Up and running: Attendees at the inaugural Goulburn River Trail parkrun. Photo: Wayne Herring
After years of planning, the first parkrun in Seymour took place on Saturday, October 28.
Hold tight - we’re checking permissions before loading more content
Gathering at 7.30am, 130 runners from across the country assembled on the Goulburn River Trail for the inaugural 5km event.
With the pre-run briefing completed by Goulburn River Trail parkrun co-coordinator Peter Nunn, the first official run started at 8am.
Flying start: Rhianna Wik-Gamble was the fastest female at the Goulburn River Trail parkrun. Photo: Wayne Herring
“We had a great response,” Nunn said.
“(Of the 125 attendees) 91 of those completed the course; the rest were made up of volunteers and a couple of people who didn’t have ID codes, so they couldn’t get recorded.
“A great majority (were) from outside of town.
“We had two people from Brisbane, Geelong, Mansfield, Warrnambool, Euroa and Albury, and then the rest were made up from various suburbs of Melbourne and about 20 locals.
“Very proud. Very happy. It puts us on the map.”
For the record books: Thomas Martin was the fastest male on the day. Photo: Wayne Herring
While parkrun is all about achieving individual goals, there is still a competitive aspect to the run.
Thomas Martin and Rhianna Wik-Gamble wrote their names into the history books with the fastest time for a male and female, respectively.
Martin ran the course in 16 minutes 22 10 seconds, while Wik-Gamble ran the course in 21 minutes 22 seconds.
On track: Peter Nunn, Elliott Denny and Marcus Denny were the officials for the event. Photo: Wayne Herring.
Nunn is hoping that the response will be similar this weekend for the second event as word spreads.
“I know so far we have two people coming from Canberra and another from Sydney,” he said.
“It’s not an issue for people with prams, and I even encourage people in motorised wheelchairs to do it.
“It’s not just for racehorses. It is for everybody of all age groups.
“Come on down and give it a go. You don’t like it. Well, you don’t come back, but if you do, it’s a weekly event; it’s here every Saturday at 8am.”
The Goulburn River Trail parkrun would not have been be possible without the help of volunteers and Nunn thanked them for their efforts.
“It’s like with everything, without volunteers, nothing will happen,” he said.
“The response from volunteers (was excellent), and we have a weekly roster that we do during the week.
“We fill that up as best we can, but they’re the key roles, such as timekeepers and scanners.
“They are the people who basically leave when the last competitors leave.”
Credit also goes to Lucy Linton Goulburn River Trail parkrun co-coordinator and parkrun Australia monitor Marcus Dening, along with Nunn, for bringing the event together.
11°C