Last weekend (20-21 July 2024) showcased the diversity of running events in Melbourne.
In this article:
- Doubling up: parkrun tourism meets Run Melbourne
- A first timer’s experience at Run Melbourne
- Cross country that even the dedicated love to hate
Saturday, bitterly cold and raining, featured parkrun across 45 locations and Athletics Victoria’s traditional cross country championships, held at Bundoora. Sunday, a pleasant Melbourne winter’s day, saw Run Melbourne take centre stage – the 9th largest annual running event in Australia.
The parkrun / Run Melbourne double
Some runners, like Jay Grimley, ran in two events over the weekend. Grimley travelled from NSW and planned her participation at Coburg parkrun on Saturday ahead of the 5.5km run at Run Melbourne on Sunday.
“I started parkrun last year, and I got into running and it made me want to start travelling and seeing different places via parkrun,” said Grimley, who has now run at 28 different parkrun locations around Australia.
“I’m also a beginner runner. I had never been a runner in my life. I started off at 45 minutes on my first parkrun back in September.
“My PB for parkrun is Noosa in May at 32:10. On Sunday at Run Melbourne I ran 5.5km in 35:01.”
“I loved Run Melbourne! It was very much like City2Surf in Sydney. So many people. I had never done this event before and I got to catch a train for the first time in Victoria.”
Grimley is now looking forward to other opportunities to combine a parkrun with participating in an interstate running event, as she did last weekend and had done previously with the Port Fairy Marathon Festival and Bellarine Sunset Run. The next event she has pencilled in is October’s Melbourne Marathon.
Run Melbourne as a first event
Another runner entering Run Melbourne for the first time was local Rebecca Dobbie, who had set herself a target of breaking 50 minutes for 10km.
“I was more the occasional runner in the past doing 3km runs from time to time. About a year ago, a friend and I were planning a trip to Europe and she mentioned that she was going to continue training for her first half marathon on our trip.
“My level of fitness hadn’t been very consistent for a while and I felt encouraged to start training so that I could join her on her runs while travelling Europe. It was such a great way to start the day and loved exploring and discovering new areas.”
Post her travels the itch to run remained and Dobbie set her sights on a local event.
“After my trip to Europe last September, I felt motivated to do a race. I’ve never done a 10km run and it’s always been something that I wanted to achieve so decided to sign up to Run Melbourne last December. This gave me time to train for the event and was aiming for a sub 50 time.”
Crossing the line in 46 minutes, 40 seconds Dobbie was well-and-truly under her goal. She has no immediate plans to run another event, but might look towards running a half marathon in 2025.
“I really enjoyed my first 10km Run Melbourne event,” she said.
“The course was relatively flat and passed through some of Melbourne’s iconic landmarks. The event was well organised and had performers along the course which kept the energy levels high. I’m sure all participants can agree that we were very lucky with the weather after some strong windy and rainy days.”
By the numbers
- Run Melbourne: 20,459 participants
- Melbourne parkruns: 4,606 participants across 45 events
- Victorian Cross Country Championships (including schools): 1,733 participants
Run Melbourne had near even gender parity among participants (50.1% male, 49.4% female, 0.5% non-binary) while parkrun across Australia generally has a 51% female / 49% male split.
The Athletics Victoria Cross Country on the other hand was skewed toward male participation, with 59.5% males and 40.5% females. This was most pronounced in the open age group where over two-thirds of participants were men.
Mud, sweat and almost tears
Cross Country isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. It’s tough. Even for elite runners it can be unmotivating at times. Uneven conditions under foot, wet, muddy, undulating, twists and turns – it is more about the challenge of the course and the contest, where the time on the clock means little. For others, it’s the ultimate test of distance running grit and determination, particularly in tough conditions.
Two of Australia’s top running podcasters, Brady Threlfall (Inside Running podcast) and Joel Tobin-White (For the Kudos podacast) reflected on their performances at Bundoora during the week, where they finished near the top of the field in 29th and 10th places respectively.
“The team component was the only reason I was there,” Threllfall said on this week’s edition of the Inside Running podcast.
“That weather and that course really exposed my lack of versatility. I’m very much a flat road specialist I think at my age now and what I train on.”
Tobin-White ran the race with injury concerns leading in, but overcame them on the day, knowing in the back of his mind that cross country creates resilience.
“As a kid when I went to some cross country races – because I’ve never loved cross country – if it was really wet and miserable I’d be like “I don’t want to race.” But I would always race and I know I would feel better after,” he said.
But what the cross country event had in spades was team participation. The loneliness of a long distance runner can be supported through a team mentality, which was evident both through the schools championships (particularly within the private schools lining up) and again with the club colours of the Victorian club system (the strongest in the country).
At the pointy end of the Victorian Cross Country Championships were world class performers, with Haftu Strinzos (23rd at this year’s World Cross Country Championships) winning the men’s race from Andy Buchanan, who has had a late call up to run the marathon at the Paris Olympics. World cross country representative Melissa Duncan won the women’s event.
Run Melbourne had a spattering of elite performers in its winners, with Leanne Pompeani (former City2Surf winner and Australian 10000m champion) the most notable, taking out the 10km. However more sub-elite runners were present at the Athletics Victoria cross country.
Parkrun’s not a race (but for some, it sometimes looks and feels like one), with veteran runner Shane Grund running under 15 minutes at Diamond Creek in the fastest time of the weekend with a quick 14:52.
There’s definitely something for everyone when it comes to running events in Melbourne.
What’s your experience?
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