[TAKE NOTE] Claiming your milestone shirts will be a little different, says ParkRun SA
Parkrun South Africa recently announced that they will be making significant changes to the process for claiming a milestone t-shirt.
POLOKWANE – In previous years after a member ran their 100th Park Run he/she would be given the t-shirt as a gift. From this point forward, when a runner joins a milestone club they will be directed to the global ordering platform, where they will have the options of declining their t-shirt, pre-ordering it if it’s not in stock, or ordering it if it is. Park run will then, where there is stock, send your t-shirt straight to you, significantly reducing workload for the volunteer teams.
Currently, for South Africans in particular, this does present two significant changes:
1. Whilst the t-shirt will be free, the cost for postage and packing is approximately R250.
2. With the South postal system as it is, Park Run cannot guarantee successful delivery.
The 100 Club was opened by Darren Wood in January 2007. Darren had completed the first 100th park run and got a shirt to commemorate this and soon after he opened the 100 Club. The club he thought would be a small exclusive group has since grown to be much bigger with over 70 000 member with an estimate of 400 joining every week.
Polokwane currently has 28 members of the 100 club, 81 of the 50 club and 12 of the Volunteers club (you need to volunteer 25 times to qualify).
The next official milestone which is recognised is 250. Local runner Johan van Graan on 189, John le Cordeur (age group 80 – 84) on 175 and Jeannie Owens on 169 are on their way to make this milestone.
Review spoke to Felicity Roberts from Parkrun Polokwane on the popularity of the ever growing craze.
She told Review that over the 4 years the club has been in existence, more than 2,000 people have registered on Polokwane Parkrun, yet they average only 180 – 200 each Saturday, 250 when there are no other events in town like school sports etc. The highest attendance so far has been 301 members.
“Maybe some find it is not what they thought it would be, or not what they enjoy. Nevertheless we are there every Saturday, at 07:00 in summer and 8:00 in winter, in all kinds of weather. If there are people willing to do the 5km route the volunteers make it possible. I think the least number was 14 or 17 one wet and rather miserable Saturday,” Felicity said.
She added that Polokwane has a core team of five volunteers who take the responsibility of making sure that Polokwane Parkrun keeps going. “If we do not have enough volunteers then we would not be able to have a Parkrun, they are the lifeblood of the club.”
In Limpopo alone there are now six Parkruns and 200 and counting in S A. Louis Trichardt opened beginning March 2019 and Thabazimbi Farm Run is opening on 4 May. Together with Lephalale, Modimolle and Leeupoort that makes up the Limpopo 6, she concluded.
