Modern Athlete Magazine Issue 56, March 2014 | Page 31

ER N IA D RT PA E M parkrun SA Join the friendly, free 8am Saturday morning 5km in your area! ur area rkruns in yo pa Summerfields parkrun, Kruger Park www.facebook.com/Kruger-ParkSummerfields-parkrun Summerfields parkrun remains small and intimate, with around a dozen runners every week, but is sometimes also graced with the presence of a noisy hippo. The Lowveld is lush and beautifully green at present, and Hazyview often lives up to its name, with misty mornings of fine rain, and hot, tropical days. Our roses are in full bloom, while our macadamias are about to be harvested, and the harvest looks promising. Bryanston parkrun, Johannesburg www.facebook.com/Bryanstonparkrun Twitter: @RunBryanston The launch of the Bryanston parkrun has been a keenly anticipated event. The green and leafy suburb, located in the north of Johannesburg, is home to a great many runners and cyclists who frequent the paths alongside the Braamfontein Spruit, a significant number of whom awoke on the morning of 25 January to participate in what was the largest inaugural parkrun event in the world to date. Images: Gill Fordyce & Lauren Tippett A field of 688 runners and walkers took to the path departing from the Riverside Centre, with children and dogs in tow, making the most of what must be Johannesburg’s flattest parkrun course. Regular parkrunner Simon Gear was first across the line, closely followed by the Queen of parkrun, Tracy Rankin. A special mention must be made of Rui Ganho, who ran his 50th parkrun at the inaugural Bryanston event. We look forward to handing out many more red T-shirts in the months ahead. Many thanks to the Bryanston East Community Forum, who have been instrumental in cleaning the paths along which the event is run. It is hoped that by hosting this event along the spruit, residents in the Bryanston area will be encouraged to uplift the parkland, which has been neglected for some time. So come join the Bryanston bunch every Saturday and bring your family and friends along! – Event Director Ann Ashworth In February, on Valentine’s Saturday, we laid on a full Valentine’s breakfast with champagne and oysters on the lawns after the run. We also brought a professional photographer along to take beautiful pics. We invited all romantics to join as well. After all, what’s better than an active couple? We have our regulars who love taking on the 5km in the Lowveld heat, and get a lot of families tagging along now and then. We also see quite a few foreign travellers on their Kruger adventures, especially from the UK, as well as some South Africans from the cities seeking a break from the rat race. Summerfields is a breakaway from the norm and you get to run in the bush, getting a taste of the wild side of SA. Every week we also grab a post-parkrun coffee at Summerfields River Café, so please come and join us! – Event Director Andre van Heerden TATS parkrun SA S Number of parkruns: 25 Number of events: 1071 Number of active runners: 35 037 Number of individual runs: 154 516 Total distance covered: 772 580km Total run time: : 11 years, 208 days, 9 hours, 30 minutes and 58 seconds *Last updated 24 February SIGN UP! Go to www.parkrun.co.za to find your nearest parkrun and to register for free. Just a simple contact form and voila, you’re good to go! OR follow parkrun on Facebook: parkrunSouthAfrica or T ݥ