LEADING a fit and healthy lifestyle has seen Danny Greeff of Warner Beach clock-up nearly 185,000km in 47 years as a runner.
On 3 December, he will turn 80 and this upcoming milestone has not slowed him down. Instead it has spurred him on to continue to pound the pavements.
In his younger years, Danny was a smoker and when he stopped in 1967, he found himself putting on weight. “At the time I was living in Welkom. To keep the weight off, I decided to take up jogging and started on a rugby field close to my home. Later I moved to the main roads.”
At the same time, he also started keeping a record of the number of kilometres he ran and currently has several diaries of data. To date, he has run 184,446km. All the data is handwritten and he is meticulous when it comes to keeping his records.
An avid athlete, he has run 16 Comrades Marathons, one Two Oceans Marathon and completed six Argus Cycle Tours, including one with his wife, Toy. In between he has run numerous other marathons around the country, including one hosted on Robben Island in 1993, which was only open to Cape runners.
However, Danny has not only run locally, but internationally too. “I have toured overseas extensively and while there, I have run around the tracks of several Olympic stadiums.”
Danny moved to Warner Beach 21 years ago on retiring as a managing director for VW and Audi. However, he is not sitting with his feet up. His day starts at 5am. During the week, he runs from Warner Beach to Pipeline and back and on Saturdays to Arbour Crossing and back. In October alone, he completed 280km.
“Running is in my blood, there is no reason to stop. I have met so many wonderful people along the road.” Danny has also reported faulty street lights and burst water pipes to the municipality, problems he noticed on his runs.
The only day Danny doesn’t run is Sundays. Both he and Toy are active in the Old Apostolic Church as members and part of the choir.
Danny is now looking forward to his birthday celebrations with family. The Greeff’s have three children, five grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
