Sonja Laxton runs for the 100th time
MELROSE – Sonja Laxton follows up on her lifetime achievement award with her 100th SPAR Women's Challenge run.
Melrose running legend Sonja Laxton recorded her 100th SPAR Women’s Challenge run at the Joburg event on 6 October.
This follows the 71-year-old receiving a lifetime achievement award last year for her contribution to the SPAR Grand Prix Series.
“I never dreamt the SPAR race would become as big as it has now,” the veteran said.
“You know I only run now to stay ahead of Deirdre,” she jokingly referred to Deirdre Larkin, who is about 15 years her senior and a running legend in her own right.
“Seventy-one is still old and maybe I should get a wheelchair for the runs. But not for the downhills of course.”
Laxton has been running the grand prix since its inception in 1991. She told Caxton Local Media that she was a little nervous for her 100th run but expects it to be fun in her hometown.
“The SPAR races are fun and do a good service to promoting women’s running,” she told Caxton Local Media.
Her favourite SPAR race is in Pietermaritzburg, where she grew up and first started running as a child.
Laxton has been running since she was in Grade 9 at school and still runs every morning, some afternoons too, and goes to the gym three or four times a week.
She is fitter than most people a third of her age but is humble about her achievements, having broken some national records in her age category.
“I enjoy being fit, it becomes part of you like brushing your teeth and you feel like you have to do it. I love the camaraderie at my club, Rand Athletic Club and you meet a lot of nice people in the sporting world.”
She sometimes runs with her daughter, Kim Norton, a psychiatrist who she joked analyses her while they run.
Laxton does not intend to stop running soon.
Proceeds from the run were given to Reach for Recovery, a breast cancer support group.
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