Organisers of the free, timed 5km event, held in Ballarat since June 2015, have had to pause weekly gatherings since Stage 3 restrictions started in March.

However, one of the event's most enthusiastic participants has found a way to fill the void. Now Bruce Purdie wants to spread the word and encourage others to do the same.

Mr Purdie, an ambassador for the two Ballarat parkruns at Victoria Park and Wallaby Track, as well as three other events in the state, is now a regular in the (not)parkrun.

This means runners and walkers can submit times whenever they complete a 5km - it does not have to be a registered course - to the parkrun website. Their fastest result is then displayed on their home parkrun.

"It's about people maintaining a level of exercise through this pandemic period," Mr Purdie said.

"If people are exercising, that's great. If people can use a virtual run to inspire themselves further, that's great too."

Mr Purdie said that the (not)parkrun set-up had inspired him to exercise even more than before the pandemic, and that he had now completed the equivalent of 52 parkruns since restrictions began.

"It has motivated me to exercise more days per week than I have exercised in my entire life," he said.

He also said the (not)parkrun had helped keep a sense of connection with fellow runners, which the Facebook pages for both of the Ballarat events were also trying to do.

"You can see which of your mates has been out there still parkrunning," he said. "Even though we can't hang round for a coffee, we can still see we're out there."

Ballarat has embraced the parkrun since it first began in the city in 2015 - with prominent backing from the city's most high-profile athlete Steve Moneghetti.

The Wallaby Track event began at the end of last year, and had only run 13 official events before it was paused by COVID-19 restrictions.

Mr Purdie said some events in the state were competing to see how many people they could motivate.

"At some stage maybe Wallaby Track could be competing against Ballarat for the most number of (not)parkruns per week," he said.

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