We all know that everyone who attends Castlemaine Parkrun is treated like a celebrity, but when Lisa Millar of Back Roads and Muster Dogs fame, and self-confessed parkrun fanatic, took time out of her busy filming schedule to join local participants on Saturday morning, there was genuine excitement.
Lisa is a fierce advocate for parkrun and its benefits, and is a regular at the Albert Park course, with 162 finishes under her belt and 51 volunteers.
She loves to talk about the ways in which parkrun provides friendship, connection, routine and a sense of belonging, in addition to the obvious health benefits, her television roles enabling her to be a regular parkrun tourist.
It was an episode of Backroads being filmed at Maldon that brought her to Castlemaine Parkrun on a ‘feels like -2.9’ degree morning and without gloves (a situation that was quickly remedied by Karina). She even dragged along her ‘sound wizard’, Ben Travers, who was one of two first timers on the day, the other being Denise Shead; both received a warm welcome.
There were only 96 finishers, the wintry weather obviously keeping some away, but there were five PBs recorded, beginning with first through the chute, Finn Girbon a parkrunner newbie with only two finishes, in a sizzling time of 17:44.
Congratulations Finn, and also to Daniel Cheesman (18:38), Paul May (24:36), Bev Cox (32:31) and Isla Lorenz (34:38).
There were visiting runners from a swathe of Melbourne events, including Lisa, but also from further afield in Werribee, Melton, Bacchus Marsh, Gisborne, Torquay, Gippsland, Sydney, Adelaide, ACT and Cairns.
Lisa says that she quickly realised volunteering was the key to making friends and building community at parkrun, and as we know, the volunteers are integral to the running of each event. The team who worked to bring the first August 2026 parkrun together were Tyrone, Brendan, Pam, Robyn, Bron, Zane, Ronder, Rosamund, Terry, Margaret, Robin and Elissa.
If you would like to hear more about Lisa and her love of parkrun, tune into the UK produced Parkrunners Podcast for a deep dive. And if you would like to come along and experience it for yourself visit www.parkrun.com.au to register and collect your unique barcode. Then join participants at the bbq shelter in the Botanical Gardens just before 8am on any Saturday.
You will be most welcome, whether you choose to volunteer, walk, jog or run.