Discussion
Alex@POD said:
I ran the inaugural Holyrood parkrun last weekend, very nice views once you've completed the first 1.5k, all uphill! As a positive, what goes up must come down, my 4th km was my fastest in a long time!
This will be my new local. Was away at the weekend so missed the inaugural. Looking forward to it. Edinburgh has needed a proper city centre parkrun for a long time. 
. 
Snubs said:
In other news, I was down in Cornwall last weekend and did the Eden Project ParkRun, which i would recommend. It's quite a hilly course as you're essentially running up and down the side of a quarry, but you get a great view while you're at it. I'm not sure the course distance is correct though as my watch measured it at 4.85km. Whilst that could be an error with the watch GPS as to the best of my knowledge GPS measures longitude / latitude more accurately than altitude, the fact that i matched my previous PB set on a flat course with a final km much faster than the previous two, i think the distance is ineed a bit short. Which is fine by me 
Because the course is so zig zag GPS can easily miss a bit out - IIRC it doesn't track you all the time, it takes a point every second and draws a line between them, so if one point is just before a hairpin and one just after, it thinks you've gone straight from one to the other, not out to the bend and back.But anyway, as you say, no one's going to complain that a really hilly course is short
Gilhooligan said:
Alex@POD said:
I ran the inaugural Holyrood parkrun last weekend, very nice views once you've completed the first 1.5k, all uphill! As a positive, what goes up must come down, my 4th km was my fastest in a long time!
This will be my new local. Was away at the weekend so missed the inaugural. Looking forward to it. Edinburgh has needed a proper city centre parkrun for a long time. BeastieBoy73 said:
Gilhooligan said:
Alex@POD said:
I ran the inaugural Holyrood parkrun last weekend, very nice views once you've completed the first 1.5k, all uphill! As a positive, what goes up must come down, my 4th km was my fastest in a long time!
This will be my new local. Was away at the weekend so missed the inaugural. Looking forward to it. Edinburgh has needed a proper city centre parkrun for a long time. 
Eastleigh parkrun had two people collapse on Saturday. One whilst going round the course and the other at the finish.
The one at the finish was tended to by an off duty paramedic, police officer, ambulance control worker and cardiac nurse who just happened to be at the event that day (just goes to show you that you never know who you are lining up with each week).
The ambulance was there within 5 minutes shortly followed by the air ambulance so there could not have been better support at that time. Despite having the best odds available they didn't make it (suspected cardiac arrest, I guess it was a 'big' one if these things have a scale).
The person who died was literarily the embodiment of parkrun, he was part of the core team at Netley, was involved with most of the other events in the local area, a coach at a local running club and organised pacers for local races who wanted them.
He was also one of the few people that I would class as a 'friend' and best man at my wedding in May.
Anyway, whilst I was not at Eastleigh when it happened, one of the Netley core team had heard a rumour that something had happened late Saturday morning and started making some calls. It did not take them long to work out who was not answering their phone and join up the dots...
The ambassador for Eastleigh is on holiday but had been contacted as per the process and then got in touch with me to let me know given who it was that had died.
I am also an ambassador so, with their OK, I contacted the Eastleigh ED in the evening to see how they were, what happened, etc. Not totally unexpectedly I got a very long email in return as they 'unloaded' the days events.
The volunteers on Saturday went well above what was required of them at something that is meant to be 'fun'. Having two people collapse and having to deal with that on one day has to be rare I imagine.
After someone called his wife, it turned out she was stuck at home as he had the car so another volunteer offered to pick her up and bring her to the event so she could see him before he was loaded in to the ambulance. I cannot even imagine what that journey was like.
The ED also said that they has been 'pestered' by people sending messages and emails asking what had happened. Not unexpectedly due to human nature but on top of everything else it was something they could do without.
The family had asked for radio silence whilst they got their heads round what had happened but word was beginning to spread. The son has been going through the phonebook on his dads phone working his way down the list to let people know but you can only do that so many times before you cant do it anymore (or at least want a break from it).
