This year’s Run Timaru 5km series has hit the ground running.
The series, which started last Wednesday, will run throughout February.
Run Timaru club president Paul Forbes said people could "run or walk", and the free event also offered a 3km option.
Each entrant was timed so runners could gauge their improvement.
"Most people improve over the series.
"There is an event for anyone of any ability, and there are no hills."
He said "100%" children were invited.
"That’s why it is free.
"Part of Run Timaru’s ethos is fostering running.
"Kids are important."
He said the evening event allowed the public to see a little bit about what the club was about.
First timer Celeste Grace said she had begun exercising only a month previously.
She was walking the event and previously had managed to walk 5km in 58 minutes.
However — with the support of her son — she had achieved a personal best and knocked over eight minutes off her time.
Her husband Tyrone Grace had placed first in the men’s 5km run, which he managed to do in under 21 minutes.
The couple had moved to Timaru from the North Island with their children a few years ago.
She said in other more populated places it took a long time to fit in, but this was not the case in Timaru.
Mrs Grace said there was a community feel to the series.
"Here they just grab you and say, ‘you’re mine now’.
"When they see you on the street it is not just a nod, it’s a proper hello."
She encouraged others to join her walking in the event.
She said the name of the club had made her nervous, like she would just be in the way.
But — on the contrary — she said runners all encouraged her on as they passed each other.
