THERE were 92 finishers, with visitors from Newcastle, Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra and South Africa joining a throng of locals, for Gloucester’s 254th parkrun last Saturday.
Youngsters Georgie Chalker and George Benson were celebrating their 10th run milestones, while Darcy Thomas chose to start his 12th birthday with a quick dash around the course.
The first male finisher was local Daniel Brooks, who held off a fast finishing Jeandre Theunissen. There was also a tight tussle for positions 81 and 82, with Gordon Hayward just pipping John Watts at the finish line.
The first female was visitor Linda Chalker on her first Gloucester parkrun, with her usual parkrun being in Haberfield in Sydney. .
The timekeeper was kept busy with people wanting to know how they went, with 16 getting a personal best time.
There were 23 joining the Gloucester parkrun for the first time, with Tom Markey, Hilton Chalker and Kristy Stocks completing their very first parkrun.
At the other end of parkrun experience, proudly wearing their 250 run milestone shirts were Shane, Carys and Megan Hogan from Ginninderra in Canberra.
It was a day for conversations. Gaylene McNeice and Melissa Wade talked the whole way around – ‘we had a fortnight to catchup on’ was the reason given. Regulars Pippa and Steve Robinson were answering questions about ‘how many runs have you done?’ from a couple of curious youngsters enjoying their first ever parkrun (the answer is 148 runs for Pippa and 184 runs for Steve, if you are also curious).
And then there was the conversation the Run Director had with an onlooker who said he had been to Gloucester a few times – ‘I envy your community, it is very friendly every time I come here’.
The event was delivered by a seamless team of volunteers. Pat Burrows was timekeeper in her 50th volunteering role, syncing with Paul Armstrong who was handing out finish tokens for the first time. Ros Poynting was busy scanning the stream of finishers. Tailwalker Di Mansfield, doing her monthly volunteer roles, was so busy talking with Bill Murray and John Rosenbaum, she forgot to do her usual extra duties (although not compulsory!) of picking up the cones on the last lap.
A trio from Newcastle (Conli Mills, Candy Sherriff and Michelle Swift) happily sorted tokens while they waited for the rest of their group to finish. It was their annual trip to Gloucester, camping during the school holidays, with the parkrun as part of their tradition.
Gloucester parkrun is at 8am every Saturday – so come along and join in the fun of a 5 kilometre walk or run around Gloucester District Park (it’s a free event).
By Carolyn DAVIES
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