Two greats at Brakpan Parkrun
It’s not every day that two South African sporting legends come to Brakpan.
Multiple Comrades Marathon champions Bruce Fordyce and Frith van der Merwe visited the town to run the recently launched Brakpan Parkrun on May 26.
It was the sixth event since it was launched at the Brakpan Customer Care Centre on the corner of Escombe Road and Elliot Avenue.
Van der Merwe, who still holds the Comrades women’s down run record, was celebrating her 57th birthday on the day.
Fordyce, who brought the parkrun initiative to South Africa, was delighted to be visiting the Brakpan event for the first time.
“We’re thrilled that Brakpan has started,” he told the Herald.
“I try as hard as I can to be at all the inaugural runs, but I couldn’t make the Brakpan launch, so I promised them I would come because we actually started two parkruns on the same day and I had to go to the other one.
“This course is a tough one but was fun.
“What I am really pleased to see is how many people were out there walking the course or walking with their dogs, so it’s a lovely spread of abilities.
Also read: First Brakpan parkrun a huge success
“I was sort of near the front and I could see that the people in the front were flying, but it’s great to see the people who were just walking the whole thing and enjoying it.”
Fordyce is pleased with the incredible growth of parkrun in South Africa.
“We now have nearly 850 000 people running parkrun in South Africa.
“I never would have expected it, starting from just 26 people to 850 000 in six-and-a-half years.”
The nine-time Comrades winner had some advice for Herald sports journalist Logan Green who will be running his novice Comrades Marathon on June 10: “Enjoy it.
“For your first Comrades, you must really just enjoy it as much as possible.
“It’s basically just 18 parkruns,” he joked.
The Brakpan Parkrun takes place every Saturday at 8am.
It is a timed, 5km run.
To date, 952 people have run or walked the Brakpan route.
On Saturday, 240 parkrunners took on the course.
The record attendance of 554 was achieved at the launch event.
Visit parkrun.co.za for more information and to register for your parkrun bar code.
Follow us:
