By Margate Parkrun
It is with great sadness that we must report the passing of one of our stalwart volunteers, Brian Snead.
Brian started parkrunning back in early 2012 at Whitstable Parkrun, well before a parkrun event was thought about in Thanet, but he was with us at Margate on our first run in April 2013 and very quickly became a regular runner, clocking a personal best of 26:13 during his time running at parkrun events.
In 2017, following an operation which meant he could not run, Brian took to regular volunteering, soon establishing himself as the course marshal on our grass turn, known to all Margate regulars at ‘Brian’s spot’.
Indeed, it was Brian’s cheerful face and encouraging words at this furthest point of the course that would motivate many a runner for their last couple of kilometres back to the finish.
As a volunteer team, we always knew that Brian would be with us every week and that we could rely on him to encourage our runners around the pumping station loop, while keeping them safe in the process. We were always pleased to see his cheerful face every Saturday morning and we always felt a little lost when he was on holiday and not with us.
During his time with parkrun, Brian ran on 197 occasions and volunteered an impressive 217 times.
We received a report that Brian had been admitted to QEQM Hospital on April 11, suffering from COVID-19, and despite some promising news along the way, his condition deteriorated and sadly he passed away at lunchtime on Sunday, May 10. Our thoughts are with his wife, Simone, and all his family at this difficult time.
We know that many of you will want to remember Brian on a Saturday morning, when we are allowed to meet for parkrun again, and we are planning something which we hope will be at Brian’s Spot each week so that you’ll be able to remember him as you run past, and smile about all the happy times he brought, not only to Margate Parkun, but also to our friends at Margate juniors on Sunday mornings.
When Brian would leave the shelter to head out to his spot each week, he would always say a cheery ‘Ta ta’ as he rode off, and we hope you’ll join us in saying ‘Ta ta’ to him for one last time as we remember our dear parkrun friend. Run free, Brian. Ta ta.
Tributes
Fellow runners took to Facebook to pay touching tribute to parkrun stalwart, Brian:
Richard Harrison wrote: “Hanging our running tops in the window. Respect to Brian and family.”
Paula Benedict wrote: “So sad and deepest sympathy to Brian’s family. Brian you always made Saturday park run that much better with your cheery words of encouragement. Will miss you at your regular spot.?⚘
You ran a good race my friend so sleep well.”
Gary Salmon wrote: “Really sad to hear this. Many happy memories of those shared journeys to the KFL cross-country runs for TRAC. Always good company. Remember you being the first over-60 in the Canterbury half marathon like it was yesterday. RIP Brian and ride that bike into the sunset.”
