Castlemaine Parkrun was treated to a quite remarkable performance from some newcomers to the course on Saturday, and relatively speaking, newcomers to parkrun itself.
The first three runners have notched up a mere 10 runs between them, but they all broke the 20-minute mark and blitzed the field.
First across was Gordon Muir in 19:20, ahead of Russell Bourke on 19:47 with Lauren Bourke a mere one second behind. Russell is the veteran of the group with six parkruns under his belt, Gordon and Lauren were both on their second event – and none of them ran a PB.
The club hopes to see this talented trio back on its beautiful course in future and hopefully some of the locals can match it with them. Speaking of which, George Targett was the third bloke across in the terrific time of 21:12 on his 99th run – the club is looking forward to celebrating his 100th next run, a great milestone and one to be proud of.
Claire Brien was the second female to finish and she completed the course in 22:35, which was a PB, and Jodi Oakman was the next female over in 23:40.
These were all terrific performances in close to ideal weather – cool and with a bit of occasional drizzle, but lovely for running.
Another good turnout with 71 runners / strollers including Donna Faircloth, the ‘Tail-walker’. Donna has over 80 parkruns to her credit and as well has volunteered more than 25 times – a parkrun champion!
The other volunteers were Michael Constable, Jane Hamilton, Jane Harding as our Run Director, Colin Moore, and Dave Petrusma who stepped up at the last moment to plug a gap. Thanks go to the volunteers – Castlemaine parkrun is staged by volunteers and they do a great job staging an event every week that is marked by a level of professionalism rather taken for granted, but that belies the hard work and commitment of the team.
Clair Brien was the only PB for the day, but there were lots of newcomers to the course. There were too many to mention by name, but Stephen Black must be singled out for completing his first ever event and doing so in 27:44 – possibly not the first time Stephen has pulled on a pair of running shoes. That’s a great effort on his first parkrun and with luck he’ll be back on the course at the Botanic Gardens in future.
Parkrunners compete against the clock and every event is carefully timed for the particular course it is held on. The parkrun website lists the times, and the venues for each run. It is volunteer based and overseen by a small group of, again volunteer, run directors who share the load between their own participation on the track.
If you are interested they’d love to see you: just register online and get along to the botanic gardens a bit before the 8am pre-run briefing. More details can be found on the website: www.parkrun.com.au/castlemaine