PARKRUN is back.
This Saturday morning, expect upwards of 100 socially-distanced people to converge near the Parkrun start line, just north of the Shepparton Art Museum at Victoria Park. It’s been 10 months since the Saturday morning ritual was called off because of you-know-what.
Now, an iconic Shepparton weekend event is returning.
For those of you who don’t know what Parkrun is, you’re forgiven. Neither did I. Years ago, I was backpacking in Syria. One Friday night I found myself squeezed into the back of a share taxi with a Finnish lady who lived in Damascus and worked at her country’s embassy there. She asked me, in that bemused-yet-friendly accent Fins have, if I was going running the following morning.
If I was what?
“Yes,” she said. “It’s Parkrun. We all meet and run 5km together at 8am. It’s wonderful!”
I didn’t see her the next morning because I didn’t make it. I’d had enough arak to make sure I wasn’t doing anything by 8am the following morning, but that was my first introduction to Parkrun.
It’s global, it’s welcoming, it’s social. Yes, it involves running, and that may not be a source of joy for everyone, however you can walk it. It’s not competitive.
Shepparton’s Parkrun attracts on average 137 people each week, but foundational Shepparton Parkrun volunteer, Allan Connelly, said they have seen more than double that number show up to run the 5km course around Victoria Park Lake.
“It’s an activity people can do that caters for all abilities and enables people another social outlet, if they want to get fit and spend some time with their mates and have a bit of a run,” volunteers and runner, Chelsea Nicholson, said.
“You can travel around and do Parkruns in other places and the atmosphere’s the same. There seems to be some sort of personality or feeling about Parkrun that wherever you go, there’s that encouraging feeling.
“I think it comes from the volunteers. They’re enthusiastic about their sport and the event itself and encouraging people to get out there and be healthy and social. It’s community-building, I guess.”
After finishing the course, part of the herd shepherds itself off to Friars Café. It’s a routine that will be replicated across Victoria this Saturday.
For more information, check out parkrun.com.au.
