don’t do enough! So, it was a real challenge for me, and I started going back out, to practice the distance. I was glad I had practiced because I managed a personal best of 29.29 minutes which is really good for me, and I did manage ‘the hill’ although that was not enjoyable, especially the second time round!
Thank you to Clare Suter, and the JIC team, for making this happen. It was a great atmosphere and great to see a wide representation of organisations from the park taking part.”
Roz Bird and Grant Wheeler, Colney Lane Park Run Organiser, were interviewed on BBC Radio Norfolk, before the park run. You can hear the interview here (the interview is 2 hours and 39 minutes in): Kirsteen Thorne – Clean-Up Norwich campaign launches – BBC Sounds
Also, on Twitter, Paul Sinton Hewitt, the creator of ‘parkrun’ liked one of the Tweets about the volunteer takeover!
The Colney Lane Parkrun happens every Saturday morning and if you are interested in volunteering or taking part in parkrun in the future, then please visit the website where you can find more information. There are lots of other parkruns in Norfolk, including Norwich/Eaton Park, Sloughbottom, Catton, Brundall and Blickling. All parkruns are free and open to everyone, regardless of ability.
