Cleveland man to mark 250th parkrun

He will reach the milestone on Saturday at Cleveland.

Mr Day has run every event and maintains his personal best of 32 minutes and 29 seconds in the five kilometre circuits.

The 87-year-old began taking part in the event when the first Cleveland parkrun was launched five years ago.

“I hadn’t run for quite a while and when I retired at Cleveland, I began running with my three sons,” he said.

“When I joined the parkruns I suppose I wanted to keep fit and I have meet a great bunch of people doing it.

“It’s also a great habit to keep fit so I highly recommend it to all ages.”

Mr Day said he felt proud to be reaching his 250^th run.

“I feel honoured and surprised that I made it but I hope to keep going for many years to come,” he said.

“I have always run the event but I’ve had a knee problem for the last few months so this time I will be walking.

“I do want to encourage others to take part and hope to see more and more young people join too.”

Mr Day has completed 238 parkruns at Cleveland and other parkruns in Tasmania, south-east Queensland and in the United Kingdom, running alongside his wife Daphne in many events.

He said his most memorable run was at Southampton, England after seeing more than 700 people parkrunners meet.

“England is the home of parkruns,” he said.

“It started off with about a dozen people and now hundreds of thousands of people around the world are taking part.

“It was amazing to see how it’s grown and to be a part of it.

“The biggest thing about parkruns is it is not a race, it’s a personal challenge to improve your own time.”