Golden Reef Running Club’s chairperson, Cassie Carstens, has finally reached his 100th Park Run milestone. He did so after five years at the Florida Park Run. It took longer than usual for the runner to reach the total, because his race schedule often conflicted with that of the Park Run.
“That’s because I normally competed in races on Saturday mornings and I could not always take part in the Park Run.
But over the last few years, that has changed as I don’t compete in races as much. I enjoy the Park Runs a lot more because I’m not getting any younger and I don’t have to get up early. With a race, usually we wake up in the wee hours of the morning to get to race venues and be registered.”
Although Cassie has taken part at the Florida Park Run in Len Rutter Park numerous times, he has also enjoyed participating in Park Runs all over Johannesburg.
“I’ve done a few in Johannesburg such as at Golden Harvest in Northgate, Gillooly’s in Germiston and Alberts Farm in Northcliff, and did one in Oudtshoorn too. It’s an excellent way of staying fit. No pressure like in races, it’s just to have fun. The way that I look at it, the 100 came quicker than a permanent number in races. To get a permanent number at events such as Comrades, you need to complete 10 races which will take a minimum of 10 years. It only took me five years to achieve the Park Run milestone, but obviously that’s because there are more than 50 Saturdays in a year,” he said.
Cassie has ten permanent numbers for different marathon events such as Comrades, Two Oceans, Om die Dam and City 2 City. Even though there is no permanent number in park runs, Cassie rates reaching 100 runs at the same level as those he has permanent numbers in.
“It means that much to me. The next milestone I’m looking forward to is 250 Park Runs. At Park Runs, you can walk your dog, or push a baby in a pram. The concept Bruce Fordyce had when he introduced park runs was to get people fit while having fun. And more importantly – it’s free.”
Cassie’s plan, besides reaching 250 events, is to ease off and run less as he has reached most of his goals in running.
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