Amanzimtoti runner Margaret Botes (58) completed her 100th parkrun on Saturday, 16 July.
Parkrun started in 2004 in the UK and Bruce Fordyce introduced it to SA in 2011.
The Amanzimtoti event was launched in August 2014 by event director, Claudine Farr. There are currently 81 parkruns that take place each weekend in South Africa and 840 worldwide.
It is a free event to promote sport, health and wellbeing among all members of the community and is suitable for participants of all fitness levels. Participants can run or walk the 5km route along the promenade and on the sand at Toti main beach, which starts at 8am every Saturday. Margaret has only missed five Amanzimtoti parkruns since its inception. “I volunteered for three, attended a Durban parkrun and ran the 1,000 Hills Challenge,” said Margaret.
“What I love about parkrun is the people getting together. It is a very festive vibe. If it wasn’t for Claudine and her volunteers there every Saturday marshalling, there wouldn’t be a parkrun. I’m really appreciative of what they do.”
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Margaret is a member of Eskom Gijimas Running Club in Pietermaritzburg.
She was born in Middelburg in the Western Cape and lived in Durban, but moved to Toti four years ago.
She was originally a walker, but changed to running. “It’s a funny story why I started walking,” she said. “A friend asked me to walk with her in the old Guard Bank event from Lion’s Park to Durban. I said to her are you mad? I said I would wait for her at the end. While we waited for her to finish, I said to my husband Frikkie I wanted to do it. The next day I started walking.”
It didn’t take long for the bug to bite and Margaret was soon entering events and winning titles. She earned her KZN colours eight years ago for masters athletics.
She completed a Durban to Cape Town charity walk for abused women in 2007. “We walked non-stop in the day and night for 15 days,” she said. “We had to run a total of 30km a day, 15km in the day and 15km in the night. In between we had to take turns driving the support vehicle, catch up on our sleep, eat, shower and do our washing.”
She also did a Namaqualand challenge of completing 30km a day for 10 consecutive days in the early 2000s. She completed two Comrades Marathons in 2006 and 2007, one ultra Two Oceans and four 21km Two Oceans runs.
In 2010 and 2011 she tackled the Midmar Mile successfully.
My goal now is to complete my 250th parkrun, which should be in about two-and-a-half years’ time
“My goal now is to complete my 250th parkrun, which should be in about two-and-a-half years’ time,” said Margaret. “People should do a parkrun just to get together and meet new people and get active. It’s only 5km and you can take your dog with. It’s lovely. It’s amazing how many new people you will meet there.”
To find out more about parkrun and to register go to www.parkrun.co.za. Like the Amanzimtoti parkrun Facebook page for news and event photos. To keep in touch with news, the Twitter handle is @Totiparkrun.
To volunteer, contact Claudine via email at amanzimtotidirector@parkrun.com.
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