The Roodepoort Athletics Club is inviting the community to join them on Sunday, July 19, for the annual Northgate Road Race. Distances include a 5km and 10km route.

Conrad de Buys, the club’s chairperson, said that this year they will be hosting this race for the 28th year.
“This race is very popular within the running community. Last year, we attracted about 1 300 runners, and this year we have 2 000 entries available.”

Online entries will close on Sunday, July 12, at midnight. If you miss the online deadline, you can still enter on Friday, July 17 and Saturday, July 18 at Northgate Shopping Centre. For safety reasons, no entries will be available on the morning of the race.

He added that a decision was also made to reverse the route this year.

“Northumberland Avenue tend to get quite busy, so we made this decision to keep the runners and walkers safe. We will have between 60 and 80 Roodies members to assist on the day, as well as JMPD and two ambulances to ensure race day runs smoothly. There will also be vendors selling food and drinks.”

Online entries can be done by visiting https://secure.onreg.com/onreg2/front/step1.php?id=7782. Race shirts will also be available online at R190.

De Buys said that entries are open to everyone, but if you are not a registered running club member with a permanent Athletics South Africa license number, you will have to purchase a temporary license (for the 10km).

“I am sure we will have a great day and a successful race,” De Buys concluded.