At 11 Amy Crawshaw became the youngest runner at Puarenga parkrun to join the 100 club. She celebrated her milestone run last weekend.
“I went to my first parkrun when I was around 7, but I didn’t run. After about seven visits I got my barcode so I could take part.”
Amy and her parents started running at Puarenga parkrun but after 13 runs moved to Australia in February 2018.
Wagga parkrun became their new home parkrun and it was there that she ran another 30 times (with one run at Mount Ainslie).
In January 2019 the family moved to Palmerston North, and so joined another parkrun family. It was there that she ran another 49 times – there were trips back to Rotorua and Puarenga parkrun, plus a visit to Anderson parkrun in Napier.
“I like Puarenga the most, because it’s interesting geothermally and because I got most of my PBs there,” she says.
She has several memorable parkrun experiences from her first 100.
“The time that I ran with my dog Smokey and he ran so fast that he looked like a flying carpet.
“Also when I ran parkrun in 29 mins with Mum’s friend and she bought me a parkrun wristband.
“The people are really nice and I enjoy meeting the dogs that run too.”
“Doing parkrun helps when you are doing school cross country, it builds your stamina and makes you fit, you could even get a six pack!”
Her parents, Clare and Tim are also keen parkrunners. Clare has 128 parkrun finishes and Tim is on 137 parkruns. They sometimes give Amy challenges.
“Mum and Dad had promised me $50 if I could get under 30 minutes, so I did!
“Also, after 98 parkruns I finally beat my Dad and got a PB of 25.09 at the same time. Now he owes me a horse trek.
“At my 100th I got given a box of chocolates, which I shared with other parkrunners. I want to dress up as a dalmatian for my 101st parkrun.”
