A 250 Milestone is a Big Thing — But the Journey was Massive!
Nine years, 250 parkruns and six countries later — from a half-remembered New Year's resolution at Naval Hill to a milestone run among friends at Durbanville.
On Saturday, 9 December 2023, I was privileged to join a group of friends (some of them also parkrun Ambassadors) at the scenic Durbanville parkrun in the Western Cape for my 250th parkrun.
It was a tough decision not to do it at Heidedal parkrun, where our Event Director, Rudolf Hoffman ran his 250th parkrun just an hour earlier! Congratulations, Rudolf! This makes us the first two from Heidedal to reach this milestone and join the handful of other parkrunners in Bloemfontein that have been able to achieve this milestone.
My 250 parkrun milestone was just shy of 9 years since I did my first parkrun on 3 January 2015. I had no idea on that day how parkrun would change my life! But Rudolf’s T-shirt on Saturday as he did his milestone run at Heidedal gives a hint!
Exactly how I got to Naval Hill parkrun on that first Saturday in 2015, I cannot remember anymore. Maybe it was a New Year’s Resolution, maybe it was word of mouth. I do remember that I had to stop running for a while after a back injury and that maybe it was time to get on the road again.
I continued parkrunning on and off during 2015, also doing the odd parkrun in Port Elizabeth when away for work, and then stayed away in 2016 as work pressures, life in general and poor mental health were taking its toll. And then I got back to parkrunning in all earnest towards the middle of 2017 at Naval Hill parkrun when I realised I had to get back into the habit to do regular exercise.
Around that time, Heidedal parkrun had also started up and at the back of my mind I was considering to change my home run to there, even though it was a bit further from my home.
On the 13th of January 2018 I visited Heidedal parkrun for the first time, and I was immediately hooked on the event! Everybody was incredibly welcoming and one just felt so at home!
I did visit the then Langenhovenpark parkrun as well, as well as continued to do the odd parkrun in the Eastern Cape whilst away on work. By then the parkrun gogga had bitten in all earnest and missing a parkrun on a Saturday was just not the done thing!
Although I had done a few other parkrun locations by then, it mostly happened by accident. And then on 28 April 2018 a companion bug bit … visiting other parkruns on purpose! I left very early for Vaal Marina parkrun, alongside the Vaal Dam, and met Bruce Fordyce for the first time. I was totally starstruck, but I don’t think Bruce remembers because he was taking pictures with every living soul, gently smiling and posing without a break!
It was the first time I had attended the launch of a new event, and it was incredibly exciting. These days, of course, we do not encourage parkrun tourists to attend each and every inaugural, but the first run at a new event remains a very exciting experience for me!
It was also there that I heard about the phenomenon of the parkrun tourist! By then, there were only a handful of Uber tourists with the neon yellow caps (the Windgatte who have done 100 different Southern African events - such as Bruce is wearing in the photo above) and still relatively few (just about a thousand) with the orange caps (those who have done 20 different events and made it onto the parkrun Most Events page on the website - that requirement is now 30 events). I was hooked!
I continued running regularly at Heidedal parkrun but also visiting new events as and when possible. It was very exciting!
And so a journey across our beautiful country started, and later even outside our borders!
I also started to volunteer at Heidedal parkrun regularly, an activity that I have grown to love and find incredibly rewarding.
Shortly after that it was my first milestone celebration (by then the 25 parkrun milestone was not yet in place) when I ran my 50th parkrun at Heidedal parkrun’s 1st anniversary celebrations! What a special day and place!
I continued volunteering, and it wasn’t long after that I had to move very much outside my comfort zone and I was Run Director for the first time!
On 17 November 2018, I visited my 20th different event location at nearby Kimberley parkrun. It was an incredibly hot day, but who cared if the sweat was streaming off your face! I got my orange cap!
Of course, that was not the end of it. Once you got to 20 events, there was the added motivation of just maybe, one day, reaching that elusive 100 locations and the Windgat cap! But that was a long term goal, with Bloemfontein being a bit remote.
On 25 December 2018 I reached what I still consider my most rewarding and special milestone when I volunteered for the 25th time at Heidedal parkrun. It was also the first time that we did a Christmas parkrun in Bloemfontein. It was a very special event, even though attendance was relatively small and a great way to start the day with the parkrun family before spending the day with family and friends. The Christmas Day special event was changed to Freedom Day in 2020, although we could only have our first Freedom Day event two years later.
I had also started to volunteer at other events as I was visiting them, and the voluntouring bug bit in all earnest. I call it my adventeering index - and have so far volunteered at 57 different parkrun locations in 5 countries.
