MAX Martinez is still in pursuit of the fastest time recorded by a local runner in Bathurst parkrun, but he certainly had reason to be proud on Saturday after the 200th edition of the event at Bicentennial Park.
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Martinez notched up his 17th win for the five kilometre Bathurst course and did so in a new personal best time of 16 minutes, 43 seconds.
It inched him closer to the best time from a local runner clocked in the history of the Bathurst event - the 16:41 effort of Brandon Martin in the second edition of Bathurst parkrun on August 6, 2016.
"That was a two-second PB, it is my fourth PB in six weeks now," Martinez said.
"It was just two seconds off the Bathurst record which I was aiming for today. I didn't get it, but I'll keep going for it.
"It was hot on the run which made it a bit tougher today, especially those last two kays. It was pretty hot out there."
Over the space of the last 12 months, Martinez has shaved 22 seconds off his personal best time and only twice been beaten to the finish line.
But the talented teenager, who has now contested 21 Bathurst parkruns, was not the only finisher to have something to celebrate on Saturday.
As soon as second-placed Miller Rivett crossed the line he asked an official to confirm his time. It was a 16:59 - the first time that he'd gone sub 17 minutes.
"It was amazing it, it's what I wanted. I wanted to get it some time this year, but I didn't think I'd get it so soon," he said.
"I looked at my watch as I went around the garden and it was 16:30, so I knew I had to sprint from there to try and get it."
Third place went to James Byrne and it was a massive 31-seconds PB as he stopped the clock at 17:21.
Kellie Gibson was the first female to cross the line in Bathurst's 200th event, her 21:28 also ranking her ninth outright.
While that was not a personal best, she too has improved her times markedly since her Bathurst parkrun debut.
Gibson's first attempt at the 5km course on July 30, 2016 - also the first event Bathurst held - was a 37:28.
Since the first Bathurst parkrun on that July morning five years ago, there have been 4,707 finishers and 6,792 personal best times recorded.
For event 200, there were 26 first-timers.
