King’s Lynn parkrun marked International Women’s Day with an all-lady volunteer takeover led by women's group, King's Lynn Soroptimist International

King’s Lynn parkrun marked International Women’s Day with 419 runners on a bright sunny Saturday morning in The Walks.

The all-lady volunteer takeover was led by women's group, King's Lynn Soroptimist International, with their members stepping up as part of an all-women squad of volunteers.

Soroptimist club president Karen Wadham said: “Our club celebrates International Women's Day with an event in King's Lynn every year.

“We are delighted to have joined forces with King's Lynn parkrun this year, especially as International Women's Day falls on a Saturday and parkrun famously takes place every Saturday!

“The parkrun movement has a lot in common with Soroptimists - we are all working to encourage equality and opportunities for people in our community and the wider world.

“With the theme for International Women's Day 2025 being Accelerate Action, volunteering at parkrun seemed very appropriate.”

The run saw 19 first-time parkrunners attend together with 20 first-time visitors.

Gavin Caney was first to finish in a time of 16min47sec and JW 11-14 Libby Sibthorp was the first female finisher in a great time of 19.39.

She was followed by another young runner, JW10 Felicity Allen, who finished four seconds behind in a personal best of 19.43. The youngsters also achieved the highest age gradings for the day, 86.56% for Allen and 84.65% for Sibthorp.

Of the 419 runners, 165 were women of all ages and abilities but the first four top age gradings were also females.

Landmarks included Canon Mark Dimond on his 50th parkrun, Mark Whiskens, Chris Shorthouse, Heidi McWade and Karen Wiggins on their 100th, Joel Espley and Trevor Lamb on their 150th and Matt Hitchcock on his 250th.