Combine nature, running and community through parkrun

Amanda O’Reilly is a familiar face at the weekly parkrun event in Westerfolds Park.

She ran her first parkrun at Westerfolds in November 2013, and has been a near constant presence ever since – spending countless hours running the 5km loop, and nearly the same amount of time volunteering.

One fellow parkrunner has even dubbed her the ‘Queen of Westerfolds’ due to how often she can be found in the park.

“It’s true – I’m always here,” Amanda said.

Photo: Amanda O'Reilly is a regular at Westerfolds parkrun, volunteering as the event director.

 

What is parkrun?

parkrun is a free weekly community event, where participants can run, jog or walk a 5km trail staffed by dedicated volunteers. parkruns are accessible, inclusive, and focused on participation, instead of ‘winning’.

There are more than 500 individual parkrun events that happen across Australia every Saturday morning at 8am, with more than 110 of these taking place in Victoria.

parkruns are held at a number of parks managed by Parks Victoria, including Albert Park, You Yangs Regional Park, Brimbank Park, Woodlands Historic Park, Yarra Bend Park, Karkarook Park, Jells Park, Frankston Nature Conservation Reserve, Maroondah Reservoir Park and Westerfolds Park.

“We used to have 20-30 people run when we first started, whereas now we get 150-200 people at Westerfolds – and we’re one of the smaller ones. Other parkruns in Melbourne will get many, many more than that,” Amanda said.

“Westerfolds is quite peaceful almost. There’s plenty of kangaroos so you feel further out in nature than you really are.”

Photo: Amanda O'Reilly says participation is the most important part of parkrun - you don't need to run or jog, walkers are welcome as well.

Westerfolds Park lies on the banks of the Yarra River in Templestowe. The 120ha of grassy woodlands is one of Melbourne’s most popular urban open spaces, perfect for picnicking, cycling, canoeing, jogging and walking.

Westerfolds Park is also a great place to spot native wildlife close to the city with mobs of kangaroos and dawdling wombats often seen grazing on the grassy open spaces, and diverse birdlife ranging from kingfishers, cuckoo-shrikes and kookaburras seen in the trees above.

Amanda has run 346 parkruns and volunteered at nearly as many again. She is the event director at the Westerfolds parkrun on Saturday mornings, and is a run director at the junior parkrun held every Sunday morning.

“We’ve built a real community based around running in Westerfolds – you make great connections with the people who keep turning up,” Amanda said.

Westerfolds parkrun is also one of only a handful of parkruns in Australia to offer a junior parkrun each Sunday morning for children aged 4-14 years old.

 

The many benefits of exercising in nature

Research shows that exercising in nature leads to greater health benefits than doing the same activity indoors.

Outdoor exercise supports your overall mental health and wellbeing as it is great for reducing stress, improving memory and brain function, mood and concentration, and reducing anxiety. Nature also provides many opportunities to improve social connections and reduce loneliness. 

“When you’re running in nature, you just feel the release of not being in whatever stress is going through your mind. You feel better afterwards, you connect with people, and you get that comfort of being out in nature, even though we’re in suburbia,” Amanda said.

Gentle activity such as walking, jogging or volunteering in your local park will also increase the amount of exercise in your weekly routine without putting undue stress on your body.

Photo: Exercising in nature is great for both your physical health and mental wellbeing.

 

How to get involved in parkrun?

parkrun provides a perfect opportunity for people to add that gentle exercise to their weekly routine.

“It’s very easy to sign up online and get your barcode, which you can then take to any parkrun in the world. And that’s as complicated as parkrun gets – all you have to have each week is your barcode," Amanda said.

“You run your 5kms, you get scanned at the end, and you’re done. parkrun isn’t a race – it’s about participating, and you can run, walk, volunteer or all of the above.”

"A lot of people will say “I’ll wait until I can run 5km before I go to parkrun”, but you don’t have to – there’s no time pressure to get it done, so lots of people will run a bit, walk a bit, run a bit, walk a bit. I’m a run-walker – very rarely do I run the whole thing.”

“It’s just a great excuse to be active outside with a very inclusive group of people – I love it.”

To find out more information, including how to register for a parkrun near you, visit parkrun.com.au