Centuries for Uvongo parkrunners
Bubbly flowed as the three runners crossed the line.
THREE runners made history recently when they became the first registered Uvongo parkrunners to complete 100 events.
The parkruns are free, timed 5km runs that are held all over the world in parklike surroundings every Saturday morning at 8am. The Uvongo parkrun is just over two years old and a number of regulars have earned their 50 parkrun T-shirts. However, there was great excitement when Wendy Low, Sharon Gardner and Andrew Spence crossed the line for the 100th time.
Andrew, who is a talented runner and a member of South Coast Striders, usually finishes Uvongo parkruns in the top 20. He runs in the men’s 70 to 74 age category and his personal best time is a speedy 20 minutes and 38 seconds.
Wendy, who competes in the women’s 65 to 69 years category, has a personal best of 40 minutes 35 seconds. Even when she travelled overseas she didn’t take a break from parkrunning and completed two while in Britain. All her other 98 parkruns were completed in Uvongo.
Sharon has never strayed away from the Uvongo course where she completed all her 100 parkruns. She competes in the women’s 50 to 54 category. Her personal best is 34 minutes 18 seconds.
Together the three parkrunners have clocked up a combined 1 500km in just over two years – now that is dedication. As well as earning their black 100 T-shirts they all received special commemorative caps from Uvongo parkrun local sponsors Halfway Toyota. They have a little further to go to earn their next parkrun T-shirt. They will only receive this when they have clocked up 250 runs.
Uvongo parkrunners invite all local runners, walkers and even strollers to join them and to become part of an amazing global keep fit programme. Once you register online with parkrun you receive your unique bar code. Every time you cross a parkrun line anywhere in the world your time is recorded and you are notified by email. Register now and you too will soon be on your way to clocking up your first century.
The Uvongo parkrun starts and finishes at St Michael’s beach every Saturday. The run starts at 8am. The course includes two tricky beach sections and follows the popular Saints Walk pathway, which overlooks the sea. Uvongo parkrunners claim their course is the prettiest in South Africa.
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