THE town and the parkrun course were blanketed in fog for the 266th Gloucester parkrun last Saturday.
The air did not clear until after the flags were packed up and the crowd had wandered into town for a coffee.
With the school holidays in full swing, there were 63 finishers braving the cold, including visitors from Newcastle, Maitland, Sydney and Griffith (on her way to somewhere warmer, was the visitor’s explanation).
The pile of discarded clothing grew into a mountain as people warmed up along the course and turned for their second lap.
There were nine first-timers to Gloucester parkrun who came to enjoy the scenic course along the river.
Adam Wade celebrated his 50th parkrun, persevering through some injuries along the way.
The oldest finisher, Warren Hardy, gets a special mention as he is in the 85-89 years category (on his 451st parkrun), with 12 juniors of 14 years and under joining him in the joy of movement.
There were people checking their ‘place bingo’ (trying to get all the different place numbers from 1 to 100); others were working on personal-best times to keep up their motivation, while most were simply glad they had gotten out of bed to join in the fun.
Congratulations to Pat Greenwood, Melissa Costello and Brock Gruisinga on recording personal best times.
Gloucester parkrun is kept alive by a small team of rotating volunteers each week. Last Saturday it was Chris Murray taking on the role of timekeeper (fitting it in before he headed to the golf course to play foursomes championships with his father Bill).
Regular volunteer Rod Eckels handed out finish tokens to those happy to cross over the line, while John Watts calmly scanned barcodes and finish tokens so people could register their times.
Visitor Mark Bright from Stockton stepped into the role of tailwalker (guiding the pack from behind) when the role became vacant.
Mark combined with local John Rosenbaum to helpfully pick up all the cones on the last lap (not in the role description but much appreciated).
Gloucester parkrun is at 8am every Saturday – so come along and join in the fun of a five-kilometre walk or run around Gloucester District Park. It’s a free event.
By Carolyn DAVIES
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