Get to know our team.

We have put together this little note about each of the team so you can get to know them a little bit more. Our entire team is passionate about giving back to our local community, whether that is through volunteering at our local parkrun or volunteering here as part of Berrinba Runners.  

Club President – Kris Humphrys.

Kris started running in early 2018 as a way to improve his fitness. In May of that year Kris discovered parkrun and that there was an event at Berrinba just down the road. Since then Kris has been a regular at parkrun along with his family. Through parkrun Kris discovered Berrinba Runners and has enjoyed the support and comradely of the group. Kris enjoys road and trail running with 10km events his favourite.  Kris has taken on the Presidents role in 2021 and is looking forward to helping Berrinba Runners grow as a club and supports others on their running journey as they have supported him.

Vice President – David Heath.

Dave delved into the world of running and parkrun thanks to his friend Kris. Initially, Dave stuck to Saturday parkrun and engaged in a fun weekly rivalry with Lester, a fellow member. As his love for running grew, Dave joined Berrinba Runners in 2022, discovering an incredible community and mentors who aided his progress and ambitions.

One of my favourite sessions is Monday Strength and Mobility (or as he likes to call it Rolly Polly Club!) led by Peta. Dave rarely misses a Wednesday afternoon session with Coach Shannon and enjoy the fact that he gets to run with his daughter.

In the past year at Berrinba, Dave has participated in my inaugural running events. The unwavering support and camaraderie from fellow members have made him feel like a valued part of the team, fostering new and lasting friendships.

You can spot Dave jogging around Berrinba accompanied by my faithful canine companion, Eddie.

Treasurer – Dawn Thomson.

Watch this space for an update.

Secretary and Coach – Shannon Stevenson.

Shannon or ‘Stevo’ started running in 2015.  Not long into her running journey, Shannon started parkrun and quickly became part of the event team at Berrinba parkrun.  Shannon has been involved with Berrinba Runners before its inception as a club and enjoys seeing people achieve their walking or running goals. Over the years, Shannon along with Coach Adam have managed to bring our team together at many running events, and this has fostered an environment of friendship and comradery.  Some of the most rewarding things Shannon likes to do is make people feel welcome in our team and contributing to being able to provide our members with affordable local training.  Shannon also coaches on Wednesday afternoons.

Social Media & Event Coordinator – Liam Wilson.

Liam loves long romantic walks on the beach, but also loves a quiet night and home with pizza and bubble o bill ice cream. Liam runs because he loves pizza and bubble o bill. You’ll often find Liam running a couple of loops around Berrinba if not he will be at the local buffet. Liam is much like one of those hairless cats, ugly on the outside but does his best to let his personality shine through.

Membership Officer - Julie Hines.

Julie joined Berrinba Runners in 2020 to help improve her fitness.  Julie, Trav and her two boys, are regulars at Tuesday training and since commencing training has ticked off some major milestones in her running.  Julie started as our event co-ordinator at the end of 2022 so look forward to an exciting year of events 2023.

Merchandise Coordinator – Yasmin Atwani.

As a teenager, Yasmin grew an interest in running that peaked and faded over the years. Yasmin started running again in adulthood late in 2021 in effort to improve her fitness motivated by being a better soccer player. After a major knee injury playing soccer in April of 2022 and being unable to return to soccer, she decided to fully embrace running as a source of challenge, a social outlet and a means to happier and fitter self through Berrinba Runners. Her running goals moving forward include gaining confidence in longer events, improving her 5K time as well as exploring trail running. When she’s not running, Yasmin finds herself reading leisurely through a maths textbook to compliment her current role as a high school maths teacher.

Head Coach – Adam Shannon.

As one of the founding members of Berrinba Runners, Adam focuses all his attention on building our coaching team & running our in house events.   Thanks to Adam's previos work in merchandise, we have a wide variety of green merchandise available ranging from singlet, sleeved shirts, jackets, trucker caps and visors.  Adam also heads up our coaching team and runs weekly coaching sessions for our group.  Adam is the founding event director of the local Berrinba parkrun.

Coach – Peta Smith.

Peta Smith started running back in 2013 and is also one of the founding members of the local Berrinba parkrun event team. Peta is a qualified coach leading ad hoc social trail runs in Karawatha on Sundays and providing sessions every Monday afternoon, coaching members on stretching, rolling, self-trigger point and strength techniques to improve mobility and prevent injury. Peta is a busy mum and grandmother of 6 and works full time as a qualified Remedial Massage Therapist, owns and operates local massage business Liniment Bliss.

Coach – Alison Read.

Alison or Coach Ali as we all know her, is a very busy and active member of the Berrinba Runners team.  Ali loves to run. Short, long, roads or trails, if it’s running, she is there, especially if there are other Berrinba Runners to look out for along the way!  Ali is also one of the founding team members at Berrinba parkrun and Berrinba Runners.  Ali also runs Alison Read Fitness, and coaches at the Logan West Aquatics Centre.  Ali is a supportive team member and when she isn’t running, she is at our events supporting our team.

Coach – Rick Thomson.

Rick has been running since about 2015 when a mate introduced him to Berrinba parkrun.  From there he met a few crazy individuals that started talking him into doing some longer events and coming along for some social runs on the weekends.  It didn’t take too long he had the bug, from then running has pretty much been Life! Over The last two years Rick has been coaching his own children and kids from the Jimboomba Little Athletics club, so he decided to do a couple of coaching courses to help gain some more knowledge.  Rick really enjoys putting the new knowledge to use and seeing some great achievements and performances from these young athletes.  Rick joined the Berrinba Runners Team as a coach and loves helping people reach their goals while continuing to help people set some new benchmarks in their own running journey’s.

Coach - Brendan Watt.

What can we say about Coach Brendan, is he a bit of enigma, I think not, from what I understand Brendan likes long walks / runs in Karawatha, and his favourite colour is green.  As our Friday coach we always look forward to Brendan’s social media posts where you might see he transforms into someone exciting and new each week.  He not only keeps us fit while coaching, he also keep us entertained.  Brendan is also an active volunteer of the Berrinba parkrun event team as a run director and has recently been appointed as a parkrun Outreach Ambassador.