Recreating popular parkrun at sea
When some of the crew from HMAS Sirius began missing their regular Saturday morning parkrun, they did the next best thing – set up their own 5km timed run on the ship’s deck.
CAPTION: Participants in the HMAS Sirius parkrun event run laps on the ship’s flight deck. Story by Lieutenant Geoff Long. Photo by Lieutenant Sarah Lucinsky.
While the 191-metre long auxiliary oiler may be lacking a park, the crew brought out plastic greenery to line the route and handed out frozen oranges to all participants.
Sirius Physical Training Instructor Leading Seaman Matthew Brownfield said the idea behind hosting a parkrun-style event was to bring a familiar activity to the ship’s company while they’re away and to provide an alternative activity for those who don’t like using the ship’s gym.
“Many of us attend parkrun events when we’re ashore so we wanted to use the event to recreate a feeling of home on the ship,” Leading Seaman Brownfield said.
“It also fits in well with the requirements of the annual physical fitness test because we can track how people are progressing from their time, whether they run or walk the circuit.”
The ship’s deck route requires participants to run 26 laps, with crew choosing to either run or walk the 5km circuit.
Parkrun originated in the UK and has been growing in Australia during the past decade. It’s also popular among Navy people, with the Rockingham Parkrun – near Sirius‘ homeport of HMAS Stirlingin WA.
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