Modern Athlete Magazine Issue 56, March 2014 | Page 31

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parkrun SA
Join the friendly, free 8am Saturday
morning 5km in your area!
ur area
rkruns in yo
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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

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Just a simple contact form and voila,
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