Kelly Holmes, the double Olympic gold medallist, surprised and delighted the Saturday morning field of more than 200 Croydon runners in Lloyd Park when she toed the start line for the weekly Parkrun.
Kelly’s a hero: Aidan Lennon was one of Saturday’s parkrunners thrilled to meet Dame Kelly Holmes
Dame Kelly, now 55, trotted around the five-kilometre course in just 20min 48sec, finishing seventh overall out of the 209 finishers.
“Turns out she is still very fast and got this time despite stopping to chat to other runners along the way,” according to one awe-struck runner, who was left trailing in Holmes’s wake.
Holmes won Olympic gold at 800 and 1,500 metres at the Athens Games in 2004, the culmination of an international track career which had seen her win Olympic, world, Commonwealth and European medals despite frequent problems with agonising injury.
Holmes is a regular parkrunner, and has taken part in other events in and around Croydon in the past, including at Riddlesdown and Banstead Woods. She was at Lloyd Park last weekend supporting her partner, who ran wearing the Dublin City Marathon T-shirt she had earned the previous Sunday.
“It was most unexpected,” according to local Aidan Lennon, who was among the many who Holmes paused to have photos taken with.
“We lined up to start the run and the race director asked, as they always do, ‘Have we any visitors?’
“Kelly, who is from Kent, made herself aware to her. The race director was very excited and announced Kelly to the runners and we all gave her a cheer!
“Kelly is still very fit and super slim, she stayed on after the event and was very willing to chat to runners, pose for photos and take selfies with runners and volunteers.”
Holmes is a strong advocate for parkruns and the health benefits for participants who take part regularly in the weekly events staged over a little more than three miles.
Parkruns are free, staged in parks and open spaces at more than 2,000 locations around the world at 9am every Saturday.
Parkruns are also staged at Roundshaw Downs, Crystal Palace and South Norwood Country Park. Most also have junior parkruns, staged over a shorter course, usually on Sunday mornings.
In 2017, the Lloyd Parkrun course was determined to be the toughest in London, according to a survey published by the Londonist website.
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