Australia's Newest Parkrun

Saturday 21st January was a significant day in the history of parkrun. It saw the launch of Australia's 4th event & the 1st in New South Wales.

St Peters parkrun has been several months in the planning & it was great to be there the day it kicked off.

Event Director Paul Wilcock has done a great job setting up the event, organising a 'lively' course, and attracting plenty of local interest. 64 runners completed the first event.

Under cloudy skies, runners & volunteers gathered around the start/finish area near the iconic, now-redundant chimney stacks of Sydney Park, St Peters.

A warm-up session was led by Assistant Race Director & massage therapist Aaron Pidgeon, who also provided the wheelie-bin ice bath for finishers.

Before the pre-race briefing led by the 2 Tims (Oberg & Gordon) from parkrun Australia HQ (who had travelled down from the Gold Coast), and Paul who then started us off.

There had been plenty of chat beforehand about 'the hill'. While it is a good pinch that comes at the half-way point, it's over and done with pretty quickly.
Also some great views of the city skyline can be enjoyed from the top making it all worthwhile.

The course takes in paths around the perimeter and through the park with a few ups and downs plus plenty of turns to keep it interesting.

Hopefully word will spread locally about the event and I'm guessing it won't be long before St Peters parkrun is regularly hosting over 100 runners at 8am each Saturday.

The eventual winner and current course record holder was Sato Ashida (17:12).

I look forward to hearing how this event progresses & watching the parkrun wave continue to spread across the country.

Next stop Kirra parkrun on the southern Gold Coast, Queensland.