welcome to the newsletter

On Sunday parkrun founder Paul Sinton-Hewitt completed the London Marathon in a very respectable 3:32:08. I followed Paul’s run using the very fancy tracker app provided on the London Marathon website and it was impressive to see that Paul’s pace sat around 5 minutes / kilometre for the entire race... In fact his last kilometre (5:04) was actually faster than his first (5:06).
Paul is claiming that this was his final marathon, preferring to stick to shorter distances in the future. If so, what a great way to go out, raising over £20,000 for parkrun UK's official charity partner, Alzheimer's Research UK!

A few words from Paul -
“So it's all done now. My last marathon and all for Alzheimers Research UK. I ran every step with someone in mind. There are thousands of people out there who have to give up their lives while they look after a family member who suffers from Dementia. The disease is appalling, robbing people of their dignity usually after they have given great service to their families, their colleagues and to their communities. We can change this. I had many responses to my bid to raise donations from people who either asked me to run for them or their family member or who simply identified with this suffering. A great many sufferers are parkrunners. We are all in this together. And so when you see me running with a smile and fighting the lack of strength in those last six miles then you know I was doing this for them. I am so proud of the way parkrunners responded to donate a pound towards ARUK. Every little bit helps so much. ARUK is one of the smallest charities. We've raised over £20K on my page alone. This from over 1,800 donators. Simply outstanding so thank you from the bottom of my heart.”
Good on you Paul, and thanks for continuing to be an inspiration to us all.
Speaking of the London Marathon, the winner of the men's race, Eliud Kipchoge, set a course record (and the second-fastest marathon time ever) of 2:03:05 for the 42.2 kilometres... That's an average pace of 2:52 for each kilometre over an entire marathon!
Or think of it this way - eight back-to-back parkruns at an average time of 14:20 for each 5km... then a cheeky 2.2km to finish off!!!
WOW!
Happy parkrunning,
Tim from parkrun Australia (get in touch)

Were you a first timer last weekend, did you run a personal best or do you have any other feedback? We would love to hear from you on email, Twitter, Instagram or Facebook.
Essential Stats

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Victorians #findyourmotivation this Saturday

Are you ready to show your friends why you ‘loveparkrun’?
This Saturday, as part of our Find Your Motivation campaign with VicHealth, we challenge each and every one of you to share why you ‘loveparkrun’ and bring a rookie friend or family member to their first ever parkrun.
They don’t even need to run, walking is great too – and it might just change their life.
Click here to find out more about VicHealth’s Find Your Motivation campaign.
Heart Week

The 1st of May until the 7th of May is Heart Week!
To celebrate we have invited Heart Foundation Walking to join our regular Saturday events for a series of Heart Week Walks at selected locations. This Saturday it is Tuggeranong parkrun in the ACT and Torrens parkrun in South Australia.
Click here for more information about Heart Week.
The books are back in town

The NEW 2016 | 2017 Entertainment Book Memberships are live. Click here to order now!
The Entertainment Book, and the Entertainment Digital Membership, are your guide to the most popular restaurants, attractions, shopping, travel and more, all with valuable up to 50% off and 2-for-1 offers.
20% of every membership sold is donated to parkrun to help us continue to grow our events around Australia. You can help us by sharing this link with your friends and family. Thanks for your support!
Upcoming Special Events
Launches:
30/04 – Parkville (Vic)
07/05 – Batemans Bay (NSW)
14/05 – The Entrance (NSW)
21/05 – Portland (Vic)
04/06 – Narrabri (NSW), West Beach (SA)
11/06 – Goondiwindi (Qld)
02/07 – Cobram (Vic)
Anniversaries:
07/05 – Cleveland (Qld) 3rd, Altona (Vic) 1st, Rhodes (NSW) 1st
14/05 – Curl Curl (NSW) 3rd, Yarrabilba (Qld) 2nd
21/05 – Coburg (Vic) 1st, Roma (Qld) 2nd, Taree (NSW) 1st, Varsity Lakes (Qld) 3rd
28/05 – Castlemaine (Vic) 1st, Devonport (Tas) 1st, Highlands (Vic) 3rd, Mt Penang (NSW) 2nd, Penrith Lakes (NSW) 2nd, The Ponds (NSW) 1st
Cancellations:
30/04 – Port Macquarie (NSW), Geographe Bay (WA)
07/05 – Sirromet (Qld)
04/06 – Penrith Lakes (NSW)
parkdog of the week

