Runners showed that they ‘Love West Norfolk’ on a soggy Saturday morning

Runners marked their usual Saturday morning event with a special occasion.Lynn parkrunners gathered to celebrate the ‘Love West Norfolk’ initiative ahead of its launch day tomorrow (Wednesday).However, after a few heavy downfalls coupled with a high river, The Walks had turned into something resembling a small lake – making it necessary to vary the route of the run.

Fortunately, organisers have a backup 5km route for such circumstances – although this also required slight modification due to the nature of the flooding, which was soon sorted out by the volunteer team.Once the route had been marked, marshals positioned, and the 325 runners who had gathered were briefed as to the changes before the run got under way.Gary Walker, Lynn parkrun event director, said: “Having noted the tide times, with high tide coinciding with the start of parkrun, following really heavy rainfall during the week, I expected there to be a problem with flooding in The Walks, although on arrival the water level was as high as I can remember and was still rising.

“Fortunately, we are only concerned with a run and trying to keep the runners as dry as possible, which it was largely possible to do with some tweaking to our backup route.“We are very lucky here in Lynn, given the extent of real flooding in other parts of the country, where lots of parkruns had been cancelled.“We are also very fortunate to have The Walks available to us despite the soggy conditions for our ‘Love West Norfolk’ run.”

The ‘Love West Norfolk’ initiative helps to celebrate all that is great about our area.