Rockhampton parkrun sets new record, milestone runners revealed

A new attendance record has been set at Rockhampton parkrun after a massive weekend. To mark the occasion, we honour those there who have now completed at least 200 of the weekly events.

Pam McKay

2 min read

January 16, 2025 - 2:46PM

News Sport Network

A number of milestone participants were among the record-breaking field at Rockhampton parkrun on January 11, 2025.

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For Ian Dunbier, parkrun is all about community.

And the Rockhampton community continues to embrace the weekly 5km timed event held at the city’s botanic gardens each Saturday morning.

A record 448 people attended last week, bettering the previous record of 442 set on January 13 last year.

Rockhampton was one of 22 parkruns across the country that broke all-time attendance records last Saturday.

Dunbier is coming up to his fifth year as director of the Rockhampton parkrun.

He took the reins from Craig McCormack who was at the helm for the four years from the inaugural event in March 2016.

Rockhampton regular Mark Harris has done 406 parkruns.

Dunbier said he loved to see people of all ages and abilities taking part, and got particular satisfaction from seeing the number of children taking part.

He has completed 163 parkruns and volunteered at 277 more.

“Parkrun is now a global entity,” he said.

“It’s great for people to get not only physical exercise but mental exercise.

“Even though it has the word ‘run’ in the title, probably a third of our participants actually walk.”

Dunbier said January was typically a big month for parkrun with people factoring it into their New Year’s resolutions to get fit and healthy.

But he said everyone had their own motivation, and he just loved to see people getting out and doing it.

Many participants have inspiring stories, such as Bernadette Wallace who completed her 300th last week, 46 of them while undergoing cancer treatment last year.

Rockhampton parkrun director Ian Dunbier at the Tsurumi Ryokuchi parkrun in Osaka, Japan.

A total of 2500 parkruns are held around the world, with more than 500 across Australia.

Dunbier has done them in Japan, New Zealand and across the country.

He plans to keep that trend going when he heads to Tasmania in February and Germany in April.

Rockhampton parkrun starts at 7am each Saturday.

200+ parkrun participants in Rockhampton’s record-breaking field

Mark Harris - 406

Kalee West - 383

Dominic Fletcher - 355

Dot Lennane - 339

Tim Griffin - 337

John Weir - 336

Lyn J Lewis - 335

Bruce Young - 334

Peter M Lewis - 321

Justin Lane - 308

Cheryl Bookallil - 304

Sue Deakin - 303

Kath Hodda (200), Kerree Green (300) and Bernadette Wallace (300) notched up milestones during Rockhampton's record-breaking parkrun on January 11, 2025.

J Kerree Green - 300

Bernadette Wallace - 300

Paul Wiltshire - 294

Rhys Williams - 294

David French - 291

Kym Treacy - 282

Michael McCarthy - 277

Shiralee Teal - 275

Cheryl Green - 274

Bruce Manly - 273

Catherine Dass - 270

Angela Heffer - 269