James O’Sullivan

James is one of the few parkrunners to have completed every course in New Zealand. He is the younger brother of Trent and son of Martin, all countrymen.

Barcode: A363227

Home parkrun: Lower Hutt

What was your first away parkrun?

Millwater inaugural event. I flew with dad to Auckland to attend their first parkrun event. Just after the start there was a thunderstorm and we got soaking wet.

What led you to parkrun tourism?

I wanted to complete all courses, get to see New Zealand placed we hadn’t visited before.

What’s the earliest you’ve got up to travel to an event and where was it?

4am to travel to Hawke’s Bay to attend Flaxmere & Anderson Park

What has been your furthest trip for a parkrun?

We had a long drive to Gisborne. We also went for a South Island holiday, drove down to Invercargill arriving Friday. We ran at Invercargill on the Saturday then spent a week in Wanaka before driving home. Other trips included Blenheim inaugural which we attended then flew direct to Auckland and had a week holiday up north running at Whangarei the following weekend.

Can you tell us about a memorable parkrun experience in New Zealand?

Me, Trent and dad ran at Lower Hutt. A young person who had previously visited Lower Hutt had passed away so we wore a picture of him on our shirts as a memory.

I also got my PB on my 100th run. I trained really hard and dad ran with me to help with pacemaking.

Where in New Zealand would you like a parkrun and why?

Upper Hutt or Wellington City because they don’t have one and it is close to home.

Note from Martin O’Sullivan, James’s dad.

James has type 1 diabetes, epilepsy and he is on the autism spectrum. parkrun is great for his health, when things go wrong they can go very wrong as he ended up in hospital for a couple of days last year.