THE runners and volunteers at this week’s Barry Island parkrun were treated to a record-breaking performance as Ollie Williams defied the strong sea breezes to set a new 5k course record of 16 minutes and 14 seconds.

Ollie beat his previous best time by two seconds.

A vocal team of 23 volunteers cheered on 127 runners around the course - the fifth largest field in the 73 Barry Island parkruns so far. Among the runners were 25 first-time visitors, 10 of whom were taking part in their first ever parkrun.

There were 14 junior runners, three over-60 runners and representatives of 15 different clubs, including parkrun tourists from the Army AA, Slinn Allstars (Swindon), Rotherham Harriers and AC and Overton Harriers and AC (Hampshire).

The morning sunshine belied a strong sea breeze that made for some tough running into the wind, so it was a real credit to the runners’ hard work that 24 of them achieved a course personal best time this week.

The PB list included White Rock Runners Martin Flood (20:35) and Katie Adams (28:24), and a host of Barry-based Seriously Mad Runners - Gary Gould (24:03), Ryan Price (24:51), Natalie Taylor (30:22) and Thomas (32:06) and Sally Bloomfield (35:12). Julie Cottrell, from Overton Harriers and AC grabbed herself a tourist PB of 27:04.

There was a milestone run this week for Rachel Frost, who completed her 50th parkrun - her fifth at Barry Island since a switch from Cardiff where she’d completed all her other 45 parkruns.

Ollie Williams (Les Croupiers RC) led the field home by more than a minute and a half with his course record time of 16:14. This was his 16th first place in his 16 appearances. Dean Williamson of the Army AA, was second in 17:57 and Scott Browne third in 18:46. New parkrunner Tom Donnelly recorded his fourth successive top 10 finish in his fourth Barry Island parkrun.

Robert Newman still tops the men’s annual points competition with 1,694 points, with Mike James (1,387 points) and John Magee from Les Croupiers RC (1,338 points) swapping second and third places from last week.

Elaine McCarron, of White Rock Runners, in her first Barry Island parkrun, was first female finisher (28th overall) in 23:50. For the second week in a row, juniors Harriet Kehl (24:26 - PB) and Caitlin Williams from Seriously Mad Runners, Barry (25:19) were second and third female finishers respectively. Caitlin still leads the women's annual points competition, holding on to her narrow lead over mum Lisa and sister Bethan.

This coming Saturday marks parkrun’s 12th anniversary since it started with just 13 runners at Bushy Park, Teddington, in October 2004. Last Saturday around the UK, more than 86,000 runners took park in 403 5k parkruns put on by more than 7,500 volunteers. Since it started in May 2015, 1,807 different runners have completed 6,672 5k runs covering a total distance of 33,360 km at Barry Island parkrun.

To mark the anniversary, MP’s around the country have been invited to join in at their local parkruns and many have taken up the offer, including MP for the Vale of Glamorgan, Alun Cairns. The anniversary is also a great reason for anyone who wants to try a friendly, free 5k run (or any combination of run/walk/jog).

All that new parkrunners need is a parkrun barcode - just visit parkrun.org.uk and click register to sign up and print a barcode.

Many Barry Island parkrunners and volunteers will be taking part in this coming Sunday’s Cardiff half marathon race - a number of them graduating via parkruns to tackling the considerably longer half marathon distance (13.1 miles, 21.1 km or 4.2 parkruns) for the first time. The Barry island parkrun team wishes everyone a successful run.

Barry Island parkrun is a free, weekly 5k timed run and is open to anyone of any ability - runners, joggers or walkers alike. It starts at 9am every Saturday morning under the Eastern Shelter of Barry Island promenade, near the beach huts.

Find out more on the run website at parkrun.org.uk/barryisland. It’s entirely run by volunteers. Anyone wishing to help out can get in touch by sending an email to barryislandhelpers@parkrun.com.