Modern Athlete Magazine Issue 74, September 2015 | Seite 19

Take a step towards healthier living.

Dis-Chem partners with parkrun South Africa.

In an ongoing quest to endorse and support healthier living, Dis-Chem
are proud to announce a two year partnership with parkrun South Africa.
parkruns are free, organised weekly runs at approved venues. Participants
can either walk or run the 5km timed course.
The parkrun concept began in the UK in October 2004 with just 13 runners.
There are now nearly 2 million runners globally and South Africa is currently
one of the 11 countries where the concept has really taken off. South Africa
already boasts over 60 parkland locations nationwide which are open to
everyone, every Saturday morning. Over a quarter of a million South Africans
are registered with parkrun.
The beauty of parkrun is that it caters for young and old and attracts people
who are competitive athletes to unfit newbies just looking to get into some
light exercise, enjoy the camaraderie and relish the benefit of being outdoors.
Since participants are free to take the course at their own pace, it leaves no
excuse for those new to exercise or who have not been active for some time.
A parkrun can consist of anything from 200 to 1200 runners on any given
weekend and at a quick glance of the weekly results, run times range from 15
minutes to an hour and a half for the 5km course. This serves to demonstrate
the diversity of fitness levels. As the third most obese nation in the world,
South Africans perhaps needed something at this level to enable them to
challenge themselves and improve weekly on their own times.
As a supporting partner, Dis-Chem will join big brand national sponsors
Discovery Vitality, Blue Label Telecoms and Adidas in promoting exercise
(at any level) as a means to encouraging a healthier lifestyle for all. Stan
Goetsch, Dis-Chem director, has long advocated and championed the
decision to choose to live a healthier lifestyle. Regarding the decision to
support parkrun he says, “As a brand committed to and grounded in the
basic principles of good health, this is a natural association for us. Our brand
values and ethos are positively aligned with proactive health ambassadors
such as Bruce Fordyce and the parkrun team. We see, endorse and
appreciate the efforts of parkrun to improve the health and activity levels of
all South Africans.”
To incentivise Discovery Vitality members, those who register and participate
as parkrunners qualify for the additional rewards as laid out in the Vitality
membership terms and conditions. Similarly, Discovery Vitality members will
have access to seasonal and unique offers on select Discovery Healthycare
products stocked in Dis-Chem Pharmacies nationwide.

different sporting disciplines – including, but not limited to, the Dis-Chem
Half Marathon, Dis-Chem Ride for Sight and the Dis-Chem Sun City Swim.
The encouraging fact is that South Africa has seen the fastest uptake and
growth of parkrun compared with any other country. With over 250,000
registered runners around the country, growing by an average of 2000 per
week, the simple message and goal of getting others active, ɕ