by Carla Caruso

State opposition leader Peter Malinauskas has been spruiking his ‘hump day’ park runs while on the campaign trail.

He’s been inviting the public to join him for a jog every Wednesday at 6am from the North Adelaide Par 3 Golf Course Carpark.

Though, not all have been happy about Mr Malinauskas spreading the word online. When he posted about the jogs in the Facebook group, South Austalian Parkrun, last week, he received comments such as: “Go away, this is a non-political page” and “we need to report this as spam”. 

Of course, he isn’t the only avid park runner.

As APA committee member (and runner) Ted Jennings says: “During the pandemic, running became the sport to do as there was no density limits, it was outside, and it’s a non-cost-prohibitive sport to be part of. 

“The running calendar is becoming very cramped, with trail running becoming a huge sport in recent years.”

In this spirit, we spoke to members from a few different running groups to find out why they love lacing up - especially in the Park Lands.

SOUTH AUSTRALIAN ROAD RUNNERS CLUB

The SA Road Runners Club (SARRC) is a not-for-profit, member-based organisation, which has been supporting runners and providing running events across SA for over 40 years.

Board president Sandeep Sekhar (above) says: “We are the largest road running club here. There are a lot of subgroups that exist [meeting for weekly social runs in their neighbourhood]. They all come together to form the larger club, and we’re the only running club that runs events across the year.”

According to Sekhar, it’s also “the only club in Australia that has run any marathon consecutively for 42 years without a break. Even during the pandemic, we managed to conduct our Adelaide Marathon. Some of the bigger marathons in Australia – Gold Coast and Melbourne – had to cancel.”

The club runs monthly events, except in January and December. For the second year running (pun intended), earlier this month the club held its annual Park Stampede relay.

The 4 x 5km relay event was on Sunday, March 6. Teams of four ran, jogged or walked a 5km route before passing the baton onto their teammate.

In 2021, the event was held at Victoria Park / Pakapakanthi (Park 16). But due to increased COVID testing, the event was moved in 2022 to the Uni Loop track in Bullrush Park / Warnpangga (Park 10).

On the event’s name, Sekhar says: “When we scale – when we get 100 teams – it’ll be, like, 400 runners who are running at the same time. So, there’ll be a bit of a stampede. 

“Initially, we were thinking of calling it the Urban Stampede, but then we said, ‘OK, look, Adelaide’s got the unique Park Lands, and all our [relay] events are going to be held there, so we’ve got to tie it back to that.’ 

“It’s the only relay that we do. I haven’t seen any other event of this nature in SA.”

APA’s Ted Jennings, who’s also on the SARRC board, held a Clean Up Australia event at Park 10 on the day before the race.

SUNRISERUN

Matthew Fenech coaches the community running group, SunriseRun Team, helping people to meet their individual goals. 

The group meets at the Uni Loop start/finish point in North Adelaide every Tuesday and Thursday at 6am.

Fenech, right, has two decades’ experience in elite accredited coaching and running but was keen to shift his focus to community runners five years ago.

“To say that the group started with grand plans in mind, it didn’t,” he says. “It honestly started with about four or five runners. I just kept showing up, they kept showing up, and they were a really good bunch of people, and it sort of spread through word of mouth.

“Nowadays, we regularly get between 20 and 30 runners each morning … It’s a real continuum of abilities and people out there for different [run] times and reasons.”

Fenech does it “between the cracks” of his life, including full-time work as a research analyst at UniSA. There’s no set fee structure for members but most throw a little money his way – like covering his coffee at CIBO on Melbourne Street afterwards. 

On the starting point, he says the Uni Loop is “the quintessential running track in Adelaide”. “Probably about 10 or more running groups around Adelaide meet at that start/finish line, so we’re not special in that regard.”

But while the group always meets there, they often venture further afield, including running along the River Torrens, down Plane Tree Drive, in Botanic Park, and beyond. 

“The Park Lands have so many good routes and so many good places to run,” Fenech says. “Really you’re only limited by your creativity in terms of the sessions that you do.”

PARKRUN

Parkruns are free, weekly, community events held all around the world. The Saturday morning sessions are 5km long and take place in parks and open spaces everywhere “rain, hail or shine”.

They’re intended to be positive, welcoming and inclusive experiences, with no time limit and no one finishing last.

Ainslie Derrick-Roberts (above) has been a regular at the parkrun in Victoria Park / Pakapakanthi (Park 16) since 2019. She often volunteers at the events too. (Another city parkrun is held along the River Torrens each week, meeting on War Memorial Drive.) 

The Pakapakanthi parkrun was put on hold over January, because of the new wetland development and COVID testing. But it has since started up again with a new route. Each event attracts about 200 people.

Derrick-Roberts, a research associate at UniSA by day, took part in 37 of the 52 runs last year. 

“I’d never really been a runner,” she says. “I just knew some people from work who used to go, and they said, ‘Come along.’ 

“There’s no pressure to run. You can just walk, which I did initially. And then I’d just do a bit of interval – run, walk, run, walk – and try to get my times down a little bit. 

“I used to go with my kids as well. There are heaps of people that run with their families. Most locations are pretty pram-friendly too.”

Derrick-Roberts also runs trails with the Belair Run Club during the week and is part of Running Mums SA and the Women’s Recreational Running Network.

“You have to be careful, especially as women running,” she says. “I tend to run in groups. I like the accountability of other people [too]. I do occasionally run alone if I have to. But I don’t enjoy it as much, whereas some people can put their earphones in and just go.”

On the Pakapakanthi run, she says: “It’s really nice to be amongst the trees so close to the city. Once the wetlands are done, it’s going to be beautiful.

“They have a great little kiosk [Kiosk on 16] that we support after parkrun normally. It’s just a nice atmosphere. People can bring their kids and there are games at the kiosk that they can play, and the kids can run around on their bikes. 

“The guy who runs it is a parkrunner as well, so he runs the full run then comes back and makes coffees.”