Spooky run is real scream

HENLEY parkrun held a Halloween-themed event with a total of 70 runners completing the 5km course.

Runners were encouraged to dress to the theme, with costumes including fake fangs and bat ears.

Volunteer marshal Geoff Roberson dressed as a skeleton and hid behind trees and in bushes along the course and would emerge to scare the runners as they approached.

The event is run by a rotating schedule of about
10 volunteers each week. Runners leave from The Henley College sports field in Tilebarn Close at about 9am.

The first to finish the run on Saturday was Oliver Sherratt, from Witney, who finished in a time of 18 minutes
17 seconds.

Adrian Marsh, co-event director, said the special Halloween event had become a tradition.

He said: “We always enjoy this one. Geoff, who is the guy dressed up as a skeleton, that’s his speciality now. We make sure we ask him to do that every year.

“This year we have given him free rein, we normally have the marshals, so it started with him being in one of the marshalling positions but it went down so well that we got him to go and scare people wherever he likes now, so that’s good.

“It’s great to see people dressing up and really getting into it. We had people come from all over, like Edinburgh and Bristol, so it’s good.”

Katie Spurgeon, 14, ran with a hand-made ghost figure she had crocheted herself and pinned to her shirt.

Magda Bartnik and Krzysztof Sztuk ran in their first parkrun having learned about the community on running app Strava.

Ms Bartnik said they would definitely return to the weekly run despite feeling “exhausted” at the end.

She said: “Two or three times you have to run uphill, so I’m exhausted but it’s beautiful.

“We run and we live in Henley and, when I found out about the parkrun on Strava I thought, why not meet some other residents?”