THE big questions were being asked before Gloucester’s 189th parkrun last Saturday – would the rain hold off for the event? How many would take the chance on the weather and turn up?

The answers were a rain-free event and 63 people who decided that doing a 5 kilometre walk or run around Gloucester District Park was the best way to start the weekend.

Locals were joined by visitors from Central Coast, Sydney and Brisbane, with a special mention for Tony Hardy who visited from that other Gloucester place (in the UK), on his 293rd parkrun and first time at the Australian version of a Gloucester parkrun.

There were five people enjoying their very first parkun – Liam Wamsley, Lyndall Wamsley, Laura Tidswell, Sequoia Clark and Oliviia Wade – and another six were at their first Gloucester parkrun.

Local Thomas Coombe was the first male home in a time of 19.40, while the first female was visitor Kylie De Mauro in a personal best time of 23.13. There were another six finishing with personal bests – Lisa Peterson, Melissa Wade, Darren Sinclair, Marc Damulder, Carlie Ballard and Lucas Dickson.

It was a multi-tasking day for the volunteers. Steve Robinson managed to fit in a short run before the event, taking secateurs to trim back some tree branches he had noticed were impeding the path of the parkrun, and then handed out finish tokens for his second job of the day.

Jen Sage started with a short walk, taking photographs before morphing into the scanner for the rest of the morning. Dannielle Knudsen volunteered as tailwalker, combining it with parental responsibilities as her two daughters joined her on the walk.

Volunteer Rod Eckels helped set up the event before he focused on the role of timekeeper.

By Carolyn DAVIES