The family are not a fan of facebook but after a bit of a chat they agreed that if I could draft a statement for them it could go out on the facebook pages of the local events to get the message out there and take the pressure off them.
This went live yesterday morning and there are now 300+ messages of condolence across the various pages and the family have been in touch to say that, whilst they were against the idea initially, they have been truly amazed by the messages they have been reading and that it has 'helped' and taken the pressure off trying to tell everyone (in reality that would have been very difficult given the number of people who knew him).
So where am I going with this... Well, I guess this is me 'unloading' as such as it feels much better having written it all down.
The team at Eastleigh deserve some sort of medal for what they went though. For something that is put on by volunteers, having to deal with something like this is way above what was expected but deal with it they did.
As an ED myself I also wonder what if it had happened at Netley (he was only at Eastleigh due to it being someones milestone run) and how we would have coped so, if you are an ED, check that your AED is OK, that the lanyards have up to date information on them and that you have an idea of what to do should something like this happen at your event.
From an ambassador point of view, I just did what I thought was right, checked that the event team was OK, checked that the family was OK and did what I could to take the pressure off both to get the message out there, all whilst trying to also get my head round what had happened.
HQ have been in touch with the event team but I am out of the loop on that. I can only hope that they are offering them support if they feel they need it. I believe they have something in place do deal with this sort of event. I just hope I never have to find out what it is...
The one at the finish was tended to by an off duty paramedic, police officer, ambulance control worker and cardiac nurse who just happened to be at the event that day (just goes to show you that you never know who you are lining up with each week).
The ambulance was there within 5 minutes shortly followed by the air ambulance so there could not have been better support at that time. Despite having the best odds available they didn't make it (suspected cardiac arrest, I guess it was a 'big' one if these things have a scale).
The person who died was literarily the embodiment of parkrun, he was part of the core team at Netley, was involved with most of the other events in the local area, a coach at a local running club and organised pacers for local races who wanted them.
He was also one of the few people that I would class as a 'friend' and best man at my wedding in May.
Anyway, whilst I was not at Eastleigh when it happened, one of the Netley core team had heard a rumour that something had happened late Saturday morning and started making some calls. It did not take them long to work out who was not answering their phone and join up the dots...
The ambassador for Eastleigh is on holiday but had been contacted as per the process and then got in touch with me to let me know given who it was that had died.
I am also an ambassador so, with their OK, I contacted the Eastleigh ED in the evening to see how they were, what happened, etc. Not totally unexpectedly I got a very long email in return as they 'unloaded' the days events.
The volunteers on Saturday went well above what was required of them at something that is meant to be 'fun'. Having two people collapse and having to deal with that on one day has to be rare I imagine.
After someone called his wife, it turned out she was stuck at home as he had the car so another volunteer offered to pick her up and bring her to the event so she could see him before he was loaded in to the ambulance. I cannot even imagine what that journey was like.
The ED also said that they has been 'pestered' by people sending messages and emails asking what had happened. Not unexpectedly due to human nature but on top of everything else it was something they could do without.
The family had asked for radio silence whilst they got their heads round what had happened but word was beginning to spread. The son has been going through the phonebook on his dads phone working his way down the list to let people know but you can only do that so many times before you cant do it anymore (or at least want a break from it).
The family are not a fan of facebook but after a bit of a chat they agreed that if I could draft a statement for them it could go out on the facebook pages of the local events to get the message out there and take the pressure off them.
This went live yesterday morning and there are now 300+ messages of condolence across the various pages and the family have been in touch to say that, whilst they were against the idea initially, they have been truly amazed by the messages they have been reading and that it has 'helped' and taken the pressure off trying to tell everyone (in reality that would have been very difficult given the number of people who knew him).
So where am I going with this... Well, I guess this is me 'unloading' as such as it feels much better having written it all down.
The team at Eastleigh deserve some sort of medal for what they went though. For something that is put on by volunteers, having to deal with something like this is way above what was expected but deal with it they did.
As an ED myself I also wonder what if it had happened at Netley (he was only at Eastleigh due to it being someones milestone run) and how we would have coped so, if you are an ED, check that your AED is OK, that the lanyards have up to date information on them and that you have an idea of what to do should something like this happen at your event.
