Stowmarket Recreation Ground junior parkrun

We’re aware that some of our junior park runners didn’t realise we had cancelled our event today. 🙈

Please know that this was announced in the briefing last week, mentioned in the run report and was on our website page.
If you’re unsure of the status of our event, please do check the official website and/or the parkrun app as a starting point as this is the official platform for our event. Any social media is an additional space for us to share updates and communication. If you want to double double check - please do email us or send us a message. 👍🏼

Thanks all and we look forward to seeing you back next week!

It was a hot one this morning for our 200th event! Since starting in May 2022, we have welcomed 1,171 different runners to our course and together they completed 11,378 runs!! That's a distance of 22,756 kms which would get us more than halfway around the earth!

Well done to all 90 of our runners for getting out there today and completing the course and thanks to all the parents for getting them there.

Thanks must also go to our hi-vis heroes - 19 of them today. Since we started, we have had 240 different volunteers completing 3,327 roles 🙌 Special mention to Fiona today who supplied the sweets at the finish.

Final thanks to the café for providing hot drinks and ice poles , which are always appreciated by the runners and parents. Please remember that the people in the café are volunteering their time specifically to provide refreshments for parkrun. Please leave them a donation if you're able to.

On to the congratulations:

Well done to Reuben and Lexi, our first male and female finishers.

Great work to Wilby, Rose, Parker and Teagan for picking up their half marathon wristbands for completing 11 junior parkruns and Reuben, Oliver, Toby, Summer and Bert who picked up their marathon wristbands for completing 21 runs. You can download and print certificates from your parkrun profile. Apologies that we did not have enough bands this morning but I now have them (thanks to our friends at Bury juniors 😊) and will get them to Summer and Bert asap. We should have shouted out James as well - sorry we missed that James, if you come and see us next time, we can provide you with a marathon band.

Fantastic running from 13 runners who set themselves a new personal best - Isaac, Rory Jac, Dusty, Rowenna, Aiden Bert, James, Liliana, Albert, Layla, Finley, Samuel and Emelia.

Welcome to our 7 first timers - Kai, Paloma, Aoife, Brody, Theo, Arabella and Chester. Special shout out to Chester who fell over but got up and carried on to the finish - super resilience! We hope you all had a great morning and will be back to join us soon.

Please remember we are cancelled next week due to the carnival but there are plenty of other local junior parkruns that you could visit - our friends at Bury would definitely love to say hello to you! Just remember to come back to us the following week - we'd miss you otherwise 😊

We look forward to seeing you all on 26th July by which time the school holidays will be in full swing. Have a great final week at school.

Hannah

Stowmarket Recreation Ground junior parkrun #199 – Run Report

Sunday 5 July 2026

Another fantastic morning at Stowmarket Recreation Ground junior parkrun saw 85 young runners and walkers take part in event #199. It was wonderful to welcome such a healthy turnout, made up of 55 boys, 28 girls, and 2 participants who didn’t record their time.

A huge welcome goes to our 6 first-time junior parkrunners. We hope you enjoyed your first experience and that we’ll see you back again soon! Welcome to Alfie, Freddie, Louis, Evie, Henry, and Samuel.

It was also a brilliant morning for personal achievements, with 16 new Personal Bests recorded. Congratulations to:

Luella, Paisley, Mya, Otto, Albie, Orla, Teagan, Eleanor, Blake, Theodore, Elsie, Wren-Ngaire, Luna-Rose, Maddox, Bobby, and Emelia.

First Finishers

A special congratulations to our first finishers:

🥇 Isaac in 8:20.
🥇 Florence in 9:58
These performances were also the highest age gradings of the day.

Milestones

Congratulations to Elsie who received her Marathon wristband for completing 21 runs and to Mya and Bella, who both completed their 50th junior parkrun, earning their Ultra Marathon milestone wristbands. An amazing achievement!

Our Experienced parkrunners

Leading the field in junior parkrun experience was:

Isaac – 87 junior parkruns
Mya – 50 junior parkruns
Bella – 50 junior parkruns
Volunteers

Our event couldn’t happen without our amazing volunteers. A huge thank you to:

Chris, Hannah, Fiona, Hazel, William, Steph, Siobhan, Keith, Charlie, Thea, Rob, Amira, Jennie, Dave, John, Sheila, and Adam.

A special thank you to Thea, who celebrated her first time volunteering. It’s great to see one of our juniors step up and help when they weren’t running.

As was said in the run briefing earlier, today was my last event as a Run Director. I’d just like to say thank you to all involved in Stowmarket recreation ground junior Parkrun, it’s been a pleasure being part of the Run Director team for the last 2 years. You will continue to see me and my family around for a few months before we move from the area however that will just be in a volunteer capacity as and when time allows.

