Echuca Moama parkrun past and previous directors and event directors at the event’s seventh ‘birthday’ celebration. Photos: Emily Donohoe.
Photo by
Emily Donohoe
Echuca-Moama is a thriving community that is only growing. One of the many reasons people love the region is the multitude of groups they can be a part of.
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To help you find the right group, check out our ‘Why not join...’ series each week, where we focus on a community group.
In today’s edition, Emily Donohoe speaks to Echuca Moama parkrun.
Ringing true to the expression ‘consistency is key’, Echuca Moama parkrun is held at the same time and same place, week in, week out for free.
Each Saturday morning at 8am, runners — and walkers — make their way around the 5km loop at Echuca Lions Park.
“People think, ‘oh no, it's a parkrun, you've got to come and run’,” event co-director Andy Rogers said.
“You definitely don't.
“We’ve got people who do it in an hour every week; they just stroll along.”
As much as parkrun is about fitness and encouraging movement, the community created by the weekly events is equally important.
For Mr Rogers, the time spent in nature with family or fellow parkrunners is key.
“It’s a family event, and it’s not about running,” he said.
“It’s about taking part and getting out on a Saturday morning, starting your weekend as you mean to go on, with some exercise, getting out in the fresh air and enjoying some awesome company.”
Regularly, milestones like 25, 50 or 100 parkruns are celebrated, with some locals cracking the 250 mark.
Clocking around 230 parkruns himself, Mr Rogers joined the Echuca Moama crew as a run director around five or six years ago.
“I’m a big giving back to the community person,” he said.
“I do a few things for the community, so me volunteering for things is never really far from my thought process.
“I joined because I was into running, and I knew about parkrun from my UK history because it had been going there for a long time.
“When it started up here, it was a no-brainer for me to go along and take part.”
Each Saturday, parkrunners get to the Lions Park around 7.45am, with regulars often arriving earlier for a chat.
Before starting, a first-timers’ and a general run briefing are held, participants then self-seed, fast runners up front and walkers at the back.
Andy Rogers briefing the crowd before the parkrunners take off.
Photo by
Emily Donohoe
At 8am, parkunners head off on the 2.5km track, looping back to the start line where they receive a token.
All participants are asked to register in advance so their end-of-race tokens line up with their individual barcodes.
Opportunities to get involved aren’t limited to pounding the pavement, with volunteers a key part of the weekly operation, including token scanners, tail-walkers, timekeepers, pacers and photographers.
“On our Facebook page, we call out a couple of times a week to fill the roles,” Mr Rogers said.
“There’s generally about eight or nine different roles that you can volunteer, five of which are essential.”
While many loyal locals spend their Saturday mornings parkrunning, visitors to town also get involved, especially during long weekends and school holidays.
Regular participants try to complete the alphabet challenge, ticking off a parkrun with a location starting from A-Z.
Echuca-Moama parkrun makes for a good opportunity to complete the rarer letter ‘E’.
“Every week, we’ll get anywhere between 10 and 30 or 40 tourists,” Mr Rogers said.
“V is the only letter (my family) need, and we’ve got to go to Victor Harbor.”
Echuca Moama parkrun will celebrate its eighth anniversary with a celebratory ‘8 Bring a Mate’ parkrun on Saturday, May 3.
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