Halls parkrun crosses 500-event milestone with 278 participants

The celebrated Halls parkrun reached a significant milestone as the 500th event was enjoyed by nearly 300 runners on Saturday, May 31.

Halls parkrun was started by Tracey Strauss and Toy Dupper on December 14, 2013, with only 86 participants and six volunteers. The inaugural parkrun recorded the first finisher as none other than the legendary Bruce Fordyce, with Madri Wiid the first female.

The event is the second oldest parkrun in the Kruger Lowveld region, with the oldest being the now defunct Summerfields parkrun. Due to cancellations, Covid-19, and special events that Halls did not host, White River parkrun overtook Halls as the one with the most events in the region. Halls parkrun is thus the second event in the Kruger Lowveld to reach the 500 mark, after White River achieved the same feat earlier this year.

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The fastest time that has been recorded on the Halls parkrun route was on August 23, 2014, by Folavio Sehohle, who completed the old configuration of the route in a time of 14:35. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, participation numbers decreased at Halls and the largest group of participants was 621 on January 25, 2020.

Prior to the 500th event, a total of 11 934 people had run the Halls parkrun, amounting to a total of 130 452 finishes. No fewer than 537 volunteers have lent the event their time and the average finish time is 43:50. A total of 16 612 personal best times have been recorded. Two local legends who have completed the most Halls parkruns are Jan van der Merwe with 373 to his name and Martie van Putten who has completed 355 Halls parkrun events.

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At the 500th Halls parkrun no fewer than 287 took part and completed the route, with Ishmael Phiri finishing first in a time of 18:15. Sandile Matsane was second (18:57) and William Brown third (21:16).