South Australia’s top parkrunners: The fastest runners from every parkrun in the state ranked
From a couple motivated by loss to tackle all SA events to a lawyer taking his stress out on the track the state’s top parkrunners have been revealed. Search the list.
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What started out as a single 5km running circuit on the Gold Coast about 10 years ago has turned into a fitness movement that sees Olympic runners competing alongside grandmothers.
While parkrun was active in the UK for years before then, Australia took the bull by the horns and plays host to the second most events in the world with 418.
Forty-two (and counting) of those are in South Australia and span from Port Lincoln to Mount Gambier and Port Augusta to Kangaroo Island.
The popular Torrens track can attract close to 400 runners on a Saturday morning, while the remote KI route might see 16 cross the line.
They are even good enough for Labor leader Peter Malinauskas – whose personal best is a time of 24 minutes and 17 seconds – to snatch a top 14,000 place – the runs have even formed part of his election campaign.
Now you can see the 20,000 plus fastest parkrun performances from across South Australia.
Search your name in our interactive table below and see how you stack up against the best.
The Statesman (and woman)
For some, the challenge of simply running five kilometres is not enough – they have to do it at every parkrun track in the state.
There’s a select group of runners who have completed all tracks, they earn the ceremonial title of “statesman” (or woman).
Thirty-year-old Alex Shepherd of Woodcroft did his first parkrun in 2019 when his sister-in-law “dragged (him) along.”
Now he’s part of an exclusive list of about 35 SA statesmen – a journey he embarked on Boxing Day 2020 and finished exactly a year later.
“I’m not entirely sure why I decided to become a statesman,” Mr Shepherd said.
“I honestly didn’t know it was a thing when I started out and naively thought I’d be the first to run them all.”
While he was not the first, and technically is no longer a statesman following the addition of new circuits this year, he lays claim to having run the Mount Gambier track on the morning of his wedding and the Kangaroo Island track during his honeymoon.
Though his record is impressive, Mount Barker couple Karen, 61, and Peter, 69, Baraglia may boast the biggest running resume – completing all courses and 586 parkruns between them.
Mrs Baraglia keeps a record of those who have completed all courses and said, since the two new courses were added this year, there were 16 complete statesmen.
But for the couple, parkrun was about more than a title or run around a track.
“(My) mum passed away in February 2017 and to help cope with her death and motivate myself I decided to set myself a challenge to complete all SA parkruns,” Mrs Baraglia said.
The Baraglia’s are joined in their statesmanship by daughter Aimee and son Kent, who was introduced to parkrun by his late grandmother in 2014.
Now, family holidays are scheduled based on parkruns and the Baraglias have completed eight tracks abroad and 50 outside of SA.
The Speedster
Riley Cocks is not just any name on the South Australian athletics scene.
He and Olympian partner Isobel Batt-Doyle – who competed at the Olympics at the 5k distance – are regular runners.
Cocks holds seven of the top 20 fastest parkrun times recorded in the state and says the not-for-profit events are challenging the way amateur and paid running events go about their business.
He and Batt-Doyle operate elite run group RunAsOne and Cocks said parkrun has become a part of his and his runners’ training schemes.
“Generally where I’ll fit parkrun in is where I want a less competitive hitout in order to see where I’m at for more competitive races on the track or to see where I’m at in my training in a particular point in time,” Cocks said.
“Usually when I’m running at parkrun it’s more a time trial hitout but it’s just great to be able to rock up and meet new people every time.
“Most of the courses are out and back as well, so everybody is cheering everyone on and it’s a great community out there.”
Cocks hold the fastest time at the Mount Barker, Pakapakanthi and Torrens tracks and held the West Beach record until his champion running brother Jacob snatched it off him.
Though he no longer has West Beach, he still lays claim to the fastest brother at 14 minutes and 18 seconds, recorded in December 2019.
Unfortunately for Cocks, his best effort was knocked off by two seconds when fellow SA athletic star Isaac Heyne shattered multiple records on the Lochiel circuit.
On that same day star runner Caitlin Adams broke an international parkrun record when she zipped around the track in 15 minutes and 38 seconds.
The Staple
When Adelaide-based lawyer Adam Rosser started taking on the Saturday morning 5k special it was simply a way to get back into doing some kind of fitness activity.
But, like many park runners, the routine has become an integral part of his weekly schedule.
Since his first run in October 2013 he has clocked up 239 runs and 1195 kilometres.
“It’s my main way of de-stressing,” Rosser said.
“I can’t imagine how I would do it without (parkrun).
“I think the community feel of it encourages people to keep going and to do things they wouldn’t do by themselves.
“It’s changed my approach to fitness. It’s now a regular part of my life, that I’m running or doing fitness.”
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