It was more of a marathon than a sprint to get it up and running but the hard yards have paid off for Yasmin Lindenberg.
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The Huskisson resident started working on getting a Huskisson parkrun off the ground in March 2017 and almost a year later, the first event will be held this Saturday, January 13.
While the weekly five kilometre running event is free for all participants, each parkrun needs $5000 to be established.
“I emailed over 100 small businesses within the community to ask for sponsorship,” Yasmin said.
“It was a lot of hard work and a lot of emails and paperwork.”
In the end, the event was supported by Medibank.
“People have been trying to start it here since 2013 and the biggest problem has been funding,” Yasmin said.
“My goal was to do it because it seemed like it was almost going to be impossible to get it going. It’s just so exciting that it’s actually happened.”
The parkrun passion runs in the family for Yasmin, with her mum starting parkrun in Toowoomba.
Yasmin has participated in parkruns across Queensland and Sydney and said it’s encouraging to see the movement continue to grow.
Ours would have to be one of the most scenic parkruns in Australia
- Yasmin Lindenberg
“Australia has nearly hit one million runners and on the trial parkrun held on January 6 across the country, 37,000 people took part,” she said.
While she expected around 15 people at the Huskisson trial, more than 50 showed up.
“It was great to see, there was even one lady there who had lost 30 kilograms and she took part with her kids,” Yasmin said.
Yasmin, along with co event director Russell McIntosh, are expecting around 300 runners for this weekend’s event but have prepared enough equipment for 500 people.
They’ve heard people visiting from Sydney, Canberra, Wollongong, Shellharbour and even a traveller from the UK will be taking part.
“They had 700 at the Wollongong launch so they’re pretty big and ours would have to be one of the most scenic parkruns in Australia,” Yasmin said.
The event, which will be hosted at Huskisson’s White Sands Beach, will run every Saturday morning from 8am.
Register at parkrun.com.au/huskisson/
Bring your barcode to have your time recorded.
Yasmin encouraged everyone to enjoy a coffee, chat or breakfast after the run at Salty Joes, supporters of Huskisson parkrun.
Medibank is bringing parkrun to Huskisson as part of Free + Active – an ongoing program that aims to tackle physical inactivity and promote community connection.
Under the program, Medibank will launch hundreds of free, community-based events and wellness initiatives, in partnership with organisations who share the Free + Active vision.
