Published on : Tuesday, July 31, 2018
The place has a population of about 1,400, with a median age of 21 and a large majority of residents younger than 14 years. It has launched a community running event known as Doomadgee parkrun.
The concept behind parkrun is to encourage people to run, jog or walk, and volunteer, on Saturday or Sunday mornings, somewhere in the world.
The concept is entirely free and one can register online with parkrun, which has almost 4.5 million runners signed up internationally.
Co-director Melissa Gilbert, a Queensland police officer from the Gold Coast, was an active runner herself before being posted to Doomadgee in early December.
Gilbert said, “I was missing the fact I wasn’t going to be able to do parkrun every week and I wanted to share the fun of it with the [town’s] people, so I started getting everything organized to start one there.”
The concept of parkrun is expected to bring an outlet for enthusiasm and running for the community. There are many fantastic aspects. Running is not just about fitness and exercise but also about the social contact.