welcome to the newsletter
In this week’s newsletter we announce a new national sponsor, our resident eggspooner shares his first tip for successful egg and spoon running, and a celebrity chef cooks up a storm at Gladstone parkrun.
I’d like to start this week by welcoming an exciting new sponsor to the parkrun Australia family and announcing some subsequent changes that will be occurring to your local event. After months of negotiations I’m delighted to announce that Abe Froman the Sausage King will be joining adidas, Suncorp Bank and Stockland as a national sponsor. As a result of this alliance we shall be commencing a rebranding process, changing from parkrun to porkrun and each week at your event the Run Director we will be releasing a greased pig onto your porkrun course at the start of the run. The first person to catch the pig will be known for the next 7 days as the ‘first porkrunner’. Sounds exciting hey?
Haha, April Fools! Sorry, I couldn’t resist, and you have Paul Wilcock from St Peters parkrun to blame for the porkrun idea!
On a serious note, this Saturday is the 3rd anniversary of Main Beach parkrun and, as this was our inaugural event, it is parkrun Australia’s 3rd birthday. Happy birthday to us! I can still remember Main Beach parkrun event #1 like it was yesterday. In the lead up to the launch we had no idea how it was going to go so it was a relief and a delight when 108 enthusiastic runners turned up on a typically beautiful Gold Coast morning. Geoff Holloway was first finisher in a time of 17:13, Sam Hughes was first female in 20:15, and running legend Ron Clarke was 100th across the line in 56:16! Looking back at the results now it is great to see that 2 of the original Main Beach parkrunners (Brian Peters & Julie Bryant) have gone on to join our 100-club and a further 16 have joined the 50-club. Adding to that Renee & Adam Gimbert have since gone on to become our amazing Event Directors at Coomera parkrun so it would be an understatement to say that 2 April 2011 was a big day for parkrun in Australia!
And haven’t we come a long way since then? A quick look at Professor Alan’s Essential Stats below will tell you that at some point in the next week we will register our 100,000th parkrunner in Australia! It seems like it was only yesterday that we hit 50,000 and I predicted it would take us until the end of April to get to 6 figures so we are tracking a couple of weeks ahead of schedule. Of course none of this would have been possible without our national sponsors, local supporters, and last but not least, the incredible volunteers who bring your local parkrun event to you every single Saturday morning. Well done everyone and here’s to the next 100,000!
Happy running,
Tim from parkrun Australia (get in touch)
p.s. Only 199 days until International parkrun Day 2014
Were you a first timer last weekend, or did you run a personal best? We would love to hear about your experience on email, @parkrun_au or on Facebook.
Professor Alan’s Essential Stats
Number of runners – 9,256
Number of volunteers – 569
Number of new registrations – 1,518
Total number of registered parkrunners – 98,648
Egg and Spoon Running tips by Phil Rorke
The egg-citing event at parkrun on Saturday 19th April will be an attempt at my third official Guinness World Record, this time for the “Fastest 5km Egg and Spoon Run”. I, like many other kids, had a fascination for the zany world of the Guinness Book of Records (as it was then). I would go through each new copy with relish, in awe of the people featured. Although I’d have loved to be in it one day, I didn’t feel I had any particular skill or oddity that would qualify me for that, and I wouldn’t discover competitive running for another 20 years!
My own journey down the yolky slope to eggdom started a few years ago as a teacher, when I gave the young members of my running club hard-boiled eggs and dessert spoons, and told them it was the easiest way to get into the Guinness World Records these days. The record at that time was held by Ashrita Furman, and stood at 8 minutes 5 seconds – and he actually went on to beat this himself a little later. By the time I challenged the record, it stood at 7 min 8 (Ashrita actually holds the record for the most number of records, which possibly tells you a little of the psychology of a dedicated egg-spooner!).
On 9th December 2012 I challenged Ashrita’s mile record with one spoon and straight afterwards had a crack at the one mile “two handed” egg and spoon. Just the day before, I re-read my emails and realised it had to be done with two eggs and two spoons, as opposed to two hands on one spoon, which I had been practising! Nonetheless, I succeeded with no albumen spilt on the oval, achieving the mile (1.6 km) in 6 min 16 and 6 min 57 respectively.
