More than 280 runners braved the cold, brisk temperatures on Saturday to participate in the weekly parkrun at the Dunedin Botanic Gardens.
Co-organiser Martin Jones said it was a good turnout given the time of the year.
‘‘It’s winter. Who wants to get up and go at that time of morning? So yeah, that was an OK number for the conditions.’’
During summer, they can get more than 400 runners and Mr Jones said the weekly event has built up quite a following.
‘‘It’s community. It’s free. It’s engagement.
‘‘No-one’s ever lost because we have a tail walker. It’s open to all ages. It’s open to all abilities.
‘‘So it doesn’t matter if you can do it in 20 minutes or you can take an hour and a-half to do it. It’s always every Saturday. It’s always five kilometres.’’
Saturday’s run was the 599th in Dunedin since it started about a decade ago.
There are more than 70 parkruns across the country.
‘‘It’s growing. More and more people are doing it. We’ve even now got doctors prescribing parkruns to help people get fit because there’s no pressure on people to do it.’’
Next week, runners are invited to turn up in their pyjamas - or something similarly snug - for Dunedin’s 600th parkrun.
