The Dragon Runner

New Year's Day Double

1 Jan 2020

New Year's Day each year is a special event day in the world of parkrunning, the only day when parkrunners are able to register two parkruns. My first double was on 1 January 2019 when I visited Campbelltown & Bowral parkruns with Rick Patzold on a very warm sunny day.

For this year we had planned to drive to Canberra to run the double at Tuggeranong and Mount Ainslie parkruns. However, due to the ongoing bushfire emergencies impacting New South Wales and Australia, we cancelled these plans. The long drive through rural bushland areas would have been potentially dangerous, and the Rural Fire Service needs the roads cleared of cars so they are able to respond effectively as fires escalate.

Instead I attended Shellharbour and Sandon Point parkruns with Rick Patzold and Patrick Schymitzek, the first time a NYD Double has been held in the Illawarra region. On a warm day with some smoke lingering in the air we saw in the new decade with many friends from Shellharbour who also completed the double. My recent slow times continued as a result of my rolled ankle & arthritic knees, but I still find it very enjoyable to push myself when everything hurts.

• Shellharbour parkrun @ 7:30am - 47:29
• Sandon Point parkrun @ 9:30am - 45:48

We are very fortunate to have this opportunity when a number of other parkrun events have been cancelled today as a direct result of the bushfires. My thoughts however have been with those less fortunate who have lost their homes and their communities to these tragic bushfires over the last two months.