1,000,000 Australians officially beat pavements across the country for parkrun Australia last weekend. The free community events are held on Saturday mornings where runners and walkers of all abilities can get out and about in an event that mixes fitness, fun and socialisation.
The million milestone comes just weeks after Shepparton’s Parkrun celebrated 10 years on Saturday, January 13. With numbers exceeding 200 runners on any given Saturday. In that time the community club has seen many individual runners complete 25 and 50 runs around the lake, with a dedicated few jogging on to 100 and beyond. It was Raymond Cilia’s 200th parkrun on their 10th birthday, an incredible milestone for the local.
“Running is going through a rosy period at the moment and numbers at many parkruns are up, and in some cases creating attendance records. At Shepparton the last two weeks we’ve had 282 and 278 people participating (our attendance record is 298) and 12 volunteers each week,” said Chelsea Nicholson.
Shepparton parkrun takes off from the shelter near the southern end of Victoria Park Lake next to SAM at 8am and heads north following the path to the northernmost point of the park. Runners continue on to cross the start/finish line, then do two laps of Victoria Park Lake in a clockwise direction.
Afterwards the runners, joggers, walkers, and the very deserving volunteers who make the event happen each week, head to Stanley’s Cafe for a chat and coffee at a more leisurely pace. To get involved check out Shepparton parkrun on Facebook.
