Bryanston parkrun celebrates 300 races
BRYANSTON – The Bryanston parkrun community rings in 300 races with a metal elephant to commemorate the occasion.
The Bryanston parkrun celebrated its 300th race on 12 October with a donation of a sculpted elephant made of metal courtesy of the Bryanston East Community Forum.
According to volunteer Ian Tumiel, the community forum also donated a metal sculpture of a lion when the parkrun celebrated its 200th parkrun. “We ultimately want to have one of the Big Five at each kilometre of the course to represent the 5km race,” he said.
For many of the runners, the occasion presented a number of personal milestones as almost a dozen runners celebrated their 100th race. Megan Romme, an 11-year old athlete of Bryneven Primary has completed more than 100 races with a personal best of 22 minutes and 15 seconds.
Megan has been participating in parkrun since the age of seven, a event she attributed to her success as an athlete. “I have gone to Gauteng champs for my school and South African champs for my club,” she said.
Wolfgang Jochims celebrated his 151st race. “This is a little bit like a fashion show – everybody looks if their shoes are clean and people look at you. We come together here like a family,” he said with a smile.
In her 168th race, Anna Battison saw parkrun as an opportunity for all. “I think parkrun has been a gift to the world and it is a gift that keeps on giving,” she said.
Averaging at more than 1 000 runners per week with an average time of 38 minutes and 28 seconds, more than 32 000 individual runs have covered a distance of more than 1 million kilometres, Tumiel said. “Congratulations to our volunteers and participants at Bryanston parkrun’s 300th event. Without you this would be in no way possible,” he added.
Parkrun is an international event which takes place once a week worldwide. It is all about free volunteering and community fun. According to Tumiel, the biggest attendance Bryanston has had was 1 763 runners with an average weekly attendance of 770 runners.
The Bryanston parkrun begins every Saturday at 8am at the corner of River Road and Bryanston Drive.
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