Legacy Toti parkrunner crosses 350th finish line
A Warner Beach woman who ran the inaugural Amanzimtoti Parkrun has now completed her 350th parkrun along with several other achievements.
COMING full circle after completing the inaugural Amanzimtoti Parkrun over a decade ago is Warner Beach woman, Karin Liebenberg, who completed her 350th parkrun on January 11.
Also read: Heavy thunderstorm warning issued for eThekwini
Her parkrun pace has ramped up over the years. Liebenberg completed her 50th three years after her first, her 100th a year later, and has since racked up countless parkrun achievements.
“I have always loved running and walking. I was a member of Amanzimtoti Athletic Club for any years from around 1984 to 2002 and ran many races in Amanzimtoti colours. My park-running was inconsistent after my first, but since 2017, I have become more consistent, especially after realising that Discovery Vitality introduced points for completing parkruns, which allows for better rewards and benefits,” explained Liebenberg.
During work trips to Johannesburg and Cape Town over the years, she has completed parkruns in different areas and began taking on fun challenges like the Alphabeteer, which means completing parkruns starting with the letters of the alphabet. She achieved that in 2018.
Her aim for 2026 is to complete parkruns in four more locations, for a total of 100.
She uses an application, “5K” which allows her to track her challenges. Here are some she has completed:
- Parkrun Tourist: 20 different parkrun locations. She has since completed 96 different parkruns.
- Parkrun Obsessive: 30 or more parkruns in a calendar year.
- Compass Club: Attend a parkrun with names that include each of the four cardinal directions.
- Single-ton: 100 parkruns in Amanzimtoti.
- Stopwatch Bingo: To get all the seconds from 00 to 59 in your finish times.
- Attend three “Bees” and three “Gees”.
About the Amanzimtoti Parkrun:
Parkrun is free to anyone that wants to walk or run 5km; register using parkrun.co.za. It starts at Amanzimtoti Main beach at 08:00 every Saturday. Participants are encouraged to arrive at around 07:45 for the briefing. You do not have to be able to walk or run 5km to volunteer, however, and can help out as a marshall, time-keeper and in other ways. Email Amanzimtoti@parkrun.com to find out more information, or contact event director, John Niewoudt on 082 353 5926.
Do you have more information pertaining to this story? Feel free to let us know by commenting on our Facebook page or you can contact our newsroom on 031 903 2341 and speak to a journalist.
