Dubbo residents are being invited to kick start 2019 down by the river on Tuesday as the city hosts its first New Year’s Day parkrun.
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In doing so they could become part of one of the largest running contingents in the country; the 2830 postcode boasts almost 5000 registered parkrun participants.
It’s the second highest number for any Australian postcode.
Organisers are permitted to host just two non-Saturday parkrun events each year, with Dubbo parkrun last year opting to have its first Christmas Day event.
The success of that event – it attracted 125 participants – prompted organisers to hold it again this year, and add in the January 1 run.
Dubbo parkrun founder Miriam Tan urged people to use the event to kick start their healthy resolutions for the new year.
“There has always been a big push for everyone to do more exercise, get outside, and that’s skyrocketed in recent years,” Ms Tan said.
“People aren’t using traditional forms of planned exercise as much as they used to.
“parkrun is free, it’s fun, it’s every week and people love that consistency, and I think it helps you enjoy exercise.”
Tuesday’s event will start at 8am, as usual, and Ms Tan acknowledged the predicted heat.
Temperatures are forecast to peak at 39 degrees on Tuesday afternoon.
“There’s heaps of bubblers down there and they just put another one down there that the mud run donated money for,” Ms Tan said.
“The facilities are amazing … we’re so lucky that the council bought all the land around the river and maintain it so well.”
More than 4800 people have taken part in Dubbo parkrun since it was launched in 2015, running a combined 218,980 kilometres. All up, they’ve run a total of three years, 33 days, 13 hours, 25 minutes and 51 seconds.
“It sort of runs itself at the moment and everyone is willing to give us a hand and help out and hopefully we’ll see it grow even more in 2019!” Ms Tan said.
Visit www.parkrun.com.au/register/form/ to register.