P.E. teacher, Chris Patey, recently ran at a Parkrun event in Maidstone. This is a weekly 5,000m run that takes place every Saturday morning. This was Chris’s 101st run at Maidstone Parkrun and he arrived to a pleasant surprise that Olympic gold medalist Dame Kelly Holmes was running! Chris said “It was an absolute honour to run in the same event as her and I even managed to pip her to the line! I came 6/377 overall with a time of 18:12 and Kelly came 9/377 overall with a time of 18:33. I belong to Larkfield AC and usually run during the summer when the football season is over”. 

 

Chris mentioned that Kelly was a true inspiration as she stood at the finish to give every runner a high five as they crossed the line. She also stayed to have photographs with the runners and Chris managed to get one along with his daughter Niah, 1 (15 months). Mrs Sarah Palmer, Events and Publicity Manager, said “Chris is our inspiration. He recently ran the Sittingbourne Parkrun and came 2nd out of 146 runners. If I had run I would have been at the other end of the scale!”.