On Saturday, the popular weekly event will mark its 100^th run in Bicentennial Park. 

It is a big milestone and one that is not lost on the volunteers and regular participants that have made the event so successful. 

“It is absolutely exciting,” event coordinator Jennifer Arnold said.

“We’ve had so much support from the Bathurst community and two years ago people who wouldn’t have considered themselves runners are making changes to their lifestyles.” 

The average number of participants for parkrun is 180, made up of a mixture of walkers, joggers and runners of all age groups. 

“[The figure] doesn’t surprise me because it such a wonderful way to start the weekend,” Ms Arnold said. 

Another aspect to parkrun is the global community that the international event has created. 

Those who love the format of the event, which is a five-kilometre course, will often go to parkrun in other areas when they are away from home. 

Ms Arnold said it isn’t unusual to have parkrun tourists in Bathurst. 

“We keep a record of our parkrun tourists – we’ve got a parkrun tourist book – and we’ve got runners coming from all over,” she said. 

The 100^th event milestone will pass rather quietly, with parkrun instead choosing to hold major celebrations in a few weeks time for the event’s second anniversary. 

However, one special thing happening on Saturday will be providing runners a new course.

Participants have used a different course than originally intended due to the collapsed footpath along the riverbank, but now that it is repaired they can start using one similar to the original. 

“People are really excited to use the full riverbank course,” Ms Arnold said.

“Bathurst Regional Council has done a really good job in getting that path fixed and making it wide enough for runners, not just for parkrun.” 

As the milestone approaches, Ms Arnold said she wanted to again thank council and the volunteers for supporting parkrun.