North Harbour parkrun

Aussie rules football perhaps?

We now have a better appreciation of the hazards that can be encountered in the vastness of Australian - snakes, spiders, sharks and jelly fish are all well known threats to human life and Aussies are always on the watch out. Less familiar, and less easily spotted, are other creatures such as leeches, ticks and mozzies loaded up with parasites and viruses and finally various forms of dangerous plant life. We'd come across stinging trees on previous visits, one example being the Gympie Stinger - it's leaves and bark contain a toxin which can affect you not just for hours but for months. And then at the North Harbour parkrun I came across this warning sign! Didn't see anyone wearing crash helmets so maybe they've all fallen down for this year.

Proof of the pudding!

And what about this parkrun then? This is the real story. Having run in about 180 parkruns was I ever going to come first? I'd come in with several second and third places but there'd always been someone quicker than me. 7 am on Saturday morning sees me here at North Harbour which is out in the country north of Brisbane, it's located in a scenic reserve close to what is evidently going to be a large new town, lots of building going on and huge spaces cleared for new housing. This is a case of getting essential services in before the real building starts - parkrun being one of them. Clearly there were not going to be too many runners living in the vicinity and indeed a mere twenty of us toed the starting line. And we were off - me taking it steady in about 5th position as the course took us along a gravel track and onto a flattish path though grassy fields along a riverbank. I gradually picked off other runners until, at the turnaround point I saw that I'd got a good lead over the second paced runner. And I then clung onto my lead for dear life, avoiding stinging plants and football sized cones, to finish at the front. There's the second runner about eighty metres behind me but I was fading fast and he was closing in on me. My first first - but will it ever happen again?

Am I first?