Verdict: NOT a gimmick

Course: flat n fast

Traffic: heavily congested

I’ve heard a rumour this is the busiest parkrun in Australia. It makes sense in being probably the closest parkrun to the Melbourne CBD.

Looking back at some numbers they regularly get 800+ runners (802 today). I saw Christmas Day last year they had over 1,500 finishers 🤯 they sure earned their Christmas turkey.

Take note the start point is different to the “meeting point” on their website, which is kind of annoying. It’s funny how I’ll run 5km but get grumpy if I need to walk 300m. The start line is here:

https://maps.apple.com/place?coordinate=-37.842000,144.965814&name=Marked%20Location&map=h

Save your time and go straight there. If you’re tramming from the CBD, get off at the Melbourne sports & aquatic centre stop 131 or stop 129 and follow the crowd.

As mentioned this parkrun is CONGESTED, if you’re elite you’ll want to start up front or you’ll get boxed in and trampled in a stampede. It’s mostly a sand trail around the lake and thankfully just the 1 lap. Flat and fast, but lots of people and very competitive. I ran a decent time and only managed to JUST scrape into the top 50.

Enjoy the Congo line to stay in finish order once you cross the finish line and collect your token.

And as always, enjoy your post parky coffee & breakfast (the real reason I get up at 7am on a Saturday).

Have you done this course? How’d you go? I answer all questions, feel free to drop one below