Ruimsig parkrun celebrates 5th birthday with cake, colour and camaraderie
Route challenges and lockdowns minor blips in otherwise upward five-year trajectory for scenic parkrun.
Symbolising more than a run, the barcode is a ticket to a social addiction.
The Ruimsig parkrun community came out in numbers to celebrate their collective milestone on September 16. The scenic stadium precinct run notched up five calendar years of free athletic camaraderie that has featured two route changes, a global health interruption, and 155 full runs. In that time, 13 310 different runners have officially crossed the line 60 106 individual times.
Cutting the cake on this prestigious day was the rotating run director, Siphesihle Zuma.
“It is a special day and I have been lucky enough to rely on the old heads. The volunteers are what have allowed us to get here and I feel honoured to be part of this group,” said Siphesihle. The party began before the home stretch as music greeted the runners at a volunteer-decorated finish line.
Reaching a personal milestone was home runner Danny Pretorius who brought up his century of finishes. Danny is a serial volunteer, having done so between 60 and 70 times, exemplifying his commitment to the parkrun family.
After bellowing out his excitement at crossing the line for the hundredth time, Danny said, “Congratulations to Ruimsig parkrun, it is an incredible achievement.
Thank you to everyone who comes out every week, each time you cross the start line you have already accomplished something.”
The young guns dominated the time sheets with teenager Marthinus Bouwer crossing the line in 20 minutes and two seconds. Matthew Williams was 17 seconds behind Marthinus with the youngest of the three, Stefan Labuschange, finishing third in a time of 20 minutes and 57 seconds.
The fastest female on the timesheet was Anaamika Maharaj with a time of 22 minutes and 27 seconds and once the whole field had crossed the line, cake awaited to cap off a happy parkrun birthday.