January of 2019 saw us doing the first New Year’s Day Double parkrun in Bloemfontein in conjunction with Naval Hill parkrun, and we were able to still one more double with Langenhovenpark the next year after which the doubles were discontinued due to safety concerns.
On 11 May 2019, I reached my next big running milestone - 100 parkruns! It was a huge day for me and just a week before Heidedal parkrun’s 2nd anniversary.
I was on my way to Namibia to visit my homeland for a few weeks and to parkrun in Swakopmund and Walvis Bay. And, oh boy, I was on fire as I ran my best parkrun time ever at Walvisbay on 25 May 2018 — a time that is still my PB to this day! I have managed to get close a few times, but it still stands! But for a relatively old toppie, who only started running late in life, to be able to achieve that was something out of this world!
And so a habit of regularly parkrunning, whether at home or away, was cemented. I met the most incredible people along the way, and parkrun continues to enrich my life every single day.
I cannot begin to list everybody that made an indelible mark on my parkrun journey, but they include people like Bruce and Gill Fordyce, Gillian Findlay, Chris Reeler, Tracy Rankin, Madz Loots, Jabulani Mkhize, Harley Allkins, Doris Dondur, Ridwaan Fakir, Leighanne Imbert, Trevor Doyle, Diane Vosloo, Karen Koch, Linda Lanz, Wilna van Emmenis and Mary Langebrink to name but a few!
I was also incredibly privileged to do parkruns in Germany and Italy in December 2019 on a trip to visits friends in the Netherlands (where parkrun only started in February 2020 unfortunately).
As I returned to South Africa at the end of 2019, there was already reports of some strange illness starting to ravage Italy. I did not pay much attention to it, except having my recent visit to Italy in the back of my mind, and arrived back in Johannesburg just in time for another (and the last) New Year’s Double parkrun at Roodepoort and Delta parkrun.
By the beginning of March 2020, it was obvious that the world was in turmoil. People were becoming anxious and on Saturday, 14 March 2020 we ran our last parkruns for a very long time, because a few days later parkruns worldwide were cancelled due to the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic. Two week’s later we were in lockdown - probably one of the darkest times for us a human collective in a very long time.
We could not even exercise during the initial hard lockdown - it was absolute hell. But our “suffering” paled against that of the loss of life that hit our country and the world in the coming weeks…
Our third birthday at Heidedal parkrun was celebrated from a distance, as we were still confined to our homes largely.
In June of 2020, parkrun introduced (not)parkrun to allow parkrunners to log their 5km home exercises until we could return to our beloved parkrun events. Even though the lockdown is now long past, a dedicated bunch of parkrunners are still continuing their (not)parkruns to this day! This past weekend, I had already done 1265 (not)parkruns. And in the process, I had met the most incredible parkrun people who supported each other remotely during the pandemic.
Towards the middle of 2021, parkrun slowly started returning to some of the more remote locations in South Africa until at long last, on 9 October 2021, Heidedal parkrun got the green light to start operating again under the COVID framework. What a joy it was to be be active again at our favourite event!
Slowly we were able to return to a sense of relative normality and on 27 April 2022 we were able to host our first Freedom Day parkruns in South Africa. It was a very special day as it celebrated not just our national Freedom, but also the return to largely a normal life. We made it as colourful a day as possible at Hart & Bosch Village parkrun where I was on holiday.
During lockdown I had also begin to listen more frequently to some of the available parkrun podcasts to keep a sense of community (and maybe even a bit sane!). There were three main parkrun podcasts at that time: the parkrun supported Free, Weekly Timed and independent With Me Now based in the UK and parkrun Adventurers based in Australia. Especially the latter made a lot of effort to include listeners from other parts of the world, more so during the lockdown period.
Early in 2022, I was interviewed by co-host of parkrun Adventurers, Melissa Ellis, following an email I had written to the show. We recorded at 5am local time, when it was already early evening in Victoria. At the end of the interview, me soaked to the bone in sweat, Mel suggested I consider doing roving reports from South Africa. I thought the woman was stark raving mad! But a seed was planted, and in March 2022 I sent a test recording from Weaver’s Country Estate parkrun just so she could have a listen — and it was included in the show!
Following that, I started to report for the podcast regularly, especially when visiting remote and interesting parkrun locations and meeting people with amazing parkrun stories.
On 22 October 2022 I reported from Delta parkrun’s 500th event and it was such an honour to interview some of the people that had run at the very first parkrun event in South Africa, such as Dieter Meyer (now from Kimberley) who also ran his 500th parkrun that day!
I also had my first big scoop later that day when I was able to interview Bruce and Gill Fordyce. I was planning for the interview to last about 15 minutes, but it turned out to go on for 45 minutes! Another one that is is worth a relisten!
