The Dragon Runner

A Year of parkrun Adventuring

7 Dec 2019

It's been an absolutely amazing year of parkrun adventuring in which I have achieved a major official milestone as well as a number of other unofficial arbitrary challenges.

• New Years Day Double - completing Campbelltown & Bowral parkruns
• Tourist - completing my 20th parkrun venue at The Beaches
• 100 parkruns - at home in Shellharbour with my friends
• Quarter Cowell - completing my 25th parkrun venue at Bathurst
• Bon Jovi - completing my 125th parkrun so that "Whoa, we're half way there" to the 250 milestone
• Alphabeteer - collected B, E, F, G, K, L, R & T this year
• Pirates! - challenge completed at Coombs parkrun
• Stopwatch Bingo - very slow progress with only two collected this year; still six more to go!
• Wilson Index - improved it to 2 after completing Wagi Bridge parkrun
• p-index - improved from 2 to 4 during the year

On the volunteering front I have been able to repay to Shellharbour parkrun some of the joy that has been provided in my life. By the end of the year I will have volunteered on 11 occasions by helping with roles including token sorting, first timers briefing, timekeeper, finish tokens, pre-event course check & tailwalker.

There's still more fun to be had this year though with International Ugly Christmas Singlet Day on December 21, and of course the Christmas Day fancy dress parkrun on December 25. No doubt these will be two of the highlights of 2019.

The new events that I ran for the first time in 2019 were:

1. Campbelltown parkrun (1 Jan 2019 ~ 38:01)
Cowell Club #12 ~ "C" #4
I started my adventures for 2019 with the first of two New Year's Day parkruns with my mate Rick Patzold. My fitness was below par yet I surprised myself with the first of many sub-40 minute results for the year. This is an undulating course on concrete pathways around sports fields and alongside a causeway, and comes with a very passionate & friendly community of runners.

2. Bowral parkrun (1 Jan 2019 ~ 44:13)
Cowell Club #13 ~ "B" #1
The second leg on the New Year's Day Double with Rick Patzold, this event was held in very warm conditions. We met up with a lot of friendly faces from Shellharbour parkrun for this run that heads downhill through grassy paddocks before heading out along a concrete walking & cycling path through rural countryside. The course turns at halfway & returns the same way, finishing with the uphill grass section. This is a nice friendly country parkrun event that is sure to please.

3. Rooty Hill parkrun (5 Jan 2019 ~ 39:03)
Cowell Club #14 ~ "R"
The first Saturday in January saw me touristing again, this time to Western Sydney where I met up with Karin Tappouras on a very warm summer day. The event is a flat & fast course on the concrete pathways in Western Sydney Parklands. I look forward to returning to this event with some more fitness & training in my legs to challenge my all-time parkrun personal best time.

4. Rhodes parkrun (2 Feb 2019 ~ 34:47)
Cowell Club #15
I met Rick Patzold for this adventure on a cooler day with very light drizzling rain. Conditions were ideal when the rain stopped just before the start & held off for the duration of the run. The course is a paved pathway loop followed by an out-and-back section along the foreshore walking path. The course is mainly flat but does have some small undulations & I was genuinely surprised by my first sub-35 minute result since October 2017.

5. Chipping Norton parkrun (9 Feb 2019 ~ 35:25)
Cowell Club #16 ~ "C" #5
Unfortunately not all parkruns are equal... the day I visited Chipping Norton was grey & overcast and there were puddles left on the ground from the overnight rain. As a result attendance at this event was a lowly 53 runners & I feel my experience here was adversely affected as a consequence. The run is held on a rather uninspiring concrete / tar pathway alongside the Georges River, although I don't recall many actual river views.

6. Goulburn parkrun (23 Feb 2019 ~ 34:59)
Cowell Club #17 ~ "G"
My visit to Goulburn wasn't reallt planned in advance, but thrown together the day before while chatting to Karin Tappouras about her plans to run this event. When Rick Patzold provided a glowing recommendation for this course and its' zipper start I just had to go. This was an early start with a long drive & I found a lovely undulating pathway following the bank of the Wollondilly River. I even got to enjoy breakfast at Rosie's Cafe afterwards which has sort of become a tradition when I go to Goulburn.

7. Kamay parkrun (9 Mar 2019 ~ 35:35)
Cowell Club #18 ~ "K"
I had a stealth visit here on the morning of Six Foot Track Marathon knowing that all my running friends who call Kamay home would be there instead. I had been forewarned about this tough course at Philip Bay and really found my fitness lacking on the day.

8. Lochiel parkrun (23 Mar 2019 ~ 34:21)
Cowell Club #19 ~ "L"
Whilst on holiday in Adelaide & having cancelled all plans for running that week I decided to just "have a go". I met up with Darren Linney & his family at their home parkrun & wow it was a great undulating course through a green corridor. I ended up surprising myself (again) by recording my fastest time for the year to date.

