The group is also hoping to have their 500^th registered runner on the weekend, as currently they have 491 registered members. 

“There will be cake and fruit and a cold bottle of water for people to enjoy after the event, allowing everybody to stay around for a short time and have a chat with each other to meet new people,” Run director Paul Black said. 

Parkrun Lithgow was started two years ago by Ross, Florentina and Katherine after a bit of work arranging sponsors and finding a location. 

“With the assistance of Lithgow council and the generous offer by the Lithgow pony club to share their grounds it got started,” Paul said. 

Original event directors Florentina and Katherine eventually stepped down and handed the role to Sian (who has now moved to Tasmania) and Paul, who is the current director. 

“It feels great to be part of such an event in our local community,” he said. 

“We encourage anybody to come and join us at parkrun Lithgow.” 

Mr Black thanked the volunteers that helped each week with the run, taking on jobs such as tree marshall, time keeper, barcode scanner, photographer, token giver and event director. 

“Parkrun only happens each week with the help of our great group of volunteers,” he said. 

Parkrun is a free event for children and adults of any age. 

The parkrun course is accessible to vision impaired people with the assistance of a guide that can be arranged for you. 

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The course also caters to families, with prams being used on the course, dogs are also able to run the course with their owners. 

“Its a free event and I like to see new people come and join us every week in search of a healthier lifestyle,” he said. 

“At parkrun we hope to achieve a fun environment for people to get together once a week to walk or run a five kilometre course, with the opportunity to meet new people and make new friends, with the added chance to improve your general health.” 

Parkrun starts at 7.45am for a pre event briefing before the run or walk gets underway at 8am. 

You can register to become a park runner for free online and it allows you to participate in any parkrun in Australia. 

“Parkrun Lithgow would like to thank our sponsors that keep parkrun free for everybody, Athletes foot and Medibank,” Paul said. 

“Also thanks to the Lithgow pony club, Lithgow council, and all of our volunteers each week that keep this event running.”

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