A GREENOCK parkrun stalwart completed his 200th run at the weekend - after drawing inspiration from athletic events in Austria.

Cardiac nurse Stewart Anderson reached the milestone on Saturday after taking up parkrun to keep fit and drop some pounds.

It soon became part of his weekend routine, and despite living only half-a-mile from the Esplanade, in the early days Stewart drove to the start line.

Now he regularly runs six or seven miles and is looking forward to achieving his official 250th milestone towards the end of next year.

Event director David Benstead, came under pressure early on Saturday morning to delay the 9.30am start as scores of runners were glued to their TV screens watching ​Eliud Kipchoge’s​ amazing sub two hour marathon attempt in Vienna.

David however chose to start promptly to avoid the rain clouds gathering over Greenock.

Despite the damp conditions, a lucky 13 runners were inspired by Eluid’s performance and managed to record PB’s on the timekeeper's watch.

Junior runner Calum Brennan achieved a sub-21 minute run for the first time by setting a new personal best - his second PB in as many runs.

On her 44th run at Greenock, Lorna Mitchell stopped the clock for a best of 21:12. Helen Crawford, who has completed all of her 39 parkruns at Greenock, was delighted to record a PB of 27:14.

Another 10 runners registered PBs, showing that hard work in training is paying off.

Most runners have to record 50 runs to earn a free milestone t-shirt but junior runners can earn this after only ten runs. Alan Mollins was pleased to achieve his white “Club 10” shirt on Saturday.

Greenock parkrun is a fun, free 5km event for runners, joggers and walkers of all standards and abilities.

It takes place at 9:30 am every Saturday morning on the Esplanade. Next weekend’s event looks set to be a special celebration with two regular runners hoping to achieve their milestone 250th run t-shirts.