‘Running nutter’ passes 500th 5km run mark at Kalgoorlie-Boulder parkrun

A 71-year-old running fanatic is the first person to complete 500 5km runs at the Kalgoorlie-Boulder parkrun. Danny Sheehan, who was born and raised in the Goldfields, has been running for more than 50 years. He said what initially started as a way of keeping fit eventually turned him into a “running nutter”. “In the 1970s they had this kind of running revolution: the doctors came up with this idea that if you did exercise, it would actually help your health,” he said. “Even then in the 70s when you’d go out running, people would toot their horns and yell abuse at you, and people thought you were a complete idiot, because people had cars so why would you want to go out running? It was a bit of a strange and odd thing to do. “But I had a bit of a health crisis in my early 20s and my dad got me into exercise and so then I went along with this new running revolution thing and so I got into running, I used to go running out bush and been doing it ever since.” Mr Sheehan has been an avid member of the Kalgoorlie-Boulder parkrun since it launched in 2013, and recently completed his 500th run, making him the first person for the local group to have completed the milestone. Mr Sheehan said he enjoyed challenging himself by trying to beat his personal best time for the 5km each week which is 19 minutes and five seconds. He said when he had first heard about the running group, he didn’t think he would enjoy it. “When my friend first told me about it and said, ‘you’re running in the same place at the same time, the same distance’, I said, well how boring would that be,” he said. But after trying it out, Mr Sheehan cannot recommend it enough. “Professionals recommend that exercise is the number one thing for mental health, getting outside in the sunshine is number two and number three is to be involved in part of the community, and parkrun has all those three things,” he said. “It’s just a wonderful thing, it’s so inclusive of everybody and you don’t have to run, you can walk, or you can jog.” The Kalgoorlie-Boulder parkrun is a free community event every Saturday at 8am at Karkurla Bushland Park, with more than 100 people taking part each week. New participants are encouraged to register for free online to mark their progress each parkrun.

‘Running nutter’ passes 500th 5km run mark at Kalgoorlie-Boulder parkrun

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