Parkun 187 - Team McGow match

Good morning everyone and welcome to Mount Barker parkrun 198! It’s a bit chilly this morning, but it warms my heart to see you all come out here. Speaking of which, are there any first timers amongst us today? Welcome and congratulations you are about to have a transformative experience. What about any visitors? Where did you travel from?

There is lots of excitement around this morning. For starters we’ll be trialing the parkrun virtual volunteer iPhone app for timing and scanning. It feels less intimidating than the current equipment, so hopefully we’ll see more of you volunteer to be timekeepers.

Speaking of volunteers, today at our service we have the lovely Kylie on stopwatch, our speedy Rees on finish tokens, everyone’s favourite cousin Paul on scanner with Ava looking after him, Jo and Brett from team Cowley bringing up the rear, and Paul B behind the camera. It’s fun, easy and feels great to volunteer. Please consider putting your name down on the signup sheet.

OK, celebration time. Our first jubilant parkrunner is Lynn Webster. Lynn, like many other unsuspecting citizens, was coaxed into parkrun by her special friend Paul Needle and the Wilkinson family. She travels all the way from Port Adelaide to be here with us most Saturdays. She’s a speedy walker with a PB of 46:41 and she has visited 14 parkruns around South Australia. Lynn, how does it feel to reach the 50 runs milestone? Being a parkrun connoissueur (connoiseuse), what is your favourite course so far? Congratulations Lynn!

And now for the main event of the morning. Let’s get ready to rumble? In the red corner we have the challenger: with 49 parkruns at 7 different venues, 4 times a volunteer and PB of 40:10 we have Julia the Flash McGow! In the blue corner, weighing in at mighty 99 parkruns from 14 different locations, 23 times a volunteer (23 times ladies and gentlemen), a PB of 22:08 and a huge collection of 50 shades of parkrun costumes, the champ, the one and only Jonathan Lightening McGow! OK, so you don’t actually have to face off each other, but tell me you are moving away at the end of the year, are you going to still come and visit us? How does it feel coming here as a family and reaching these milestones together? Congratulations team McGow!

Well, this ends our formalities. Enjoy your run everyone!

Over to you Kylie.