9. The Beaches parkrun (6 Apr 2019 ~ 42:49)
Cowell Club #20 ~ "T"
The big parkrun Adventurers road trip to Newcastle for the second annual podcast listeners meet-up. By happy coincidence this was my 20th parkrun event & so I gained the tourist badge at the Australian tourists event. This event is 100% run on the sands of Bar Beach, with waves crashing over the side of the course. It's a very tough double out & back course but its one I would love to revisit in future.

10. Sandon Point parkrun (13 Apr 2019 ~ 37:18)
Cowell Club #21
Rick Patzold had been tempting me to this event for some time before I finally met him there. This is a windswept oceanside course with an easy headland crossing and wonderful views of the Pacific. At only 15 minutes drive from my home this course has since begun to feature more often & will be one of my p-index events.

11. Centennial parkrun (18 May 2019 ~ 33:29)
Cowell Club #22 ~ "C" #6
Arriving in the pre-dawn darkness on a cold frosty morning I was a little reluctant to get out of my car much before the 7am start time. When I did I found a vibrant community of runners & a great run on the grass & dirt trails of Sydney's Centennial Park. I felt good in the cool conditions & ran with plenty of controlled pace to record a new fastest time for the year. I really loved this event!

12. East Richmond parkrun (13 July 2019 ~ 32:37)
Cowell Club #23 ~ "E"
I travelled to East Richmond on a very brisk winter morning to collect an "E", all the while knowing that I would be backing up the next day for a 10km trail run. Regardless, once we started I began to throw caution to the wind & raced as hard as I could. The course is dead flat & very fast, and my time was nearly a full minute quicker than Centennial Park. Woo Hoo!!

13. Batemans Bay parkrun (27 July 2019 ~ 33:55)
Cowell Club #24 ~ "B" #2
My parkrun adventuring was becoming very addictive by the time I planned this road trip with Rick Patzold to South Coast NSW. This is another fast, flat course & I recorded another good time here. The local community was really welcoming & the stunning beauty of Batemans Bay is an added bonus.

14. Bathurst parkrun (24 August 2019 ~ 35:51)
Cowell Club #25 ~ "B" #3
This is another very friendly country event held on sealed pathways on an undulating course through parklands bordering the Macquarie River. Without doubt the coldest of all the parkruns I have ever attended, the grass was coated with a thick white crust of ice on arrival. I ran this very conservatively as I would be running the Dubbo Stampede Half Marathon the next day.

15. Forster parkrun (21 September 2019 ~ 36:02)
Cowell Club #26 ~ "F"
On this occasion I travelled with my son again for an overnight stay on the north coast where I would be backing up the next day for the Forster Running Festival Half Marathon. This is a gorgeous beachside run with a multiple lap course & a reasonably tough hill to contend with. The rock formations in the ocean alongside the course were a stunning distraction. With this concrete on this course it ranks very highly for me.

16. Werrington Lakes Reserve parkrun (5 October 2019 ~ 35:59)
Cowell Club #27
This is the first of the new Western Sydney parkruns to launch as a result of the RunWest fun runs & I was honoured to attend the launch with Rick Patzold & Patrick Schymitzek. This run was impacted by very heave rain during the race briefing & into the run itself. Everything was soaked through for the continuation of my road trip north for Beach to Brother which meant a quick stop & full change of clothes in the McDonalds toilet.

17. Riverbank parkrun (19 October 2019 ~ 36:09)
Cowell Club #28
Another great road trip with Patrick Schymitzek & Rick Patzold, this time to Yass in country NSW just outside ACT. This was another parkrun launch event that has been very well promoted & it attracted locals & tourists alike. The pathways on the double loop course alongside Yass River in Riverbank Park were crowded but easily accomodated everyone. This is a surprisingly tough course with a long hill to be climbed twice. A great event & one I would return to.

18. Wagi Bridge parkrun (2 November 2019 ~ 35:25)
Cowell Club #29 ~ "A.C.T."
This was the first of my solo road trips, to the second running of the newest parkrun in A.C.T. & also my first event in A.C.T. The course is an undulating sealed pathway through rolling grasslands surrounding Ginninderra Creek with runners completing almost two full loops. Although it's never really flat this was a good runnable event. Tromping over the namesake bridge did not result in any sightings of the fabled troll when I was there so I may just have to go back & try again.

19. North Sydney parkrun (16 November 2019 ~ 36:22)
Cowell Club #30
Hidden in leafy St Leonards Park under the large-canopy trees this triple loop course on narrow garden pathways is certainly not my favourite course type. There's a great, friendly & welcoming community to be found here & the course is just hilly enough to be quite challenging.

20. Coombs parkrun (30 November 2019 ~ 38:27)
Cowell Club #31 ~ "C" #7 ~ Pirates! Club
My second solo road trip to Canberra to complete my Pirates! challenge proved to be a great day out. The course is part dirt track, part grassy field & part sealed pathway to form two loops of Weston Pond. The region was impacted by bushfire smoke on the day of my visit which saw most runners taking it easy.