Johan van Graan celebrates 250 Parkruns
75-year-old Johan van Graan is a well-known long distance runner with many marathons behind his name.
POLOKWANE – At the age of 75 Johan van Graan completed 250 Parkruns across South Africa.
Johan is a well-known long distance runner with many marathons behind his name.
He earned a place in the Comrades Marathon Green Number Club’s Roll of Honour. The criteria for the inclusion in this roll of honour is to have three wins, five gold medals or 10 and more medals.
“I was also the first person in the city to complete the Mpumalanga 100 mile run. That is 160,9km.”
In Parkrun there are several T-shirt milestones, a different colour is earned after the runner completes a milestone. Runners who completed 50 Parkruns earn a red shirt while those who completed 100 will get a black shirt. Runners who completed 250 runs earn a green shirt and for those with 500 runs behind their names a blue shirt will be handed over.
Johan says he was the first Polokwane Athletics Club member to complete 50 Parkruns.
“I was also the first to complete a 100 runs and the first Parkrunner in the club to complete 20 different Parkruns all over South Africa. After this I was recognised as a Parkrun tourist and was entitled to wear an orange cap. So far I have competed in Parkruns in 53 different places. I am the only Parkrunner in the city to complete 10 Parkruns in Limpopo.”
He admits it requires a lot of travelling to different places to take part and there is a lot of internal competition in the Parkrun fraternity. Some highlights include taking part in the Dullstroom Parkrun, which is the highest in South Africa and second highest in the world.
Here the runner needs to open and close a gate. Amanzimtoti, with a 3km run on the beach and Thousand Hills which is extremely difficult are also some highlights for Johan.