At the end of episode 309, there was also a huge surprise! I had made it to the pool of regular contributors of the podcast, known as the Channel 5 News Crew! An absolute delight - and I was so surprised that I almost forgot to look where I was driving and nearly left the highway!
The podcast has a regular yearly listener meet-up called palm (“parkrun adventurers listener meet-up”) and I was very fortunate to be able to join the palm23 event in Australia this year, also taking the opportunity to tour a bit of the massive country and of course running a parkrun or two in some very remote places.
But, I am getting ahead of myself a bit! More about palm23and Australia a bit later.
Towards the middle of 2022, I was approached by parkrun SA to consider being a parkrun Ambassador. I had very little idea of what this would entail, but ended up saying yes and it has been a very enriching experience to be so closely involved with initially two new events being launched. The first event was Zastron Commons parkrun that launched on 21 January 2023, followed shortly after by Seotlong Agriculture School parkrun on 25 February 2023. It was hard work, but I am incredibly happy that both these events are now settled and despite the initial bump or two is (park)running smoothly.
My initial brief was to oversee the launch of 5 new parkruns, sometimes a very long and slow process, as dealing with landowners and municipalities can take a while. Some of the proposed events were then put on hold and my portfolio then had some of the existing events added. I now also have the pleasure of looking after Heidedal, Senekal, Welkom, Kroonstad, Sandriver (Virginia), Bethlehem, Ficksburg, Clarens and Ventersburg (now paused) parkruns. Some of these parkruns are in the most beautiful part of our country!
Just before leaving for Australia, I also had the pleasure to join for the first Southern African parkrun Ambassador’s conference in Gauteng after COVID. It was such an amazing experience to meet some of the leadership from parkrun Global, as well as the parkrun SA management with virtually all the Regional and Event Ambassadors in attendance!
I also had the opportunity to do a brief interview with the CEO of parkrun Global, Russ Jefferys where he shared some thoughts on parkrun’s new 5 Year Strategy to make the world a healthier, happier place.
And then I was off to Australia for an amazing adventure. During the little bit less than a month I was able to spend there, I visited 5 territories: Tasmania, New South Wales, South Australia, the Northern Territory and Western Australia. I was able to do four official parkruns and managed to do freedom runs (unofficial parkruns) at another 14 events across the length and breath of this amazing country. All four of the parkruns had something special going for them:
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Queens Domain parkrun, Hobart, Tasmania - I finally got my Q for the Alphabet Challenge!
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Coober Pedy parkrun, South Australia - one of the most remote parkrun in Australia and I did my first podcast recording outside Africa!
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University of Western Australia parkrun, Perth - venue for the palm23 live recording (more about that a bit later) and my best age graded performance ever!
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South Beach Recreation Reserve parkrun, Freemantle - I finally got that South for the Compass Challenge and almost managed to miss parkrun by getting off the wrong station!
It was such an awesome experience to meet all the people that have become friends via the podcast at palm23. At the live recording after parkrun at the UWA parkrun, the other new members of the Channel 5 News Crew and myself were presented with my “journalist credentials” by Tony O’Connell - so exciting!
It was tremendous fun to join the event and also meet all the wonderful people from Down Under - including my alter ego from Tasmania, Steve Warwick. We got mistaken for each other quite a few times!
I had also this year started to run with some of my dogs most mornings and especially the tripod Africanus, Levi, has joined me frequently at parkruns when possible - he absolutely adores running at parkrun!
parkrun has really opened the door to so many wonderful experiences, places and people during the almost 9 years I have participated. I cannot begin to express my gratitude to the fantastic volunteers, sponsors and employees of parkrun worldwide that makes our Saturdays such a thing to look forward to!
Some other highlights were of course when I had eventually managed to join the Cowell club (100 different events worldwide) and attain Windgat status (100 Southern African parkruns).
In the meantime, another very addictive parkrun pass-time became very popular. It was started by a webpage extension called “Running Challenges” which gamified certain tourist and parkrun achievements. This was followed by apps such as the popular Running Achievements and the 5K app. As if parkrun wasn’t fun enough! LOL
Your parkrun barcode can take you to 22 countries, and I have been lucky to visit these 6 so far:
Volunteering remains a very rewarding part of my parkrun journey and even though to volunteer is completely up to each parkrunner, it is incredibly important that we all give a hand now and then. But most importantly, it is such an enriching and fulfilling experience!
You can walk, jog or run at parkrun, and there is no pressure to be fast … but it it is still nice to beat your own achievements and set a personal record or two!
The prApp shows some very interesting stats about one’s parkrun journey in comparison to the total parkrun population.
Links of interest
Podcasts
Extensions & Apps
This post first appeared on Heidedal parkrun —read the original.