Thank you to everyone who joined us for another fun-filled Sunday morning. Whether you achieved a PB, reached a milestone, volunteered, or simply enjoyed being active with friends and family, you all helped make event #199 another memorable one.

I’m handing over to Rob who will be RD next week for our 200th junior parkrun! 🎉🏃‍♀️🏃‍♂️

Another 2 marshals wanted for Sundays junior parkrun if anyone wished to volunteer!

As promised, the wristband photo from this mornings event.

Well done to Hallie, Hannie, Freya and Albie on completing 11 runs and achieving their Half Marathon wristbands and to Jensen for completing 50 runs for his Ultra Marathon wristband.

Stowmarket Recreation Ground junior parkrun #198 – Run Report

Sunday 28 June 2026

Another fantastic Sunday morning at Stowmarket Recreation Ground saw 75 junior parkrunners take to the course for event #198. Conditions looked ideal for some speedy running, and the field produced plenty of great performances, milestones, and personal bests.

Attendance

A total of 75 runners completed the course:

* 41 boys
* 29 girls
* 5 unknown

We also welcomed 6 first-timers, including 4 brand new to junior parkrun—a warm welcome to:
Theodore, Maddox, Layla and Bobby.
We hope you enjoyed your first event and will be back again soon.

Front Runners

Leading the field home this week was Arielle, finishing first overall in an excellent 7:52, achieving the highest age grade of the day at 76.58% (JW11–14).

First boy home was James, crossing the line in 8:08, with a strong age grade of 71.02% (JM10).

Personal Bests

There were an impressive 14 PBs recorded this week—brilliant running by everyone who achieved one.

Congratulations to:
Arielle, James, Dexter, Arthur, RoryJac, Sophie, Roman, Liliana, Jacob, Hannie, Samuel, Otto, Isabella and Una

Fantastic effort from all of you!

Milestones

Congratulations to this week’s milestone achievers:

Half Marathon Club (11 junior parkruns)

* Freya
* Hannie
* Albie

Hallie also collected her Half Marathon wristband today having completed half marathon distance last week.

Ultra Marathon Club (50 junior parkruns)

* Jensen

Great commitment and consistency from all our milestone runners.

Experience Counts

This week’s most experienced parkrunners were:

* Arielle – 188 junior parkruns
* Elijah – 182 junior parkruns

An amazing amount of dedication from both runners.

Thanks to Our Volunteers

As always, junior parkrun couldn’t happen without our brilliant volunteers.

Huge thanks to:
Chris, Jason, Hazel, Fiona, Claire, William, Siobhan, Katie, Keith, Steph, James, Emma, Rachel, John, Sheila and Adam

And special thanks to the cafe on the rec who open specially for us to provide the kids refreshments free of charge. Donations to the cafe are welcomed should anyone wish to do so.

Closing

Well done to everyone who ran, walked, volunteered, and supported this week. It was another cheerful and energetic morning at Stowmarket Recreation Ground, with plenty of smiles, milestones, and fast finishes.

We look forward to seeing you all again next Sunday for event #199! 🏃‍♀️🏃‍♂️💚

We have a few marshal places to fill for Sundays event if anyone would like to volunteer?

Event #197 - 21 June 2026

The cooler weather was very welcome this morning when 84 runners between the ages of 4 and 14 descended onto the Recreation Ground for event #197. The participants ran the usual course but very much more swiftly than usual with 29 runners achieving a new PB! That is an amazing effort. Well done all!!

The first runner into the finish funnel was Issac with a new PB of 8:06 and the first female was Emma in 9:14, also a new PB. Congratulations to you both!

We had 9 children joining the event for the very first time. Welcome to Daniel, Wren-Ngaire, Luna-Rose, Una, Oliver, Otto, Paisley, Tristan and Lewis. We hope you had a fabulous time and we look forward to seeing you again very soon.

We were able to award a half marathon wristband to Avery who has now done 11 junior parkruns, Evelyn who completed her 21st junior parkrun and Molly who has participated in an astounding 100 junior parkruns!! Amazing effort, showing great consistency and dedication. Well done all!

As always, we could not hold this event without the team of dedicated volunteers who get up early every Sunday morning to help make it happen. Many thanks to you all. Also, three cheers to the fabulous volunteers in the Cafe on the Rec who provide refreshments and icy poles to the junior parkrun community. Thank you ladies and gentlemen - your efforts are much appreciated! Finally, a big thank you to the parents for bringing your precious children to the event, encouraging them to be the best they can be and for donating to the Cafe, volunteering to marshal and for handling any queries or problems with consideration and understanding...... And if you are free to wear one of our stylish hi-vis vests next week, please get in touch!

We'll look forward to seeing everyone, same time, same place next week for more amazing stories of children pushing the boundaries and smashing their personal bests!

Fiona - RD