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.

New Contributor: Dave Robertson

Name: Dave 'Robbo' Robertson
Home parkrun: Main Beach, Gold Coast, Australia

Date of first parkrun: 24/12/2011
Total Number of parkruns: 2

Number of other parkrun locations run: 0

Number of times volunteered: 0

My parkrun history: AthleteNumber 214975


Background: As one of the many thousands of Aussies living in the UK from 2005 to 2008, it may seem odd that it wasn't until returning home that I first heard about parkrun. It was via listening to the now famous running podcast 'Marthon Talk' that I came to learn of this growing fitness phenomenon.

Having lived for a year in London and close to 3 years in Edinburgh I have enjoyed hearing about the rapid rise in parkrun participation & was eager to see whether it would spread to the former convict colony Down Under.

Since hearing about the launch of Australia's first parkrun event at Main Beach on Queensland's Gold Coast in April 2011, I was excited to get involved.

On Christmas Eve these dreams were turned into reality as I made my parkrun debut alongside my Wife, my Dad & my dog ( (and numerous other runners in Santa hats). From the minute we started until the final bar code was scanned, I loved it. The simplicity of the event, the slick organisation, the friendly vibe amongst participants. All packed up and done in an hour, off for a coffee & breakfast nearby. I was hooked!

My next endeavour was to find out what it would take to set a parkrun up in my home area of Newcastle, NSW. I had a good chat with parkrun Australia Chief of Operations, Tim Oberg and am excited to be working on launching a new event later this year.

My updates will include details of what is involved with starting a parkrun event from scratch.

Happy parkrunning!