My name is Ollie. I am a 3 year old Cattle Dog cross Kelpie and have been doing parkrun with my Mum, Tracey, since late 2015. The first time I did parkrun I was really scared at the start as everybody crowded around me. Mum and I waited until most people went past and then we started running. I think that week we ran 23 minutes. Last weekend we ran our PB of 21:21. Some people think I give my Mum an unfair advantage because I am a fast runner but she has to pull me along sometimes after we hit the turnaround point. Each week is even better as I get to meet lots of other dogs to sniff and humans who like to pat me. Mitchelton parkrun is the highlight of my week and I look forward to seeing you guys there!
Feedback from the field
Ros Lowe - Some parkrun days are more special than others. Today my left Kidney from Sydney (along with its current owner!) completed its first Mount Barker parkrun in South Australia! It was a first ever parkrun for my daughter Anne Marie and my former left Kidney (which had done 50 or so parkruns before moving interstate). I am sure it was mightily pleased to join my right Kidney for a brief while!

Linda Broschofsky - Last Saturday I was lucky enough to once again partake in some parkrun tourism. Cairns parkrun was very welcoming and in spite of the torrential tropical rain, I had a fabulous run on one of the most scenic courses I've ever done. I've never run in rain that hard and had water pouring down my body from top to toes. But the smile never left my face. It was wonderful and exhilarating not to have the sun beating down on you. And best of all I got to meet the parkdog and his human that was featured in this newsletter a few weeks ago, a super friendly black Labrador.
Elke Robinson - I wanted to write to you to say thanks and also boast a bit. What an amazing concept and community you have created! Our local Lismore parkrun has only recently started and has had three events thus far. We attended week 3 as newbies however have dabbled in running over the years but my husband was always a non-runner; "I could never run 5km", "I'm not a runner", "People will laugh at me", "I'm too slow"... These were just some of the words I have heard fall from his mouth over the years. But after recently losing 20kg Peter stepped way out of his comfort zone and decided he would join me in our first foray into parkrun. And can I just say - wow! Everyone was so welcoming and warm. Not once did either of us feel out of place or embarrassed. All the attendees high fived and encouraged each other all through the course and Peter completed the whole 5km running non-stop! Thank you for creating such a wonderful community and place where you are free to walk, run or skip along if you want to. Hubby has definitely been bitten by the running bug and this will now become a wonderful way for us to start each Saturday.

Tim Ellis - Two years ago, my mum had just started to get into a little bit of running at her gym to remain fit and active in her elder years. To encourage her to have some fun with her running and to get her off the treadmill at the gym, I gifted her a parkrun barcode as a Mother’s Day present. At first, my mum was unsure and thought that I was a "cheapskate" by giving her a free barcode for Mothers Day. With some trepidation, she turned up to her first event at Bunyaville a couple of weeks later and was unsure of what to expect. She was expecting it to be full of hardcore runners and that she would be totally out of place given she had never done any form of running in the past – let alone trail running which Bunyaville parkrun is famous for. However, with some encouragement, she found that this was not the case and fell in love with the community spirit and the encouragement she received from everyone at Bunyaville parkrun. She also dragged along my father and together they now have a couple of age records at a number of parkrun courses. The attached photo is from Bunyaville parkrun last week where my Dad celebrated his 50th parkrun (hence the tutu) and my mum celebrated her 70th parkrun. My Dad has also volunteered more than 30 times along the way and now has the coveted purple volunteer shirt. Both are approaching their mid-70s and both are an inspiration to many people. I'm very proud of them for being active and getting involved and it's fair to say, that parkrun is now a highlight for them each week. In addition, they have also introduced parkrun to a number of other friends and family and are actively promoting the benefits of parkrun to anyone who will listen. I think my cheapskate present is in fact one of the best gifts that I have given them as it has helped them to meet new people and to stay active in their retirement.

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: Penny Byrne
Age: 54
Home parkrun: Wynnum
Number of runs: 103
PB: 24:39
Number of times volunteered: 23
Favourite volunteer role: Pacer because it’s great to help others run a PB and I am naturally gifted at running slowly.
Most memorable or funniest parkrun moment: When I was overtaken by a three-legged dog. Great motivation to speed up as I did not want a photo with him in front of me at the finish. Or possibly the time I gave out tokens 100-149 in reverse order.
I volunteer at parkrun because: that's how it works.
One thing I love about parkrun: is that anyone can participate.