WITH the temperature already rising, the pack gathered under the shade of trees, reluctant to venture out to the starting flags when 8am came around for Gloucester’s 241st parkrun last Saturday.
While the general sentiment seemed to be “I was thinking of not coming today”, there was a good crowd of 56 finishers to help local Gordon Hayward celebrate his 100th run.
Some of Gordon’s family joined him on the parkrun, while others opted for a cool seat in the shade to cheer from.
It was the first parkrun for Jon Hayward and Damien Walker.
Another 10 were completing their first parkrun in Gloucester, including visitors from Brisbane and Karuah.
For Greg and Carolyn McLaughlin, it was their 474th parkrun each but their first one in Gloucester, having travelled down from Logan City in Queensland for some cooler weather.
The first male finisher was Julien Dendas in a personal best time of 20.04, with Jen Sage the first female finisher in 27.25.
Another three finishers took the heat in their stride, with personal best times by Elyse Blines, Roger Liddle and Howard Cameron.
For Bill Troy, Gloucester was his 98th stop on a tourist trail of parkruns – for this one he got up at 4am to travel from Sydney for the event (and his 292nd run).
The event was delivered by an experienced team of volunteers with Arthur Poynting as timekeeper and Pat Burrows as scanner. Steve Robinson gave out the finish tokens and was missed out on the parkrun paths, where a few locals use him to set their personal goals (of trying to finish before him).
John Watts had swapped his pen (as a writer for News of the Area) for a camera to capture the tales of the morning. Julie Lyford donned the blue vest of the parkwalker, to show others that walking is as much fun as running (especially in the summer heat).
Heather Duffy had travelled from Booral to take on the task of tailwalker, guiding the group from behind. It was the first step in her goal of doing 10 volunteer roles during 2026.
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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