In order to help parkrunners across the country get into eggspooning, here is the first in my trilogy of egg-tips.
First and foremost, fellow eggsters – poise and posture.
Relax and never feel embarrassed – nothing of any note has been achieved when good people have been scared of looking a little foolish! Relax your lower “spoon arm” lower horizontally, with your elbow 10 cm or so forward from your waist – this is to give enough “wiggle room” for your egg to stay still – remember, your legs and hips will move, but you want your egg to stay relatively cushioned from this movement. You will still need to use your “non-spoon arm” for power, so make sure this one can move freely. Then, wave (with your free arm of course!) and smile at your astounded audience out walking their dogs – and be proud – you’ve now joining a select group of athletes – the eggspooners!
Celebrity Chef Matt Golinski inspires Gladstone parkrun
Running a marathon is hard enough but when the goal is to run an ultra-marathon - you need a little extra motivation. That is why Gladstone parkrunner Michael Duggan, currently training for his first 100km race, recently invited Celebrity Chef Matt Golinski to his home event. And the Gladstone locals didn’t disappoint with a record crowd in attendance to run with Mr Golinski and be inspired by his story of using running to help with his recovery from severe burns to 40 per cent of his body. Gladstone parkrun was very touched to be able to host Mr Golinski at their event and saw many parkrunners respond positively to the visit. Special thanks to Stockland Gladstone who established this event and continue to provide volunteers and administration support each and every week.
Australian Running Festival winners
Last week adidas invited parkrunners to win 1 of 5 places at next week’s Australian Running Festival in Canberra. Congratulations to the five winners: Teisha Parkinson, Freddie Hayes, Guy Stoddart, David Vanderwolf and Jenny Hawkins. Thanks to adidas, you have won yourself an entry into the event and will shortly receive an email with the registration details.
Sydney:10 parkrun Challenge
Its 5 weeks until the Sydney:10, home of the inaugural ‘parkrun Challenge’ which threatens to overshadow the Australian Road Running Championships! Athletics NSW would love to see a bunch from every parkrun in NSW and the ACT take on the 5k or 10k. The event will be awesome as it runs through completely closed roads through Sydney Olympic Park and finishes via the ‘marathon tunnel’ and a final lap of the athletics stadium! St Peters, Curl Curl and Campbelltown already have good prospects on the start line, what about your parkrun?? www.sydney10.com.au
Upcoming Special Events
April
5 - Main Beach (Qld) 3rd Anniversary
12 - Fingal Bay (NSW) 1st anniversary, Augustine Heights (Qld) 1st anniversary
19 - Guinness World Record attempt – “Fastest 5km Egg and Spoon Run”
26 – Stones Corner (Qld) launch, Lillydale Lake (Vic) launch, Rockingham (WA) 1st anniversary, Ginninderra (ACT) 2nd Anniversary
May
17 – Roma (Qld) launch
Feedback from the field
Tracey Smith - Just a follow on to my comment from last week, my goal of under 30 minutes is now smashed, thanks to the pacer who helped me take another 15 seconds off that time! Very proud of myself reaching my goal in just 9 weeks, much thanks to my trainer at Get Low fitness Ms Brodi!
Michelle Cocks - I woke at sunrise on my wedding day excited and bouncing off the walls much to my sleepy bridesmaids Suz Browne and Paula Flynn disappointment! I laced up and headed for my first run at Canning River parkrun. I really enjoyed running with my two favourite running buddies and all the parkrunners. I would like to clarify I had a costume veil to run in and not the one I wore to my wedding. I’d like to thank you for having me & thanks to all the runners that congratulated me. Was a fantastic start to the best day of my life!