From an ambassador point of view, I just did what I thought was right, checked that the event team was OK, checked that the family was OK and did what I could to take the pressure off both to get the message out there, all whilst trying to also get my head round what had happened.
HQ have been in touch with the event team but I am out of the loop on that. I can only hope that they are offering them support if they feel they need it. I believe they have something in place do deal with this sort of event. I just hope I never have to find out what it is...
I saw the posts from Eastleigh - all very considerately written.
It's made me re-send our emergency procedure out to the team and ask them to re-read it so they have it in mind if anything happens.
It's always shocking when there's a fatality at parkrun, but we have to keep in mind that he could have been running on his own on a Thursday evening and no-one would have been there to help, and that numerous people have their lives saved or enriched by it, sadly we can't win them all.
On more cheerful subject! Congratulations on your wedding I either missed the pics on facebook or have forgotten that I saw them, that's what reaching VM65-69 does for me!
It's made me re-send our emergency procedure out to the team and ask them to re-read it so they have it in mind if anything happens.
It's always shocking when there's a fatality at parkrun, but we have to keep in mind that he could have been running on his own on a Thursday evening and no-one would have been there to help, and that numerous people have their lives saved or enriched by it, sadly we can't win them all.
On more cheerful subject! Congratulations on your wedding
I either missed the pics on facebook or have forgotten that I saw them, that's what reaching VM65-69 does for me!john2443 said:
I saw the posts from Eastleigh - all very considerately written.
It's made me re-send our emergency procedure out to the team and ask them to re-read it so they have it in mind if anything happens.
It's always shocking when there's a fatality at parkrun, but we have to keep in mind that he could have been running on his own on a Thursday evening and no-one would have been there to help, and that numerous people have their lives saved or enriched by it, sadly we can't win them all.
On more cheerful subject! Congratulations on your wedding I either missed the pics on facebook or have forgotten that I saw them, that's what reaching VM65-69 does for me!
That is true. You never know what triggers this sort of event so at least it was in an environment where there are people and facilities around to assist. It's made me re-send our emergency procedure out to the team and ask them to re-read it so they have it in mind if anything happens.
It's always shocking when there's a fatality at parkrun, but we have to keep in mind that he could have been running on his own on a Thursday evening and no-one would have been there to help, and that numerous people have their lives saved or enriched by it, sadly we can't win them all.
On more cheerful subject! Congratulations on your wedding
I either missed the pics on facebook or have forgotten that I saw them, that's what reaching VM65-69 does for me!I realise that not everyone can be saved or if there was an underlying condition (known or otherwise) but it is still a tragedy when something like this happens. The comments that are being posted on the various facebook pages are heart breaking. Its only after they are gone that you realise the impact they have. Shame they are not around to read them at that point...
Thank you for the belated congratulations. I cant remember what I am meant to be doing from one week to the next either and I am several age categories below you
Must be a male thing Very sad to hear. Without being unsensitive I do think generally if you are going to have a cardiac arrest you have much better odds at a parkrun than most other places. Sometimes (the majority?) though if you time is up then there is nothing that will change that. I also think using the parkrun network to tell people will undoubtedly of helped.
madbadger said:
Very sad to hear. Without being unsensitive I do think generally if you are going to have a cardiac arrest you have much better odds at a parkrun than most other places. Sometimes (the majority?) though if you time is up then there is nothing that will change that. I also think using the parkrun network to tell people will undoubtedly of helped.
Yes, you can see why events need to have an AED (although I don't actually know if it was used in this instance or not) and there are better places than others to have this happen to you in terms of survival chances.The advice is always to have the AED near the finish line so I guess there has been a study showing that is where this sort of thing is more likely to happen. I would have expected it to be on the way round when your heart is working at its hardest but maybe its the change in blood pressure when you stop, your heart 'relaxing' or a multitude of other things that triggers it.
Another person I know of was just walking from their Living Room to the Kitchen and had a cardiac arrest in the hallway. There is no logical explanation to the cause sometimes...
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