I have to start this post by saying that I am fine. However I was shot in the arm with an air-rifle / airgun on Monday night whilst on a run in Ally Pally.

I was running with two training partners along the path that winds its way down towards the station from the ice-rink car park, past an ornate fountain. There were a couple of chaps (I assume it was two men) with their hoods up standing by the fountain, which was covered in broken beer bottles (which I know realise they were using for target practice).

As we passed the two people and got about 50m away I heard a pop and felt something like a bee sting on the back of my left arm. I carried on a for a while before stopping to check the back of my arm under a street light.

At the risk of sounding a little Monty Python about it, it is only a flesh wound with broken skin and a bruise.

I reported it to the police who were brilliant - I felt embarrassed to be reporting something so minor but they took it very seriously and said that they had sent a unit to Ally Pally and also they would patrol more to try to catch the perpetrators. 

I guess this post is more an information post than anything else and a suggestion that when it's dark, runners, walkers, dog walkers, etc stick to the well lit parts of Ally Pally.