PE HOBIE BEACH PARKRUN #2 17 AUGUST 2013

PARKRUN AT HOBIE BEACH IN PORT ELIZABETH.

There's a wind a blowing all accros the land
Fragrant breeze of Heaven, Blowing once again
Dont know where it comes from
Dont  know where it goes; let it blow over me.
Oh, sweet wind, come blow over me.

Theres a rain a Pouring, Showers from above.
Mercy drops are coming. Mercy drops of Love
Turn your face to Heaven
Let the water pour, let it pour over me.
Oh sweet rain, come pour over me.
.

Theres a fire a burning, falling from the sky.
Awesome tonguess of fire, consuming you and I
Can you feel it burning
Burn the sacrifcie. let it burn over me
Oh, sweet fire, come and burn over me.

It was a cold and windy morning with smattering of reain early on. This brought the beautiful chorus to my mind this morning.

Catherine has captured some of the images that you can expect to see if you come down to PE Hobie Beach Parkrun on a Saturday Morning. It is a 5k walk run that starts at 8am every Saturday Morning. There are no medals and no prizes. And no cost. Register on line and bring your barcode and you will receive a time and place each week. After 50 parkruns you will even receive a commemorative running shirt.

Oyster Catcher pecking at the rocks for tasty morsels.

The pier at Hobie beach taken from Pollock Rocks

 

This morning there was a strong West wind. This tends to flatten the sea but also creates these dumper waves at Pollock beach.

Waves crash against Bird Rock with the view of the city in the background

PE HOBIE BEACH PARKRUN #2


This morning was quite different from the first PE Hobie Beach Parkrun. The wind had been blowing a chilly westerly all night. There were smatterings of rain and so staying in bed would have been quite attractive to many people.

However the best thing about meeting friends on the run is that it is not as easy to bail as if you were going on your own. I collected Adrienne and we met Mike; Neil; Stuart; Warren and John on the beach front. It is a 5;30am start. Still dark, cold and a slight smatter of rain is falling. Despite this we feel blessed to be able to be out and running.

We started off into the Westerly. We all had long sleeve tops and put our heads down into the wind and made our way up the promenade. We passed by Humewood beach where a motorist must have tried, without success, to drive on the pavement. Then past Mc Arthur Baths where last night's party was still in progress. As we came up Humewood road to Virgin Active it started to rain and so we pressed on up Walmer Boulevard, not too much talking, just trying to reach the top of the hill. Each time we run past the old church -- Mike reminds us of the tree where he had an argument with a branch some weeks ago. Stuart promises to remove it.

We continue up Walmer Boulevard to Third Ave and turn left past the airport. Stop for a drink of water and then have the luxury of running with the wind all the way to Strandfontein road, down second avenue and then along Erasmus drive to 5th ave. It is only when we reach the promenade again that we have a short run into the wind again. Adrienne and I swim. It is our tradition. Adrienne had been winging a bit earlier but I think that was due to the fact that she was out at a dinner late last evening. Got to be around 1am? We were all impressed that she was on the run this mor


PE HOBIE BEACH PARKRUN
I meet up with Rosalind and do some placing of Cones on the Parkrun Route. We have a brief talk to Eckhart who is organising his event from Pollock beach. He has a 10 and 5k event and we both agree that we have the same goals so will work in Harmony.

Parkrun team of Pauline and Rosalind. Happy to see the runners turn out in the chilly wind at Hobie Beach parkrun.


Meanwhile the rest of our group go for Coffee at the Filling station. We then meet at the start for the start of the second parkrun. Rosalind announces the route and explains a bit about the event and then we all set off. Today there is a much smaller group of us. Cold wind; No Bruce Fordyce and less hype. But those of us who are there are determined to enjoy ourselves. The sun makes its way through the clouds and we begin to warm up. Stuart and I run together. Adrienne is just behind us. We pass a couple of people doing the Pollock Beach event but there is no clash and the marshalls for their event are quite helpful.

 

 Stuart and run stick to the hard sand as we make our way to First Pipe

 Parkrunners coming from the beacon; past Second Pipe and along the beach to Pollock Rocks

Peter and Stuart had to work hard to keep up with this Grade Three Grey boy

Stuart looks strong as we make our way back up to the Something Good Parking lot.


Along the promenade to the beacon, down to the beach, over the two Pollock Beach Pipes and then we jog along the hard sand to Pollock Rocks. Here Catherine Sweetnam is marshalling, Actually she is taking some awesome pics of the beach and the runners. Stuart and I jog the last bit to the parking area together. Adrienne is right behind us. Burt Sweetnam and Shane had been up front. John and Warren bring Elmarie in with them. Elmarie had run the Pollock Beach Ten K in 53 minutes starting at 7am and then sprinted down to Hobie beach to make sure that she finished her second parkrun.

