21/05/2026
Going to the local pool with my friends was a huge part of growing up in the 70’s. We would ride our bikes on the dusty, gravel roads in thirty-odd degree heat, and we could hear the screams of delight getting louder as we approached the Boronia pool. None of us could swim, it was all about doing bombs when the poolie (the lifeguard these days) wasn’t watching and then lying on the hot concrete, which was like searing a steak on the barbecue plate.
The Boronia pool was years ahead of its time when I think about it now, with its own, on-site cleanup program. If you got caught doing a bomb, the poolie made you go and pick up 50 icy pole sticks or 50 lolly wrappers off the ground and you had to show him before you were allowed back in the pool. Your hands got all sticky from the task so it was good to jump back in the pool for a wash, once your penalty task was completed.
Not many people know, but the sport of race walking developed from the Boronia pool. If you got caught running, the poolie would blow his whistle to get you to stop running, but you would morph it into a very fast walk and that’s how the sport of race walking started; Boronia pool attendees would break into race walking to avoid picking up 50 icy pole sticks.
The sport really developed and has since embraced the penalty system; a race walking competitor has to have one foot in contact with the ground at all times, if not, they get 3 warnings and then disqualification. I think they could adopt the Boronia pool penalty method and get competitors to pick up 50 icy pole sticks and other street litter if they are caught cheating. This way they pay a time penalty and the streets are cleaned up of litter.
This of course brings me to Bright parkrun and National volunteer week.
Without volunteers, there would be no parkrun. There would be no running, walking or having fun.
I can’t thank our volunteers enough, our town runs on vollies and without them, we would be like the icy pole sticks on the grass at Boronia pool with no one to pick them up; a complete shambles.
The theme this year is ‘ your year to volunteer’ so I ask you all to give it a go. It is actually better than taking part in the actual parkrun. We would like to see the 10:1 ratio of taking part to volunteering, I think that’s not too much to ask. You meet and get to chat to way more people, and you make them feel good; almost as good as you feel helping out.
Yes we are on tomorrow, we will embrace National volunteer day and we hope you will too.
Welcome schpiel at 7:55 am and blast off a bit after 8.
Mystic landing pad, Morses Ck road.
See you all there.
Bright parkrun: we always have one foot firmly planted on the ground.
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