AN INTREPID Ambleside woman has notched three major parkrun milestones.

Eileen Jones celebrated the tenth anniversary of her first parkrun, then ran at her 100th different venue, to achieve what parkrun tourists call the Full Cowell.

She then ran her 250th parkrun overall at Fell Foot park on Saturday.

Eileen, who is one of the core team of helpers at Fell Foot (all parkruns are run by volunteers), works in publicity and has her own business, Cumbria PR.

A member of Clayton le Moors Harriers, she was one of the support team behind Paul Tierney’s successful record run around all the Wainwrights in the summer, and she is a member of the committee bringing the International Under 18 Mountain Running Cup to Ambleside next year.

“The 100 venues list is the story of my life over the last ten years, people I’ve met along the way, places I’d never have visited otherwise," she said.

"They say that parkrun can change your life, and it’s true.

Eileen used to race on the fells “but I got so slow that I felt I wasn’t taking part any more. Now parkrun has given me a new focus and a whole new set of challenges.”

She’s been to the mundane – Ormskirk, Skelmersdale, Keighley – and the exotic - Jersey, Guernsey and Florence, and found everywhere the same welcoming, inclusive atmosphere.

Favourite? “I love Whinlatter because it’s a fellrunner’s route, with a downhill start and downhill finish, and you can imagine what in between. But best of all is Mount Edgcumbe near Plymouth. You cross the Tamar estuary on a “Captain Pugwash” ferry to start in the grounds of a beautiful stately home, climb steeply through woods onto a headland with amazing views out to sea, and a fabulous steep descent.”

And the best post-run breakfast, she says, was at Malahide near Dublin. “We stayed there till lunchtime, it was so good.”