THERE is no doubting the passion Jennifer Arnold and Stephen Jackson have for running, but come December 19 there will be an event which for which the term 'enthusiastic' barely scrapes the surface of what they'll feel.
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It will be the resumption of Bathurst parkrun.
Jackson and Arnold organise Bathurst parkrun, a free, weekly, timed five kilometre run staged on Saturday mornings.
Since its beginnings in July 2016, Bathurst parkrun has built in popularity amongst the community as well as drawing visitors from across the region and beyond.
But the COVID-19 pandemic put parkrun on hold this year. It was not just Bathurst which was shut down, but parkruns across the the globe.
"We were shattered of course, as was everybody because it's very much a community, it's far more than just a five kay run, it's a community and we were averaging over 300 every week," Jackson said.
"It's about the people, the run is the by-product, it's the people and the community catching up with everybody."
As the number of active COVID-19 cases in New South Wales dropped, Jackson and Arnold became more optimistic Bathurst parkrun could return.
On Thursday night they got the news they'd been eagerly waiting to hear, parkrun Australia gave events in New South Wales the nod to re-open from December 19.
"When we had the Mount Panorama Punish on all the parkrunners came out of the woodwork and were asking 'When are we coming back? When is it happening?'," Jackson said.
"I'd been negotiating with parkrun Australia and the health department to get it over the line so we were getting close, but this parkrun New South Wales announcement has opened the floodgates, now we're back.
"It was getting a bit iffy, we thought maybe it would be Christmas Day because things were coming good for Australia, we thought we were going to get in this year.
"So it's huge, we're very pleased."
Jackson said that he intends Bathurst parkrun to go ahead on the 19th and that they will try to have as many events as possible before the end of 2020.
He is not the only one who is excited either, with members of the Bathurst community already expressing their desire to again be part of the 5km event on a Saturday morning.
"We've been bombarded with emails and phone calls asking if we'd go ahead, and we were 'Yes, the 19th, it's on, done'," Jackson said.
"We've already started looking at our volunteers for our return, we'll be back on the 19th then Boxing Day, New Year's Day - we are looking at every opportunity from the 19th.
"I work in Canberra every second week so I'd been changing the days so we'd be down there on a Friday so I could run parkrun in Canberra on the Saturday, but now we're back. I'll be there on the 19th."
Jackson anticipates between 200-250 people will take part in the return event which is set to be Bathurst's first parkrun since March 14.
