Jindabyne locals and visitors gathered at Banjo Paterson Park on Saturday, 11 April for the weekly parkrun event and joined in the celebration of three major volunteering milestone.

Ezekiel Brooke, son of Parkrun event director, Rosalie Brooke, is just 13 years old and celebrated his 25th volunteer day, a huge achievement for such a young age.

Gaylia Young who came from Shellharbour parkrun before moving to the Snowy Mountains, celebrated her 150th volunteer day. She was praised for her behind-the-scenes work and dedication as she drives 45-minutes from Cooma every Saturday to attend the event.

Erin Lee celebrated her 250th volunteer day and was recognised for her efforts with a large cake. Some even wore her favourite colour purple to commemorate such a huge milestone.

Parkrun is a global activity taking place in 22 countries around the world with more than 2300 weekly events, all run by volunteers.

The popular Jindabyne parkrun weekly event is run by volunteers ranging in age from five years old to 70 plus years old.

The event sees several Duke of Edinburgh students who volunteer every week to go towards their community service hours, who describe the experience as a fun and fulfilling way for them to meet new people and try new things in the safety of an encouraging group of adults.

Ms Lee said Jindabyne parkrun organisers, volunteers and participants celebrate each volunteer milestones because each one represents hours of dedication no matter what role is being undertaken.

“And because it’s a plain display of community spirit and effort to keep the free weekly event running,” Ms Lee said.

“We use these milestones to keep a record of and mark progress on the volunteer’s personal journey which could be for anything from their mental health to reducing isolation to just filling their time with a fulfilling group activity outdoors.

“Whatever the reason, we at Jindabyne parkrun are incredibly grateful to every one of our regular, infrequent and visiting volunteers and we look forward to seeing some more names on the roster as the year progresses.”

Ms Brooke said not only is Ms Lee hitting her 250th volunteer day, but she’s almost done all of those at the Jindabyne parkrun event and it simply wouldn’t exist if it wasn’t for her and all the work she puts in.

“She organises our volunteers, manages our Facebook page and does an incredible amount of work in the background,” Ms Brooke said.

“It takes a lot to keep an event like Jindabyne parkrun running so she deserves to be celebrated for these amazing achievements and for making the event what it is today.”

Regular Jindabyne parkrun participant, Loris Stefani, said Ms Lee gives her time to parkrun so freely, not only signing up for different volunteering roles regularly, but also organises the other volunteers to ensure the day goes smoothly.

“Erin has become the friendly face that welcomes all visitors and locals every week in all types of weather to the Saturday morning event,” Mr Stefani said.

“I congratulate and thank Erin and all the volunteers of this fantastic event for their time and dedication to this essential healthy community activity.”

Ms Young said everything is run by volunteers, and could not operate without the core support team of Ms Brooke and Ms Lee, they are always on hand at each event to help the other volunteers and participants with anything they need.

“After moving to the region four years ago from Shellharbour where I participated in parkrun there, I immediately fell into a volunteer position at the Jindabyne event,” Ms Young said.

“I didn’t know many people when moving here and now through parkrun I have met so many new people, created lifelong friendships and now feel part of such a great community.”

Ms Young said she encourages everyone to attend the event and volunteer as it is a very inclusive event and a great way to meet people all while doing something healthy.

Zeke Brooke at 13 years old is their youngest volunteer and has been attending parkrun with his family since he was a baby.

“My favourite part of parkrun is breakfast with everyone after. It is nice to chat to everyone. I am excited to reach my 25th volunteer day. I reached my 25 runs a while ago. I love the milestones and the challenges. I find they really motivate me to participate.”

Jindabyne parkrun takes place every Saturday morning (excluding ANZAC Day), meeting in Banjo Paterson Park at 8am where participants start their five-kilometre run, walk or jog along the foreshore, rain, hail or shine.

Jindabyne parkrun is always looking for more volunteers to help with the popular event which draws an impressive crowd each week, contact jindabyne@parkrun.com for more information and how you can get involved.