Who’s who in the zoo

From lemurs sunbathing in the early morning light to curious giraffes and crocodiles, the animals at Johannesburg Zoo were treated to the spectacle of 6 000 humans running past their enclosures at the Rockies Gerald Fox Memorial Race.

Bestial calls grew silent over the course of the morning on 15 September as the chatter of families and sounds of shoes on pavement grew louder.

While the monthly Zoo Trot sees something similar, the scale of this run was much greater and this time it was the animals gawking at people.

The event included a 21.1km half marathon, 10km run and 5km fun run. The 10km also had a separate event for race walkers on the same route.

“All went well and the runners gave positive feedback on the race,” said Saul Levin, race director of the host running club, Rocky Road Runners.

“Our biggest challenge was the introduction of a new route for the fun run. We learnt a few lessons on how to improve things and will be looking at an improved experience for runners next year.”

Lucky Mohale would have impressed the cheetahs with his speed, winning the 10km run in 00:31:36. Farida Zwane was the first woman home in 00:39:22.

Mbongeni Ngxazozo won the half marathon in 1:07:40, with the first woman to cross the line being Jennifer Koech in 1:24:05.

Many runners still had energy afterwards to take advantage of their day pass at the zoo and spent hours walking around looking at the enclosures.

The run was the fourth and final event in the Discovery Vitality Run Series.

Rockies will open registration for next year’s run in June.

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8 000 to be on the streets of Saxonwold, Parkwood and Forest Town on 15 September