29/08/2026
🌳 Bannockburn Bush parkrun #398 – 29 August 2026
101 reasons to get out of bed on a Saturday morning!
Well, Bannockburn Bush parkrun #398 certainly decided that 101 was the magic number! A whopping 101 participants turned up to run, walk, jog, shuffle, chat and encourage others.
We had 14 fantastic volunteers keeping everything running smoothly, well mostly smoothly, there was a wee hiccup with the timing app not wanting to start as the ho**er went off, then there were scanning issues and the possibility of last week’s results being uploaded, and: and: and: and the drama’s continued. At this stage the Run Director was ready to run to the hills and never return. The amazing event team were able to sort through these issues over coffee like an experienced team of detectives and deliver todays results as though the morning ran like clockwork.
The numbers are in!
Of our 101 participants: 👩 58 females 👨 41 males 🕵 and 2 people who apparently prefer to remain anonymous from the barcode scanner.
Collectively, you covered an absolutely ridiculous 505 kilometres. That's 505 km of running, walking, jogging, puffing, sweating and wondering why you didn't just stay in bed. For perspective, that's roughly 170Km short of travelling from Bannockburn to Adelaide.
Six people found their turbo button!
There were 6 Personal Bests today! That's 5.9% of the field deciding that today was the day to show their previous best time who was boss. Congratulations to Daniel, Tommy, Jenna, Elliot, Grace and Alice.
For everyone else, remember: a PB is not the only measure of success. Sometimes success is simply making it around without stopping. And sometimes it's successfully putting your barcode somewhere you'll actually find it next week. 👋
We welcomed 7 First Timers today. 🟢 4 visiting Bannockburn Bush for the first time 🟣 3 taking part in their first-ever parkrun.
To our first timers: WELCOME! You've now discovered the wonderful world of Saturday morning parkrun, where strangers cheer for you, volunteers smile at you while you're clearly suffering, and everyone mysteriously becomes very interested in the cafe afterwards. We hope to see you back again soon!
Milestone alert!
There were 3 participant milestones celebrated today, including a Junior 10 milestone a 25 milestone and a 25 volunteer milestone. Huge congratulations! 🎉 Ten parkruns is a fantastic achievement, and 25 is where things start getting serious. At 25, you're no longer just someone who accidentally keeps coming back. You're officially part of the furniture, and 25 volunteers, well the Run Director will love you for ever. Congratulations to little Hannah on 10 runs, to Lachlan on his 25th run and to Sandra for her amazing generosity in 25 volunteers.
From tiny tots to seasoned legends the age profile was wonderfully varied, with participants ranging from our youngest runners through to the 70+ age group. The table turned today with the biggest age group being the 40–49 crew with 27 participants, closely followed by the 1–19 group with 26. Matt, it appears you need to bring more of your little army to bring the juniors back into the age profile lead. It appears that Bannockburn Bush is equally attractive to people who have boundless energy and people who have reached the age where getting out of a chair can count as cross-training. The average age today was 39, proving once and for all that parkrun really is for everyone.
Today's top age grade was an impressive 75.31%. For those unfamiliar with age grading, it's basically parkrun's clever way of saying: "Yes, you're fast… but let's see how fast you are compared with people your age." And 75.31% is seriously impressive. Meanwhile, the rest of us are just impressed if our Garmin doesn't tell us we've spent 12 minutes in Zone 5.
🦺 And let's hear it for the volunteers! None of this happens without our 14 wonderful volunteers. From timing and scanning to marshalling, setting up, packing down, tail walking and generally making sure the rest of us don't have to think too hard, our volunteers make Bannockburn Bush happen every Saturday. So please give them a massive THANK YOU! Sandra TOMLINSON • Julie BUYEL • Paul BUYEL • Tess BUYEL • Caroline MCNICOL • Tracey OAKES • Marissa IZZARD • Melissa CHRISTENSEN • Simone KOCH • Peter BREW • Tamara SANDERS • Nicole WILKS • Stephanie WILKS • Elliott IZZARD 👏👏👏 They gave up their Saturday morning so that we could spend ours running around the bush.
That's a wrap!
So there we have it: Bannockburn Bush parkrun #398.
101 participants. 14 volunteers. 7 first timers. 6 PBs. 3 milestones. 505 km travelled. 75.31% top age grade. And approximately 101 stories about how we were definitely going to take it easy today.
Whether you smashed out a PB, completed your first ever parkrun, walked the whole way, chased a milestone, volunteered, encouraged a friend or simply turned up and enjoyed the morning… you helped make Bannockburn Bush #398 another great Saturday morning. 🌳❤
Same time next week? Of course. Because apparently, we've all forgotten what sleeping in is.
See you all next week in the bush.
