I
t’s part of its creed; free, timed and WEEKLY – but some parkrun
venues embrace the festive season with special one-off events
held on Christmas Day and/or New Year’s Day - even when they
don’t fall on the usual Saturday of parkrun. It’s been a tradition
across the globe since the inception of parkrun, and people often
have their fondest memories of parkrun on these special events.
As is tradition for this time of year, the time of giving, parkrun
encourage you to reach out to anyone you know who will be
spending Christmas alone and please consider inviting them to
join you at a Christmas Day parkrun. It could be your neighbour, a
friend from work, or a family member. It doesn’t matter if they do
not participate; simply coming along for a chat and being part of
our special parkrun community could really help make their day.
There are almost 100 parkruns taking place on Christmas Day
here in Australia and more again on New Year’s Day, so check the
link for times and locations where you can boost your number
of parkruns beyond the usual Saturday offering, after all you’re
meant to celebrate the occasion with family and friends, and surely
that extends to your parkrun family!
www.parkrun.com.au/special-events
parkrun profile:
Mt Clarence
I
t never rains at Mt Clarence parkrun!
Well, maybe not but there is nice cool running weather,
which is perfect for the challenging course. The course winds
around the side of a mountain just above the sea and has
truly spectacular views, which at the right time of year often
include whales. It is a straightforward out-and-back with lots of
opportunity for high-fives. This makes it difficult to get lost, but it
is not an easy run: the first kilometre is all uphill, and it’s all up and
down after that.
Of course, that does make for a wonderful downhill kilometre
before turning onto the only flat part of the course, the finishing
straight on the beach. The Run Directors are often in trouble from
visitors for describing our parkrun as “undulating”, which some
consider being a bit of an understatement.
You will pass a statue of Nicolas Baudin, an early maritime
explorer, and a monument to Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. You’ll get
a look out over Princess Royal Harbour and King George Sound,
which apart from being visually spectacular is famous as the
gathering point for the convoys of ships heading to World War
One. But in the WA parkrun community, the most famous is
probably “Bill’s Hill”, named after the legendary founding Event
Director.
Penny Simpson is the current Event Director and in August
2014 had been running regularly for about a year when a stranger
named Bill Irving asked to follow her on Strava. Despite warnings
from friends, Penny approved the request and it turned out
Bill was “stalking” local runners as he was about to launch Mt
Clarence parkrun. “I turned up for the launch and thought it was
pretty great, but I had a very firmly entrenched Saturday morning
routine, and parkrun rarely fitted into it,” explained Penny.
Penny attended when she could, got more involved and then
learnt about parkrun adventuring – parkrun soon became the
highest Saturday morning priority!
Bill recently gave up being Event Director after five years’ stellar
service to parkrun and Penny stepped into the role. Having been
to 16 different parkruns, including a very exciting pilgrimage to
Bushy, it is Mt Clarence that remains the favourite. “I love it for the
same reason I love parkrun in general: because it’s such a great
community. The fact that it is all run by volunteers just blows
me away, and we never have trouble finding volunteers at Mt
Clarence. There are people who volunteer less often and a few
who volunteer a lot, but I think those of us who do it a lot, all really
love it”.
Josie Kidman has just completed her 100th parkrun. She was
introduced to parkrun by her daughter, champion ultra runner
Jodie Oborne, and son-in-law Tim at Main Beach parkrun in 2013.
Josie has completed a number of different parkruns, including the
now-defunct Heirisson Island. She has always been an avid walker
but only began running in her mid-fifties, about 10 years ago. She
has completed three marathons, an ultra-marathon, and numerous
half marathons and other distances, but her greatest achievement
may be her amazing consistency. Josie runs and/or walks every
single day, usually running very (very) early in the morning and
walking to work and around town. She joined Run Down Under in
December 2014 and completed the 14,080km around Australia in
October 2017, an average of almost 14km per day.
Josie professes to be a bit of a loner but loves the camaraderie
of parkrun and is always happy to run with and encourage others,
not just at parkrun but on social and training runs. She also loves
volunteering and celebrating the achievements of others. Josie’s
favourite parkruns are with her family; she has three daughters,
a son-in-law, six grandchildren and three sisters who participate
in parkrun. In very recent times her husband has also started
parkrunning, which Josie considers miraculous. She is a friend and
an inspiration to all of us at Mt Clarence parkrun.
Mt Clarence is lucky to have a couple of cafés nearby, but the
official post-parkrun venue, where there will always be a gathering
of parkrunners, is called Three Anchors. It overlooks the start line,
Middleton Beach, has a very good playground and serves great
breakfasts as well as coffee.
Gorgeous location and scenery aside, Mt Clarence parkruns’
greatest strength is the people, and a warm welcome is
guaranteed, not just from the volunteers, but also from the other
walkers and runners.
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