IT WAS a cooler morning for Gloucester’s 227th parkrun, after the thunderstorm and welcome rain of the night before. There was an interstate flavour to the crowd gathering at the start, with visitors from Toowoomba, Surfers Paradise and Melbourne as well as the more local Maitland and Port Macquarie.
A large group of locals, arriving with a minute to spare, almost doubled the numbers, with 54 finishers as the final count.
There was evidence around us of Gloucester’s transition to summer sports – with junior cricketers sharing our space and others playing in the next field.
The Run Director’s choice to take photos at the turn-around point drew a few comments including ‘you got here, quickly’ (it was a short walk cross country from the start) and ‘you must be here to check everyone is doing the full course’ (no doubt said in jest).
John Bayley had found a new trick – hiding behind a tree to get his breath back so he could run for the camera.
The first male finisher was Declan Campbell, visiting from Toowoomba for his first time at Gloucester parkrun, timing his run to perfection to finish in exactly 18 minutes.
Emily Beggs was the first female finisher, smiling all the way.
Brett Fairns was another of the visitors here for the first time, but running his 331st parkrun.
The cool temperature seemed to suit a few people with personal best times for Daniel Brooks, Nixon Clark, Phoebe Thomas and Sequoia Clark.
Young Jacinta Watts also got a PB, cheered along by her grandfather John Watts who was also setting the quick pace.
Others had their own goals – with one finisher happy to get below 50 minutes.
As usual, the event was delivered by a bunch of local volunteers. The dream team (in their words, although they did do a good job) of Trudie Murray as timekeeper and Rod Eckels on finish tokens were in sync to make sure the results were easy to process.
Kim Haschek was scanning, while her son Hamish (after finishing his run) helped to sort out the tokens ready for packing up for the day.
Dannielle Knudsen was in the role of tailwalker, guiding the group from behind. She cheerfully accepted the challenge that this role often faces.
You walk with a group that opts out at half way, leaving you a little way behind the rest of the field – so time to pick up your pace.
By Carolyn DAVIES
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