As we have frequently reported, parkrun is a wholly volunteer run and managed event, and without that steady stream of people willing to forego their own fun, in what is after all a ‘fun run’ (or walk), we’d be quite unable to manage.
Here at Castlemaine Parkrun, we enjoy the dedication of a small group of people who act as Run Directors, essentially forming a committee of people overseen by Karina Taylor and with Jane Harding serving as chief wrangler of the volunteer contingent which changes from week to week.
Chris Timewell, was one such volunteer on Saturday and he clocked up his 100th stint as a volunteer.
An incredible effort and one which the whole parkrun community is proud of. It is worth pointing out that Chris’ 100 volunteer milestone doesn’t include his years of service writing this parkrun report – which in his day was not acknowledged.
Making it an even more incredible effort: ‘Well Done.’ Chris – and ‘Thanks!’
Chris was joined on the day by Ronder Clayton, Robyn Dimopoulos, Geoff Faircloth, Jane Harding, Jacqui Knee, Glen Taylor, and Karina Taylor as Run Director.
Glen Taylor doubled up on his volunteer duties, completing the mandatory track inspection, with a first place finish at 20:55, a tremendous effort. He was followed across by Matthew Lorenz and Ben Priest on 21:37 and 22:06 respectively.
Claire Brien was the first female runner over the line at 22:53. Erica Weatherlake and Piper Marshall were the next females to finish on 24:10 and 25:00 even.
These were among the 74 runners, and strollers, who completed the three laps of the botanical gardens on our 5km event – if we add the volunteer contingent that number swells to 85, a really good turnout which included lots of visitors.
We also saw a decent crop of Personal Best times, always a highlight, and these were bookended by Dean Podger on 23:57 and Fiona Craigen on 49:38. Filling in between these two we had Kate Freston on 26:31, Nick Gibbons 27:10, Celia Wenban-Smith 27:23, Ben Thomson 44:40 and Marlene Hubber, in only her 3rd parkrun, who got around our lovely course in 44:45.
As mentioned we had lots of visitors, and that shows up in the results as lots of ‘first timers’, but we should mention Rachel Dale and Pinar Maher who both completed their first ever parkruns. Rachel in the excellent time of 25:04 and Pinar not far behind in 26:40. Hopefully we’ll get to welcome them both to many more events.
Parkrun is free. There are no joining fees, no registration fees, and no costs to participate at all. If you’d like to join us at Castlemaine Parkrun all you need to do is register online to obtain your barcode and come along to the botanical gardens a bit before our 8AM briefing. Getting that
barcode is easy, but you will require it in order to get your results. We’d love to welcome you to our running, walking, strolling community.