IT was a big day on New Year’s Eve for the Forest of Dean Parkrun as the event celebrated its 600th outing.

Runners gathered at Coverham Enclosure – as they have on Saturday mornings going back to April 2010 – to tackle the 5K course under the trees.

There were also a number of personal milestones with Forest of Dean Athletic Club members Jacqui Wynds and Patrick Renison chalking up 350 and 250 runs respectively while David Jockel travelled from Milton Keynes for his 100th

Saturday’s event was Fiona Dean’s 149th but she didn’t have long to wait to make it 150 with a New Year’s Day event on Sunday.

Quickest around the two lap course was Forest Parkrun first-timer Oliver Sutcliffe.

The Liverpool Pembroke and Sefton Harriers runner finished in 18mins 34 secs.

That was 17 seconds quicker than Toby Dickens of Monross Trailblazers.

The first local runner to finish was Marcus Bennetto of the Forest of Dean Athletic Club (FoDAC).

His time of 19mins 56secs put him 22 seconds behind third-placed Iain Porter from the CLC Striders club in Cheltenham.

The first woman to finish was Ruth Hayden-Cox of Newent Runners who set a new personal best.

Her time of 23 mins 59secs put her in 15th place.

The second FoDAC runner to finish was Leyton Fleet in 21mins 28secs.

His seventh place finish was three better than Julian Boon who finished in 22 mins 40secs.

There was a difference of one second between Forest Parkrun event director Mark Mathews and Mark Blake.

The FoDAC team-mates finished in 20mins 41secs and 20min 42 secs for 17th and 18th place respectively.

The next local club runner to finish was FoDAC junior Oliver Morgan.

Oliver, who runs in the 11-14 age category finished, in 25 mins 29 secs for 26th spot.

Nine seconds separated Andy Chambers and Derren Ball of Newent Runners.

Andy’s time of 26mins 01secs placed him 32nd while Derren finished in 35th on 26mins 10secs.

Tim Watkins finished in 40th position with a time of 26mins 31secs while Sherryl Hall was the second FoDAC woman home in a time of 27mins 41 secs.

She was followed by a clutch of FoDAC finishers –Andy Morgan, Vicki Hewlett and Jane Creed.

Andy’s time was 27mins 55secs, three seconds ahead of Vicki and seven quicker than Jane.

The next local club runners to finish were Philip James and Chris Moore of FoDAC and John Featherstone of Newent Runners.

Helen Lipscomb of FoDAC finished next with Jacqui Wynds and Patrick Renison following.

The next three local club members to finish – Dianne Haines, Yvonne Featherstone and Maggie Pettit were all from Newent Runners.

The local club line-ups were completed by Angela Bowkett, Graham Bennetto, Sharla Fleet and Suzanne Peters of FoDAC and Helen Kelly of Newent Roadrunners.

There were 114 finishers.

Event director Mark Mathews: “Six hundred is a milestone and we are grateful for the support of runners and volunteers.

“Parkrun is run entirely by volunteers and without people giving their time we would not be able to run the event.

“Forest of Dean Parkrun began in April 2010 and is a very social event.

“It was one of the first to be set up in Gloucestershire and the course was designed by Dave Lucas of FoDAC.”

Jacqui Wynds, who like many others volunteers as well as runs, said: “It’s always been a very social event and people really enjoy it.”

The Forest of Dean Parkrun is one of several in the area and takes place at 9am every Saturday.

For more information visit www.parkrun.org/forestofdean.