The first ever parkrun (Blue Valley parkrun) for Nigel kicked off on May 11 at the Farm Bultfontein just outside of town. With 180 runners participating, this first run was a huge success, with high hopes of growing in volume every Saturday.
First introduced to South Africa by nine-times Comrades Marathon champion Bruce Fordyce in November 2011, the sociable, hassle-free, open-to-all parkrun concept is taking off around the country.
Compared to a typical running event, parkrun has many advantages. It doesn’t cost participants any money. There are no registration fees or licence numbers. It is open to all ages. It takes place in a safe environment, away from roads. Runners need not belong to a club. The runs are always five kilometres long, and they always take place at 08:00 on a Saturday morning.
To take part, all a person needs to do is to log onto the parkrun website www.parkrun.co.za and register. The person will then be issued with a barcode which could be used at any parkrun event, anywhere in the world. The barcodes are used to log data and they help participants track their progress. Results are posted to the parkrun website and are also sent by SMS.
Blue Valley parkrun is a scenic route through a farm with a dam around the 3.5km mark, making this run fun and relaxing to runners and those who prefer to take a leisurely walk. With the added bonus that the parkrun is pet friendly as long as your canine friend is on a leash.
Organiser and runner Jaco Lubbe, who is visually impaired, usually ran the Silveroaks parkrun in Heidelberg, but due to the struggle with transport to and from Heidelberg, as he himself cannot drive, he started to think about establishing a parkrun in his hometown. “I approached a dear friend who owns the piece of land that we converted into the parkrun trail. He agreed and here we are today,” said Lubbe.
Lubbe himself is a runner to be reckoned with. “I am currently training for the Comrades, having completed my first 42km run on May 1 in a time of 4 hours and 20 minutes. With that I should be ready for the Comrades in 2020,” Lubbe said.
“I would like to say a big thank you to Chris Sutton, Mariëtte Rossouw and all the volunteers for making this day possible; and of course to the family that owns the Farm Bultfontein, without whom this parkrun would not have been possible,” added Lubbe.
He invites the community and runners alike to come and join them at the Blue Valley parkrun every Saturday at 08:00. For further information Jaco Lubbe can be phoned on 071 886 1476.
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