That’s not a sentence you will read very often – or perhaps ever again – but then this was a special occasion for the 200th running of the city’s parkrun.

Mr Moneghetti, a former Commonwealth Games marathon champion and a four-time Olympian, had agreed to act as a tailwalker for the event and allow all other participants to “beat” him on the day.  

A record 319 park runners gathered at 8am for the occasion in Victoria Park, with many dressing in green and gold to celebrate.

On a glorious morning, they broke the previous highest attendance by more than 50 runners.

Daniel Gray was the first runner to complete the two-lap course, clocking a time of 16:25. Glenhuntly AC’s Rebecca Beagley was the first woman back in an impressive 18:29. Hundreds more followed them before Mr Moneghetti himself walked past the finishing flags – the 319^th finisher – after just over an hour on the go. A makeshift guard of honour was hastily formed for him to walk through. 

Yellow balloons decked the finishing area, and many of the runners tucked into cakes provided by Inexterior Café, whose owner is also a keen parkrunner.

Ballarat parkrun ambassador Bruce Purdie said the idea came about in the run-up to the event.

“Steve and I were having a coffee a few weeks ago, and Steve said to me ‘Every time I run, everyone wants to beat me’. I said to Steve, ‘Why don’t you let everybody beat you that day’ so Steve agreed to be the tailwalker.

“It’s just naturally tied in to the 200^th Ballarat parkrun, which we’ve just done right now. 319 walked through the line and got their token - everybody’s a winner here at parkrun.

“Steve probably did his personal worst parkrun time ever. The crowds kept coming back to shake his hand.

“The reason we’ve been so slow today is Steve kept getting stopped to take photographs. It’s been selfie heaven out there.”

Mr Moneghetti, who has been involved in the Ballarat parkrun since it began in 2015, said:

“It was great. Obviously being a tailwalker is a different role for me but just great to see so many people coming to celebrate our 200th parkrun. 

As for going that slowly, he said: “Oh it’s ok, I do a bit of walking. I’m fine, have a bit of chat. I’ve spent a bit of time here in different roles, so it’s nice to do tailwalking – I have never done that before. 

“Obviously the incentive of having everyone ahead of me hopefully attracted a few people.”

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