Albert Melbourne parkrun

13/11/2025

It's our 14th anniversary on Saturday and we're celebrating! In the lead-up, we wanted to share some of the statistics and people that represent our wonderful community.

In the past year we had:

51 events
42,612 run or walks (up from 38,328)
15,849 individual participants (13,421)
2,178 volunteer occasions (1,947)
728 individual volunteers (639)
4894 new registrations (4842) (all time total is 37,118)

818 average # participants (up from 737)
42 average # volunteers (37)
1316 largest attendance (18.1.25)
295 smallest attendance (30.8.25)

15 Run Directors
0 falls in the lake

52 U18 Volunteers
149 Volunteer occasions by U18s

In total, 36 people volunteered 10 or more times this year. But we appreciate all 728 people who volunteered with us. Let's get that to 1000 next year!

See you on Saturday for and cakes.

12/11/2025

Our weekly report is now online, link below.

𝐀𝐧𝐧𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐚𝐫𝐲: don't forget it's our 14th parkrun anniversary this coming Saturday. There will be cakes! Come along and help celebrate our wonderful community.

𝐍𝐞𝐰𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐌𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐬

In event no. 662, despite the rain, there were 468 finishers and 40 mighty volunteers. There were 107 first timers comprising 86 first-time visitors from other parkruns and 21 finishers completing their first-ever parkrun. 45 people recorded personal bests. Representatives of 41 different clubs took part.

Congratulations to Richard LYNESS on volunteering for the 50th time at Gardiners Creek parkrun. Richard, who has recorded a finish in 13 consecutive calendar years at Albert Melbourne, volunteers once for every 5 finishes. His most prolific roles are timekeeper and barcode scanning. Thank you Richard for your terrific contribution to parkrun communities at Albert Melbourne and Gardiners Creek.

A huge thank you to 7 marvelous parkrunners who volunteered for the first time: Jianying YIN, Yao WANG, Tori OLIVER, Carol MIAO, Sajjad KAMAL, Sarah CUPPLEDITCH and Josephine. You made an essential contribution to the smooth running of this event and we invite you to volunteer again at future events.

Shenelle PIMM and Irene DULLAWAY achieved the 100 parkrun milestone.

Patrick LANG, Catherine MCGLEW, Claire MARMION and Harriet DAVID achieved the 50 parkrun milestone.

David MOSS, Jonathan WELLS, Liam MATTHEWS and Chris CONDIE achieved the 25 parkrun milestone.

Congratulations to all milestone achievers. We encourage you to celebrate by placing your name on the volunteer roster soon to support future milestone achievers.

Well done to all walkers, runners, spectators and volunteers. Everyone is welcome at parkrun.

https://www.parkrun.com.au/albertmelbourne/news/2025/11/12/weekly-report-662-08-11-2025/

11/11/2025

This Saturday we are celebrating the 14th anniversary of Albert Melbourne parkrun. As in previous years, the theme is rainbow colours so come dressed as you wish. We will also be celebrating our Event Director, Joanne Watkins' 500th volunteer milestone. This is a huge achievement and still extremely rare in Australia. Joanne will have volunteered on 500 separate days for parkrun including almost 180 occasions as Run Director.

We will have cakes!

Come along and help celebrate the diversity of our event and the contributions of our amazing volunteers who help make it happen.

https://www.facebook.com/share/1A2edqq5R1/

09/11/2025

08/11/2025

It was cold and a bit rainy but 468 finishers and 40 volunteers still turned up. What was your highlight?

Congratulations to everyone celebrating a milestone today, especially Shenelle who hit her 100th parkrun today.

Results are online and in your inboxes.

https://www.parkrun.com.au/albertmelbourne/results/662/

𝐕𝐎𝐋𝐔𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐄𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐀𝐓 𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐊𝐑𝐔𝐍
Our free, weekly event is brought to you by around 35 volunteers. Every role is easy and fun and volunteering is a great way to meet people. We really appreciate it when people sign up after parkrun to volunteer for future weeks. Please see our volunteers tomorrow or contact us by message or email (albertmelbourne@parkrun.com).

07/11/2025

We still need 5 more volunteer marshals for our tomorrow. Look how happy these people are!

Having enough marshals ensures the queues flow smoothly and guarantees that all the volunteer roles are easy, fun and enjoyable. We need at least 35 volunteers each week to make it all happen and when we fill all the roles, there is no pressure on any one person. If you can help out, please comment, message or email us (albertmelbourne@parkrun.com). Also, please consider volunteering in advance! It makes it much easier if we can fill all the key roles while we're at parkrun.

Will you be visiting us or celebrating a milestone tomorrow? Let us know in the comments.

