A PODIUM filled with juniors - it was not something Mount Panorama Punish co-ordinator Jen Arnold had expected to see on Sunday but it certainly brought a smile to her face.
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Fourteen-year-old Miller Rivett, who had previous best finish of 15th in the Punish, handled the cool and wet conditions well as he was the fastest runner up the Mount then led all the way down.
The next two runners across the line in the brutal 6.213 kilometre challenge - Aaron Houston and Max Martinez - were also in the 12-18 years division.
In the three prior editions of the Punish, only once had a runner in the that age category been on the outright podium. That was in the inaugural event in 2017 when 12-year-old Ben Witney was runner-up.
"That run of Miller's was an age group course record as well - he's pretty awesome isn't he?," Arnold said.
"It's a broad age category and I'd expect some of Max's age, he's just turned 18, to be up there. We often have someone in that age group be amongst the first group through, but nothing like we had this time."
All three of those boys were regulars at Bathurst parkrun before it was put on hold due to COVID-19. Ryan Wells, another 12-18 years category runner who placed 10th, has done parkruns at Bathurst and Lithgow.
"Miller he started at parkrun when he was in Year 4. When parkrun started I was his teacher and I said to him 'Oh you should give parkrun a go'.
"He wasn't a runner at the time as far I was aware, he did cross country like all school kids have to, but he wasn't a runner.
"I talked about it a lot at school with the kids and he started up at parkrun and has gone from strength to strength there.
"Aaron is a really handy little runner as well, he goes to Carenne School .. he's a parkrunner as well and Max Martinez only discovered running when he started parkrunning. He saw parkrun was on thought 'That looks fun, don't really know what it is', started coming and found out he could run fast."
When it came to the top female finishers in the Punish, once again there were runners who featured in the top 10 who fell into the 12-18 years category. They are all parkrunners as well.
Josie Brown, who is a frequent participant in Lithgow parkruns, was the second female to finish in a time of 28:44. She crossed the line 54 seconds after Dominique Windsor.
Sienna Whalan (29:42) and Sophie McCauley (30:34) placed fourth and sixth respectively in the fastest female category.
Arnold joked that there was another link as well between some of the young talents besides parkrun too.
"Sienna was also in my Year 4 class and Josh Jackson, Stephen's son, who rounded out the top 10 in that division, was also in my Year 4 class," she laughed.
