Friends make isles’ journey to complete final parkrun
TWO old university friends travelled to Shetland on Saturday (13 July) to complete the last Scottish parkrun on their to-do list for their running group The Parkrun Arabs.
Jason Ferrier and Lindsay Darling-Brackenridge set off on Friday for the 17 hour journey from Edinburgh and Dundee, arriving in Bressay just before the run started at 9.30am. It took them less than 30 minutes to complete the event.
The pair met at Dundee University in 2002 and began parkrunning together two years ago to keep in touch and keep fit.
They formed a checklist of all the Parkruns in Scotland and together with their growing club of 24 Parkrun Arabs (from the nickname of Dundee United) Jason and Lindsay embarked on completing each 5k route across Scotland – from Thurso to the Scottish Borders – in their signature Dundee United Football shirts.
Joined by new Parkrun Arab Ian Groves-Hall they met in Dundee early afternoon on Friday before getting the train to Aberdeen where they embarked on the ferry to Lerwick and thence the ferry to Bressay.
Warmly welcomed by local runners just before the starting gun on Saturday morning, they completed the forty-seventh and final Scottish Parkrun on their list with times of 28 min 23 sec and 27 min 51 sec respectively.
Following a post run breakfast and a quick pint in a Shetland pub, they embarked upon the journey home very tired but delighted to have achieved coveted ‘regionnaire’ parkrun status – that is until additional Scottish parkruns are launched later this summer.
Jason, who runs his hundredth Parkrun on 27 July, said: “I’m so glad to reach this milestone. It’s been great catching up with old pals and making new ones and I’m looking forward to seeing new venues and meeting new characters in the future.”
Lindsay, who recently celebrated his hundredth parkrun at Camperdown in Dundee said, “I’m just glad it’s finally over!”
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