THE spirit of the park run community was in evidence when a visually impaired runner reached a landmark on Saturday.

Tony Nicholls was cheered and encouraged by all around the Basingstoke parkrun course, including by other runners, spectators and volunteers in War Memorial Park when he took on his 100th run.

The centenary was clocked after Tony starting taking on the run in October 2015.

Many of the Basingstoke Guide Running group, who have shared in guiding Tony and our other visually impaired runners, were present to join in the celebrations, dressed in their orange, yellow, pink and green Guide Running shirts.

Not wanting to miss out on the milestone, even the Mayor of Basingstoke and Deane Councillor Paul Frankum and the mayoress Councillor Jane Frankum were present to congratulate Tony on his achievement.

Once the race was complete Cllr Frankum presented Tony with a badge to mark the achievement and all present enjoyed some cake and a glass of champagne to celebrate.

Many of the guide runners took to the Basingstoke parkrun website to leave anecdotes of their runs with Tony.

With one guide saying: “On a training run round Crabtree, we managed to avoid the rabbit holes, but I guided Tony into a small rock resulting in an impressive tumble.

“He still insisted on completing another lap of the park.”

Another added: “I guided Tony helpfully into the fence while running down Tennis Court Hill! We were trying to avoid a runner with a dog and another with a pushchair both overtaking at the same time - Tony’s subsequent recount of this story on a podcast meant the fence had transformed to one made of barbed wire.”

To find out more about Tony and his milestone run visit parkrun.org.uk/basingstoke/news/2018/01/28/the-tony-awards