It is the second park run to be set up in the city, joining the existing Victoria Park event, which has run since June 2015.

Starting just behind the Brown Hill Hotel, it is a hilly out-and-back trail course that goes along the Wallaby Track and through a 120-metre long tunnel beneath the Western Freeway into undulating bushland on the other side.

Park run ambassador Bruce Purdie welcomed people to the inaugural event of a park run with what he called "the coolest name in Victoria".

He said he and event organisers, husband and wife team Aaron and Laurinda Coulter, had received "nothing but great support" from the council.

Mr Coulter also thanked the City of Ballarat for the community impact grant that helped the event get off the ground.

He said it was a proud moment to see the first event underway. "We've been thinking about this park run for probably 18 months and we probably started working seriously on it about eight months ago, so we're really proud of this."

He said there was "a heap of people" who had never done park run before at the first running. "That's great, that's what we're looking for."

A global grassroots running phenomenon, park run has ballooned in popularity in Australia over the last few years, creating thousands of regular runners. It has also created a generation of park run "tourists", who travel far and wide to take part in as many events as possible.

One of those is Rhianna Wik-Gamble from Bendigo, who told The Courier she has run every park run in Victoria so far - and will now add the inaugural Wallaby Track event to a long list.

On her 201^st park run overall, Ms Wik Gamble was also the first woman to go through the finishing funnel (the etiquette is you do not say winner, as park runs are supposed to be individuals running against the clock rather than each other).

"I really liked the course - I pushed a bit hard, but it was good. I would definitely come back to this one. I like the trail runs, they're really good," she said.

Did you take part? See if you can spot yourself in the starting crowd

Also out on the course was councillor Jim Rinaldi, a veteran of several Melbourne marathons and a regular runner.

He was still catching his breath after going through the finishing funnel when The Courier caught up with him.

Despite saying there were more hills than he expected, Cr Rinaldi described the event as "fantastic".

"It was great fun, very different," he said. "It's great for health, physical health and mental health too."

He encouraged other people to take part. "Come and have a look at the beautiful surrounds we have close to the CBD."

The first person to go through the finishing funnel was YCW Harriers athlete Jayden Wallis, who was happy with a "solid" run clocked at 17 minutes 52.

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