"155 park runners turned up and 137 of these were first timers," organiser Janelle Jefferies said.

"We had runners from as far as Brisbane, Tamworth, Newcastle, Penrith and Port Macquarie."

Runners arrived as early as 7.30am to hear organiser Marg Lewis run over safety information, to thank sponsors and to welcome all those that had come along.

The run kicked off at 8am.

Runners' ages ranged from 10-years-old to 69.

"We had a lady named Kathy from Penrith who has now run every parkrun in NSW," Janelle said.

Janelle and Marg were delighted by the "positive vibes" shared on the day.

"I heard stories of runners high-fiving on the way past," Janelle added, "and others meeting new people out on the course."

The course started at Endeavour Place near Manning River Rowing Club and went along the Manning River foreshore to Martin Bridge and return, with two laps making up 5km.

Some participants ran the entire track, while others paced themselves or walked along with prams.

Along the way participants enjoyed cheers and encouragement from volunteers.

"Our volunteers did a tremendous job considering it was all new to them," said Janelle.

"We will always be looking for volunteers because without them we can't continue to run the event.

"The benefit of being a volunteer is to ensure parkrun stays in Taree for years to come.

"Volunteers are given maximum points towards the annual points competition and after volunteering 25 times will be rewarded with a t-shirt. Volunteering is easy and loads of fun."

At the end of the track participants received a token which was then scanned with their personalised printed out barcodes.

This ensures their run time is saved and sent out to them by email and displayed on the Taree results page.

Topping last weekend's results was parkrun Australia's communications manager/territory director Dave Robertson, who travelled from Newcastle for the event.

Many locals made the top 10.

Janelle and Marg would like to thank Dave Robertson and Dave Appleby from parkrun Australia for their ongoing support and guidance.

Local sponsors assisting the weekly event are Club Taree, Hunter Medicare Local and MidCoast Podiatry, who were all present on the day either running or cheering.

Club Taree donated drink bottles and Hunter Medicare Local donated a Garmin watch that was raffled off.

The winner was Catrina Dawson of Port Macquarie, who said she would be giving it to her mother.

"My mother is an amazing woman who is on an incredible weight loss journey," wrote Catrina on Taree parkrun's Facebook.

"I have a dream that one day I will complete a parkrun with her and this Garmin is going to help the reality of that dream come true. Thank you again."

The average time time taken to complete the course was 35 minutes and 23 seconds.

The event ran so smoothly few changes will need to be made for this week's run.

"We will aim for a bit more signage and we will move our start line back a little, due to reports of the course being around 80 metres short," Janelle explained.

"I think Taree has needed something like parkrun for a very long time and I can see it growing bigger and better."

To keep updated like 'Taree parkrun' on Facebook. If you would like to participate this Saturday, register here http://www.parkrun.com.au/register/

The final message from organisers to participants is "don't forget your barcode!"