Castlemaine’s pre-Christmas parkrun 497 captured the feel-good factor the event is known for.
Organisers welcomed visitors, celebrated milestones, and hosted the tunnel of love tribute. The amazing volunteers also embraced the festive spirit.
With 168 participants and volunteers, this was the biggest turnout since the record-breaking Easter crowds in April. Eleven were new to parkrun, including a first-timer from Groote Eylandt in East Arnhem Land, and visitors from Cairns and Hobart.
Milestones were recognised for Dhi Singh, who completed his 50th parkrun in a new PB of 23:49, and Daniel Broderick, who reached his 25th milestone. Dhi has been a regular at Castlemaine since 2023, and his steady improvement in 2025 saw him break his PB seven times. Daniel joined in March and has shaved 5:23 off his best time following nine PBs. We look forward to seeing both progress in 2026.
Congratulations to all participants, including those who achieved new best times: Brad Smith, Alexander Bailey, Hamish McCoy, Tanya Kopelke, Stephen Cox, Allison Hughes and Harriet Webb.
Margaret Clarke was the highest achieving age grade of 78.92% in a time of 26:29, followed by Andrew Beaman at 75.68% and Rohan Singh at 71.55%. Rohan also was the first finisher in 18:52, followed by Morgan McLure in 19:23 (a new PB) and Damien Harrison in 20:36. Simoen Van Der
Meent was the first female to finish in 22:02. With four of the first 10 finishers being junior runners, the future of athletics looks bright.
Led by run director Karina Taylor, the event ran like clockwork thanks to all the volunteers who made the event possible: Shana Chong, Christine Christie, Ronder Clayton, Robyn English, Donna Faircloth, Pam Joseph, Peter Joseph, Lisa Minchin and Dave Petrusma.
Parkrun is an inclusive event whereby participants complete 5km distance in the Botanical Gardens.
You can run, jog or walk; participate by volunteering, meet new people or just focus on your health. How you participate is up to you.
There is no pressure in finishing last, as this is the role of the tailwalker, and it happens to be one of the most popular volunteer roles on the roster. The roles are wide ranging and include course checker, bar code scanner or photographer. As summer is the busiest time, we are always looking
out for more volunteers. If you are interested, please sign up at www.parkrun.com.au and register for a barcode.
With extra Christmas Day and New Year’s Day events scheduled, it gives everyone the chance to join over the holiday season. Come along and experience the camaraderie of the parkrun community.