 

 Elmarie keeps the men on their toes. John and Warren seem to be happy to be on the beach this morning.

 Here comes Ron and his group.

 Peter and Stuart on Pollock Beach.

Lyn is warmly dressed for the parkrun. As the sun came out it became quite warm this morning.

Lyn and Ron take part in their first parkrun and seem to have enjoyed the event and the concept.


Rosalind tells me that I used to run with her father: Anthony Wilson. I remember him from some years ago. He has now moved to CT and Rosalind tells me that Anthony still runs Marathons. Their friend, Ray is doing the scanning and data capture job. It is Ray's birthday today.

Ron looks relaxed

 Adrienne finishes her second parkrun at Hobie Beach this Saturday Morning

Ron strides along Pollock Beach

 Pauline and Rosalind celebrating Ray's Birthday with their success on Hobie Beach.

Burt Sweetnam and Adrienne. Adrienne shows off the Hunks that she meets on the beach doing the PE Hobie Beach parkrun.

 

 Warren, John and Elmarie finishing their second parkrun

Lyn has her barcode ready to hand over to Ray to be scanned.\

Ron looks very happy as he completes his first parkrun

Warren; John and Elmarie. Elmarie has run the 10kay in 53 minutes and then sprinted to Hobie beach to complete her second parkrun.

After the event I drop Adrienne, Julia collects the tent and camping stuff. She plans a night at Addo. We hope that she does not get blown away. I go to watch Jessica playing Hockey at Clarendon Park. They have a match against Westering. Jessica plays a good game and is part of the success of the Clarendon team who win 2;1.

Jessica is part of the Clarendon Park second team that beats Westering.

 

 Jessica plays a strong game this morning and here she attacks the goal.

Ally returns from the hairdresser to be with the Pearson supporters cheering on the First Team to victory

The Pearson boys and girls at Westering school are a solid team of supporters.



I then pay a quick visit to Pastryworks where I meet Sheryl (Ralph's wife) and purchase some nice stuff. Off to Westering school where I meet Andrew and Catherine and other Pearson Parents. We watch the Pearson vs Westering rugby. Pearson have a shakey start. The game is mainly in their quarter and they have to work hard to prevent a try being scored. But for most of the rest of the game Pearson dominate. They score one after another breakaway try and the score is strongly in favour of Pearson at full time. Barbara and Ally had joined me and Barbara goes to visit Gail.

Ally and I go back home where we make ourselves a meal. I warm us some Pastryworks Spinach and Feta Quiche and Ally has some Spagetti Boglonaise. Later this evening Ally has her last Academy Hockey match at Gelvandale. They play Old Victoria Park where Beth Hechter and Simone Upman and Shannon Bradford are part of the team. We sit on the balcony with the parent group; shout encouragement and enjoy some beverages to ward off the cold wind. Later Ally has a birthday party and a sleep over. Barbara and I were to go to Nicky Roote's wedding celebration but it is just too late so we apologise.

A wonderful view of Hobie beach and the city

This is PORT ELIZABETH where you can run the PE Hobie Beach parkrun on Saturday Mornings at 8am. What a TREAT.  

 

We receive this email during the week:

 

 

looks like parkrun is receiving good exposure.

 

 

small to read but Adrienne has not the honour of first lady in age category

PARKRUN AT HOBIE BEACH SATURDAY 10 AUGUST 2013 WITH THE MILL PARK RUNNING GROUP

SATURDAY 10 AUGUST 2013.

PORT ELIZABETH FIRST PARKRUN AT HOBIE BEACH.

 

For our little running group we start the Saturday morning as we often do: Collect Adrienne at just after 5am; meet up with the group at Hobie Beach. This is an informal group of runners and walkers who love the PE Beach front and who enjoy the company of other runners for an early morning start. Running at this time is not for everyone but for us it suits us well as we then have the rest of the day ahead of us for our various acitivities and committments.

 

 

SUNDAY EVENING WE SANG THIS SONG

This explains how I feel on this Saturday

 

"I see your face in every sunrise

The colours of the morning are inside your eyes

The world awakens at the light of the day

I look up to the sky and say:

You're beautiful

Oh -- You're beautiful"

 

 

Saturday morning we did our normal Beach front run. Joining us this morning were: Stuart; Adrienne; Annie; Pat and Ronel; Elmarie; Mike and Neil. We did the loop up to the Airport and back via Strandfontein Road and then down 5th Ave Summerstrand to the beach front where we caught up with John and Gerald who had walked. I took some blurry photos in the early morning coming down 5th Ave towards the rising sun.

Stuart; Adrienne; Pat and Elmarie

On the promenade with the morning sun behind us are Annie; Adrienne; Peter; Neil; John; Stuart; