Record-breaking parkrun for the Octogenarians!

It was the third annual Octogenarian get-together at Bushy parkrun in the UK on Saturday 6 July, with a record number of 48 men and women aged over 80 taking part!

parkrunning Octogenarian Richard Pitcairn-Knowles was one of them, completing his 350th parkrun, and he tells us more about the special day.

With a probable combined age of over 4,000 years, the age-defying octogenarians celebrated their longevity by finishing the 5k course on a very warm and sunny morning, having travelled long distances from far and wide to walk, jog and run with their friends.

Everyone who took part did fantastically well, and once again there were some outstanding performances by both men and women defying their age.

Margaret Smith lowered the M85-89 age group best by almost two minutes with 42:55, and remarkably, first of the 32 men in the 80-84 age group was Douglas Milsom in a jaw-dropping time of 27:17! But it wasn’t just the speedsters, with a number of our fabulous bunch walking the course too. You can view the full results below.

After the event, there was a party which saw the octogenarians and their families picnic and socialise. The brains behind the idea of celebrating being over 80, George Frogley, thanked Carol Dickinson (who kindly took the photo above), the many helpers and, of course, all the Marshals and other volunteers who helped to make it possible for all 1,365 Bushy parkrunners to enjoy the whole event.

Richard Pitcairn-Knowles

We’d love to see Australian events organise similar meet-ups. If you’d like more information on how to get involved in organing something similar, please contact us.

Women’s 80-84

• Margaret Williams – 34:09
• Monique McInnes – 42:58
• Anne Middlemiss – 43:12
• Iris Griffin – 43:24 61.41%
• Dorothy McLennan – 53:53
• Shelagh Allen – 53:55
• Joan Hannan – 54:53

Men’s 80-84

• Douglas Milsom – 27:17
• Gerald Billis – 29:04
• Tom Everitt – 31:19
• Leonard Gaul – 31:36
• Tom Hartigen – 32:41
• John Smithurst – 32:48
• Tom Harrison – 33:27
• Lewis Williams – 33:33
• John Heiron – 34:11
• Raymond Blackwell – 34:37
• John Allen – 34:51
• Geoffrey Symons – 34:54
• Mike Bangham – 36:16
• Ron Denney – 36:35
• Allan Lang – 37:08
• Maurice Francis – 37:18
• Graham Mealor – 37:34
• Raimon Saiz – 37:36
• John Abrams – 37:40
• Roger Wilks – 37:57
• Alan Palmer – 39:04
• Peter Richards – 39:41
• David Traynor – 40:14
• Colin Munro – 41:09
• Ivan Boggis – 43:24
• John Last – 44:07
• John Dickson – 44:35
• David German – 45:24
• Martin Clark – 47:45
• Les Brown – 51:31
• George Frogley – 53:20
• John Hanscomb – 60:58

Women’s 85-89

• Margaret Smith – 42:55

Men’s 85-89

• Allan Smith – 37:25
• Richard Pitcairn-Knowles – 37:56
• Albert Yee – 38:45
• Bob Emmerson – 41:50
• Geoff Jackson – 43:20
• Tom Allen – 43:32
• Brian Rule – 57:49
• Arthur Walsham – 65:00