Randburg Harriers honours Deirdre Larkin with run named after her
PRAEGVILLE – The event will have 5km, 10km and 21.1km distances with people can run on one of two days.
Randburg Harriers is honouring local running legend Deirdre Larkin by naming a new annual race after her.
The inaugural race will be virtual, free and open to anyone.
“Since the beginning of the year, the club committee has been planning a run to honour Deirdre,” explained club captain, John Neale.
“With the lockdown in effect the run will have to be virtual, but this allows people to run wherever they like. It also means people from all over the world will be able to enter.”
Participants can choose five, 10 or 21.1km and can run on either 5 or 6 September.
“There will be videos about Deirdre which we will upload for people to watch. We may even have photographers on the streets taking photos of people that weekend.”
The 89-year-old Larkin is a Fontainebleau resident with a lifetime membership at Randburg Harriers. She broke the world record for her age category at the SPAR Women’s Race Pretoria in 2018 and came second in the 70+ age group.
She has been running since 2010 and runs about 60 races every year. Larkin wins her age category in almost all of her races, and younger categories too sometimes.
Race director, Liesl Koch said people can register for the race on www.Timeme.co.za, which have offered their services to the running club at no cost.
“While the run is free to enter, we will sell a nice inaugural Deirdre Larkin medal and buff for people. They are R60 and R40 [respectively],” Koch said.
Participants are also encouraged to donate to two charities Randburg Harriers works closely with Wandsworth School and Ann Harding Cheshire Homes.
Details: Randburg Harriers secretary@randburgharriers.co.za; 079 844 7156.
