Mofolo parkrun, in Soweto. Finishers last week: 31. This is a fairly flat 5km which sees runners pass the Mofolo Cultural Bowl stage, with its rainbow-coloured arched roof, and take in some wonderful graffiti-decorated homes. Picture: Michel Bega
It’s encouraging that officials from the Parkrun community will hold “big meetings” (that’s according to founder and Comrades Marathon legend Bruce Fordyce) this coming week with the department of sport.
On the agenda will be the date at which the popular mass-participation athletic events can resume.
There are 225 Parkruns nationally which were, up until the advent of the coronavirus pandemic, held every Saturday.
The various lockdown restrictions have drastically curtailed sports events involving large numbers of people, because of the difficulty in maintaining a social distance of at least two metres between participants and the problems with wearing masks during exercise.
However, there is some light at the end of the tunnel, as evidenced yesterday with the running of the first sanctioned road race since the virus hit – the Alberton 10km.
Parkrun celebrates its ninth birthday this week and, in the words of Fordyce: “We have to get Parkrun back as quickly as we can because it’s not just about a run; it’s about human well-being, fitness and communities coming together.”
We hope the government listens to this because it makes no sense to continue to restrict events which have huge community health benefits in the name of keeping us healthy.
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