AS Max Martinez ran the final metres to the finish line in Saturday's Bathurst parkrun he took a glance at his watch to see if he was on track for personal best.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
He saw that he was, but Martinez still pushed hard all the way to the end of the five kilometres before stopping the clock at 17 minutes, 10 seconds.
"Yeah, that's a PB," Martinez said in between sucking in some deep breaths.
"I did a 17:10 and my old PB was a 17:25. I didn't hit hit the sub 17-minute mark, but I did a PB, so I was happy with that.
"I was humid, but I'd been training so it wasn't too bad."
Training is all that Martinez and his fellow parkrunners had been able to do since March when COVID-19 forced events right across Australia to be cancelled.
He did get his chance to compete in the Mount Panorama Punish in late October, placing third, but had been eagerly anticipating the return of Bathurst parkrun.
Martinez had made a strong start to his 2020 Bathurst parkrun campaign as he clocked a then personal best 17:25 when placing fourth on January 1.
He was then first in seven of his eight parkrun events which followed before the COVID-19 pandemic forced the cancellation of events.
For Saturday's return event Martinez was expected to battle it out with another young talent, 2020 Mount Panorama Punish winner Miller Rivett, for the win.
At the halfway point Rivett was right on Martinez's heels, but the gap between the pair opened up on the second lap of the circuit.
"I tried to stick with him but he was just too good," Rivett said.
While he had to settle for second place, Rivett still managed to clock a Bathurst parkrun personal best. His 17:27 was a significant improvement on his old mark of 18:40 recorded on January 11.
Third placed Matt Ferguson was another to mark the return of Bathurst parkrun with a PB as he clocked an 18:17. His old mark was an 18:45 record on August 31, 2019.
"I got a PB, it was a significant improvement," Ferguson said.
"I had been training, I'd sort of been ramping it up at the end of lockdown and coming into this, and doing the Panorama Punish helped, it was a huge help as it gave me something to aim for."
There were more personal bests spread across the 236 participants, with Bathurst parkrun co-organisers Jennifer Arnold and Stephen Jackson just as happy to see the smiles on the faces of those who took part.
They pointed out the Bathurst event was able to go ahead while other centres such as Dubbo, Mudgee, Orange and Cowra are still waiting for their return.
"We couldn't be more pleased, it's a testament to how much people need people, people just wanted to come back and see each other and be part of that community again," Arnold said.
"Those other places couldn't get their landholder permissions in place, but Bathurst Regional Council are so onboard with us being here, they are so supportive and some of our volunteers here are on council."