𝐊𝐄𝐘 𝐏𝐎𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐒:
🎒 Bags: Leave non-valuables at the finish at Coot Picnic area
🚻 Toilets: Coot Picnic area
📍Start: Palms Lawn
⏰ 7:50am: First-timers welcome
⏰ 7:55am: Main Briefing
⏰ 8:00am: Start time
🎟️ Scan and return your finish token after parkrun
🦺 Consider volunteering at a future event, ask us for details
☕️ Join us at a local cafe after parkrun for coffee or breakfast, ask our volunteers for directions.

𝐇𝐎𝐖 𝐓𝐎 𝐑𝐄𝐆𝐈𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐊𝐑𝐔𝐍:
💻 if it’s your first time, sign-up online at parkrun.com.au. You only register once, it’s free for life!

Bring a printed copy of your barcode 🖨 or save the image on your phone or watch📱⌚️

𝐕𝐎𝐋𝐔𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐄𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐀𝐓 𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐊𝐑𝐔𝐍
Our free, weekly event is brought to you by around 35 volunteers. Every role is easy and fun and volunteering is a great way to meet people. We really appreciate it when people sign up after parkrun to volunteer for future weeks. Please see our volunteers tomorrow or contact us by message or email (albertmelbourne@parkrun.com).

06/11/2025

Volunteering at is for everyone! David Foskey is one of only 3 people to have participated in every Melbourne Marathon, all 47 of them. Read David's amazing story below.

For this week, we still need 6 more volunteers as finish marshals, can you help? Comment, message or email us (albertmelbourne@parkrun.com).

𝐃𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐝'𝐬 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐧 𝐒𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲

In the mid 1970s a running boom saw “fun runs” of up to 20 kilometres occur frequently and I was a consistent attendee. When a marathon from Frankston to Melbourne City was announced in 1978 my housemate Bruce and I signed up. Marathons were rare, reserved for real runners, so this event attracted many lesser mortals who aspired to achieve a “Mount Everest” moment. Bruce and I both finished, with me trailing far behind him and much slower than anticipated. We repeated in 1979 but that was the “hot year” and my time was even slower.

Bruce went off to live in Hong Kong and I gradually brought my times down. In 1986 I was turning 40 so decided that this should be the year that I broke three hours. I did, by a mere 70 seconds, and have never been anywhere near since. I also thought that having completed nine in a row, by finishing ten I might well be unique. However, in 1987 I discovered that 86 males and two females were lining up for their tenth. We were dubbed Spartans and given gold singlets by the race organisers. In 1988 the “Melbourne Marathon Spartans” club was formed for runners who complete ten Melbourne marathons. Now, in 2025, there are more than 1800 club members. I have maintained my streak, and three of us have never missed finishing with 2025 our 47th.

It is now important that I maintain fitness throughout the year so that the training period for the October event is less desperate. Parkrun is an essential component, with the 75-79 age group at Albert Melbourne parkrun being extremely competitive – very few podium finishes for me! The social aspects of parkrun are considerable, and I enjoy my too infrequent volunteer sessions. Holidays away now offer a possible bonus of a new parkrun. Grand Prix weekends also allow exploration of other parkruns, but that’s another subject entirely.

By mid 2026 I hope to achieve the 250 run milestone, and later on, line up for my 48th Melbourne Marathon.

David Foskey

04/11/2025

Our weekly report is now online, link below.

Volunteers

For this Saturday we still need about 6 more finish funnel marshals. Please comment, message or email us (albertmelbourne@parkrun.com) if you can help.

News and Milestones

In event no. 661, there were 858 finishers and 46 mighty volunteers. There were 247 first timers comprising 192 first-time visitors from other parkruns and 55 finishers completing their first-ever parkrun. 118 people recorded personal bests. Representatives of 61 different clubs took part.

Congratulations to Diandra LOPEZ on volunteering for the 25th time. Diandra has performed in 7 different roles including Timekeeper. Thank you Diandra for your terrific contribution to our parkrun community.

Congratulations to first-time visitor Alan ZUBEK on completing 250 parkruns. Alan is a regular at Lillydale Lake parkrun. Well done Alan on your amazing achievement.

Lucy CARTER, Emily DEVINE, Catherine SANCHEZ and Adam BRYCE achieved the 100 parkrun milestone.

Anna MOSCUZZA achieved the 50 parkrun milestone.

Neill LEITH, Nick MEREDITH and Sebastian achieved the 25 parkrun milestone.

A special thanks again to the team from Conquer Cancer who volunteered. Check out their record-breaking relay:

Find out more via their website:

https://fundraise.campquality.org.au/event/conquer-cancer-australia/home

Weekly report:

https://www.parkrun.com.au/albertmelbourne/news/2025/11/04/weekly-report-661-01-11-2025/