A RECORD breaking 408 runners, joggers and walkers flooded to Lydney to start the New Year off with a parkrun last Wednesday.

And another 135 took part in the weekly Lydney parkrun on Sunday (January 4) as the 5km event celebrated its fourth anniversary.

New Year’s Day is one of the only days when parkruns happen on a different day to Saturday, and for more than 200 it provided the chance to do two parkruns in one day.

Starting at 8.30am, a record field lined up, including people who travelled for hours just to come and take part.

And from Lydney, 230 moved up to the Forest of Dean parkrun at Five Acres, where 378 then completed the woodland course.

Lydney parkrun director David Price said: “It was amazing to see the turn out, such a phenomenon. Everyone was so happy and we’ve had so many kind words by people.

“For those that live nearby, we apologise for any noise or disturbance – we never expected so many on New Year’s Day.”

As well as those who went on to Five Acres, another three went on to run again in Cheltenham, 29 to Eastville in Bristol, 19 to Gloucester City, five to Newport Tredegar Park, 17 to Pomphrey Hill, and 25 to Newport River Front.

Saturday (January 4) saw another big turn out for the Lydney parkrun birthday, covering three laps from the garage block at Lydney Boating Lake, moving on to a section of the canal, a muddy wooded section, and back to the lake, including a jump over the fallen tree.

The event was the 212th parkrun at Lydney since it began on January 2, 2016, with 22,485 of all ages, sizes and abilities getting around the course over the last four years, covering 112,510km (69,910 miles) in the process.

Participants from 394 clubs from across the UK have taken part, achieving 3,729 PBs along the way.

David revealed: “This is a favourite course for tourists, and many come from miles just to run it.

“There is something for everyone here, tarmac paths, trail, woods, mud and not forgetting the beautiful setting of the lake and canal.”

The fastest runner over the 5k course to date made it round in 16mins 56secs back in May 2016, whilst the slowest finisher took an hour and 17 minutes.

Lydney parkrun is organised by volunteers, with at least 18 volunteers to run the event.

David added: “We are very grateful to have a team who are available every week to come and make this happen, including Brian Price, Sandra Hawkins and Seth Peters who come not to run, but to volunteer, whether it’s time keeping, giving out finish tokens, scanning the results, tail walking or marshalling, to ensure that the runners are safe, know where they are going, and to give them that extra support.

“We have keen teenagers who come as part of the Duke of Edinburgh award, and those that just want to give back to the parkrun community.”

Parkrun is free and starts at 9am on Saturdays at various venues, including Lydney, Five Acres, Mallards Pike, Severn Bridge, Ross-on-Wye, Newent and Caldicot.

To join in, register at www.parkrun.com and print off your barcode, and bring it along with you. There are also 2km junior parkruns at Five Acres (Coverham Enclosure) and Monmouth Leisure Centre at 9am on Sundays.