Donna Hanks - I did my first Kalgoorlie-Boulder parkrun yesterday. It took 3 months of living back in Kalgoorlie to get there - no excuse except that I like lying in on the weekends. I knew I'd love it, and I did. Congrats to the organisers and all the participants. One of my friends joked that he'd take up running if he saw someone smiling while they're doing it. Well, start running, because there were plenty of happy people at parkrun yesterday, and every Saturday at Karlkurla Park. It's a no-brainer - like the page and get down there next Sat - it's free, it's a 5km run or walk, you can push a pram, or take the dogs, it's family-friendly, motivating, & in the beautiful bushland park. Thanks to the runners who lapped some of us, and encouraged us to run at the end. Everyone encourages each other - I was praising the young kids who did the whole walk, some even after tripping over! Then, after the run you receive an email telling you your time and how you fared against your age group. Most people are competing against their PB's, and some just walking and not competing at all. AWESOME!
Jennifer Hetherington - My son Lachlan (now 7) decided he wanted to run at the Twilight Running Festival after cheering me on there in September. I suggested the 5k instead of the 1k kid’s race and he ran his first parkrun at the end of October to start training. He has made it to the 10 club, run 10 different parkrun venues in Australia and NZ. On Sunday he ran his first 5k race at Twilight - a full 10 minutes faster than his first parkrun just 5 months ago. He has now made a date with a girl in his class who did the 1k race, to run New Farm parkrun together this weekend! Thank you parkrun for providing such a wonderful opportunity and atmosphere for a family to have a fit lifestyle. Lachlan was registered as part of the parkrun team at Twilight and it was great to see so many parkrunners around the tent.
Josh Marshall - Just something to add for the sadly required warnings in the newsletters and to do with keeping left. Last Saturday at my local parkrun I had to physically grab a runner by the shoulders and move them left, as they had headphones in, didn’t respond after a number of requests to keep left, and were blocking a number of people from passing, including a runner with pram. This person didn’t even apologise or indeed say a word. Disappointing.
Gregor Sutherland - On Saturday we participated in the ACT Governments 'Connect and Participate Expo' which is a new expo organised to connect local people, of all abilities with local events and community groups. Ginninderra parkrun had a stand and promoted the 3 local parkruns - Gareth Candy from Tuggeranong popped past too. It was a great way to connect with other people in the community, particularly those with disabilities and even we had a number of people register through the tablet we had on the table!
Drop me an email if you have an interesting parkrun related fact, happening or comment that you would like to share with all parkrunners.
Volunteer Profile
Name: Allison Hunter
Club: Goldfields Oasis
Age: 37
Home parkrun: Kalgoorlie Boulder
Occupation: Event director Kalgoorlie Boulder
Number of runs: 8
PB: 30.14
Number of times volunteered: 17
Favourite volunteer role: All
What do like about volunteering at parkrun: Being part of an amazing morning with others in the community and receiving great feedback.
Most memorable or funniest parkrun moment: On New Year’s Day it was raining so I asked the other Run Directors what each of them thought about cancelling. We decided to go ahead and we had 15 happy parkrunners join us. As we were getting ready to start a guy all dressed in his nice black suit walked in and, once we stopped laughing, we told him it might be difficult to run dressed like that. In reply he announced that he is from the local paper was hoping to do a story as parkrun was the only event in the whole town that hadn’t cancelled due to the rain!
How can we improve parkrun: It would be great if volunteering counted towards the club t-shirt as this is something that has been suggested to us over and over again.
Reminders
Barcode reminder
Printed barcodes are used at all our events to record your result. Please click here to collect and print your barcode. No barcode = No result = No exceptions. To order your barcode on a durable plastic key tag as shown above please click here. #dfyb (don't forget your barcode).
No printed barcode, no result.
All questions answered
Do you have a question about parkrun? How do I collect my club T-shirt? How do I get my barcode? All your questions are answered on our brand new support site
Volunteering at parkrun
We ask every parkrunner to volunteer 3 times a year. When volunteering you receive the maximum number of points towards the yearly competition.
Children at parkrun
All children under 11 must be accompanied by a parent or guardian. Guardians must ensure that children place themselves appropriately so as to prevent a situation where they are being repeatedly overtaken at the start. This is to ensure the safety of your child.
The parkrun Show AU
You can download your copy of the parkrun show Australia here. The parkrun show Australia is the free, weekly, timed podcast celebrating parkrun Down Under, hosted by Dave Robbo and Russ Jefferys
Our Sponsors
all out performance
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