Wednesday, 19 November 2014

Review : parkrun Barcode T-Shirts

Last year, I think it was at the Running Show (which I’ll be attending again this year in its revised incarnation as the Running & Endurance Show), I discovered that you could get your parkrun barcode printedon a t-shirt. I was really smitten with this idea, more so even than the natty key tags and wristbands that you can buy these days.
At the time I was less smitten with the designs, and the price. My self-laminated-with-sticky-tape barcodes were still going strong and I’d yet to forget it on Saturday morning by virtue of having one everywhere I could think of (key dish, car, sports bag…) So I didn’t buy one. But I didn’t forget about it and when Miles Stronger, the company behind these little beauties, came up with a new colour-way and a discount code I finally ignored the little voice telling me I had enough kit and bought one.
I arrived home from parkrun one Saturday to find it waiting on the doormat. Damn! I had to wait a whole week before I could test it out. Testing day happened to coincide with meeting Strava Ambassador, John Clarke, pre-Gatliff. The distinct design would have made it easy to pick me out of a crowd, had I not arrived at 8:30 before the masses.

I am really impressed with the top. I’m long in the body but it didn’t feel short, the cut was lovely and the fabric wasn’t at all flimsy. The real test... scanning time! There aren’t many of these shorts around and the scanning volunteer at Orpington was rather impressed when I just held out the hem of my shirt. Even more so when it scanned! I’d had my usual barcode as a back up but my text and email results came through as usual so it worked! Now I just have to decide whether to wear my “50” or barcode t-shirt each week.

The shirts cost £35 but are worth the money considering the quality and personalisation. They’re made from proper technical fabric, available in three designs and come in men’s, women’s and children’s cuts.


Miles Stronger also stock the fantastic Chia Charge flapjackbars. I first tried these at the Trailblazer last summer. I really like the consistency and the fact they’re not too sweet, having a bit of sea salt in them. I might be stocking up on some of these for Gatiff… 

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