15/06/2026
Ōamaru Public Gardens parkrun – Event #3 on 13 June 2026
By Chrissy Robertson
I had the pleasure of visiting Ōamaru Public Gardens parkrun this week. Visiting from Lower Hutt, my brother Martin and I, with friends Paul and Julia, flew to Christchurch on Friday morning, picked up a rental and drove to Ōamaru, where we spent the rest of the afternoon going our separate ways to see the things that most interested each of us, before meeting up at the Gardens to familiarise ourselves with the course. It also enabled me to take some great photos around the Gardens without affecting my time during the run. The course is on mixed surfaces and has an out-and-back section plus 3 loops around the gardens and aviaries. On one of these loops, a parrot said “Hello!” to me as I came past the aviary. I’ve never had that happen at parkrun before!
New parkrun events always draw a crowd of visitors as well as newcomers. And so it was today. With 50 first time parkrunners and 32 visitors, over half the field attended Alice’s First Timers Briefing before lining up at the start line.
Thank you to the wonderful volunteers today - Helen Anderson, Alice Perry, Trina McNamara, Yanina Tacchini, Jill Wilson, Jared Ovens, Justin Radford, Lyn Walker, Chris Thrupp, Rhiannon Thrupp, Malcolm Walker, Alister Wilson, Christine OSullivanRobertson, Chelsea Anderson, Richard Savage, and Martin O'Sullivan. You were awesome.
There were 40 PBs out of the 143 known finishers (10 Unknowns making up the total of 153 finishers). Applying a little bit of maths, 143-82=61 previous attendees and 40 of those people got a PB! Phew. That’s a really high percentage of PBs. Congratulations to Julio F**a, Doug Brand, Pablo Tacchini, Jamie Wollstein, Harper McKenzie, Hugh Newton, Hamish Newton, Hamish McKenzie, Stacey Cunningham, Megan Hamilton, Alex Wilson, Robyn Hyde, Matthew Bailey, Fiona Stratford, Eben Wallace, Sarrath Milmine, Caitlin McEvoy, Joy McGee, George Ovens, Kerry Weir, Chris Birchall, Amanda McIntosh, Andrea Naylor, Rocco Tacchini, Rick Suter, Deb Roberts, Dave Roberts, Verena Birchall, Gary Whiston, Liss Yockney, Anita Mavor, Fiona Caldwell, Adele Whiston, Richard Savage, Suzie Ladbrook, Liz Davey, Faith Middlemiss, Caron Sullivan, Lea Scott, and Linda Renalson.
While I can always be found near the back of the field, I got to admire the fast runners today as they sped by me a few times. Congratulations to Rory Bailey and Annelies Wilson, the top male and female finishers today, with Robyn Hyde joining Rory as the top Age Grade % achievers.
Congratulations to David Cosseboom on his (unofficial) 200th milestone today. David was visiting from Foster parkrun in Canterbury.
Thanks for having us this week. It’s a fabulous course with a great team of volunteers. If you are reading this and thinking about visiting, don’t forget that it is a 9am start in Winter, and pack your winter woollies. You’ll need them 😊
