Three generations of the Galley family have turned Saturday morning park runs into a weekly tradition that will culminate in their collective participation at the Toowoomba Marathon.
Meet the family of runners ready to take on this year’s Toowoomba Marathon.

 Mark Galley was hot off the Boston Marathon when he ran the 10k event alongside his son Trent at the 2025 Toowoomba marathon.

This year, they’re taking on the half marathon, and getting more of the family involved.

The 62 year-old can be seen every week at his local park run, alongside his wife Christine, his children Trent and Kerrie and his grandchildren, 11 year-old Charlie and Elijah, and eight year-old Stella and Lexi.

“It’s a family thing every Saturday morning,” Mr Galley said.

“They all come along, the young girls sort of walk run and are getting there slowly.”

“We all go out for breakfast after, so that’s another thing they all enjoy.”

Mark Galley has been running for a long time.

“Pretty well from day dot I started park run the first day it started here in Toowoomba,” Mark said.

“My grandson Charlie is 11 now, but when he was little, I used to push him in the pram.

“He started running the lot and he’s now down to a personal best of 20 minutes and 8 seconds.”

At this year’s Toowoomba Running Festival, the whole family is getting involved.

Mark is running the half marathon with Trent and Kerrie, while his wife Christine is still undecided.

“She did the half last year. She’s talking about doing the 10k with a couple of the grandkids.”

Mark’s advice for anyone running with kids is to just let them enjoy it.

“Don’t get competitive, just make it all about fun to start with,” he said.

“As their fitness comes along hopefully it clicks for them and away they’ll go.”

For anyone looking to start running or join in with this year’s advice, Mark said to focus on your technique and take it slow.

“A lot of people always want to PB or run as fast as they can, but slow down and just get your technique right,” Mr Galley said.

“It takes quite a while for the body to adjust and as you get stronger in your joints and your muscles get stronger, it gets easier.

“A lot of people and my parents used to say I’m too old for that sort of thing, but I realise age is only a number now. You can do it.”

Registration for this year’s running festival is still open, enter now.

Originally published as ‘Age is only a number’: The running family preparing for the Toowoomba Marathon