LIMPOPO – The weekly Hoedspruit Parkrun was a blast with many first-time parkrunners taking on the route and 77 runners in total starting their Saturday with some exercise in the outdoors.

Eve Smith Lomas, on her very first parkrun ever, was the first female runner to cross the finish line. She ran the 5km route in 26:11. JJ Osborne ran the route in 22:23 to win the men’s division.

Sakhile Innocent Makhathini, Rewan Kruger, Charlotte Nuboer, Jacques Human, Samuel Duncan, Antoinette Kruger, Koketso Setaise, Altus Kruger, Siegfried Morgenrood, Nico van Rooyen, Liza-Ri van Rooyen, Lucius Oupa and Nonkululeko Msomi all completed their first parkrun.

Personal best times were achieved by Hari Jeyabelen (24:17) and Jacqueline Twiggs (28:53). Jeyabelen took third place overall and Twiggs took 11th place overall.

Kim Rossouw, Pit Seussmann, Yolandi Pretorius, Johan Gous, Gundi Seussmann and Annelie Viljoen also recorded personal best times on the Hoedspruit course.

Hoedspruit Parkrun thanked volunteers Donovan Botha, Kelly Conradie, Nicole Fiolet, Ilse Krige, Tertia Smith, Debbie Wheeldon, Gerhard Wilken and Donovan Wilkes.

They also thanked Protrack for the course, Thirsty Giraffe for the ablution facilities, Discovery for the Vitality sponsorship and Parkrun SA.

Hoedspruit Parkrun takes place every Saturday at 07:00 in summer and 08:00 in winter. For more information visit www.parkrun.co.za/hoedspruit.