Athlete development gets a facelift

The board members of the running club are professional runners who wanted to start a club that was in line with their needs. “We wanted a young, trendy and high technology club that is in line with today’s generation of athletes and Sandton seems to be the right place to have that,” said Ann Ashworth, a senior associate at Werksmans Attorneys in Sandton and a Born2Run board member.

“We are just a group of young professionals who really love running. Our aim is to identify young talent at grass roots level and groom them from good to great,” she added. The club wants to cater for social and elite athletes, merging the two under one roof to maximise the development of all athletes.

Ashworth said, “We started thinking about the club in July and by September we had 700 athletes and we were ordering 1 000 vests. I think professional athletes like the developmental aspect of it all. People like to feel like they’re giving back and that’s a good thing and it is very positive.”

The club’s board members are excited about the venture and overwhelmed by the support. Fellow board member Megan Mackenzi is looking forward to introducing more runners to the adventure that comes with trail running.

“This is an indicator that there are a lot of other runners just like us that want to get involved in the development of SA athletics,” said Ashworth.

Born2Run board member David Ashworth added, “We’ve all been in the running circle for so long so we know what is going on and this club seeks to bring the best possible opportunities for athletes.”

Details: www.born2RunAC.co.za.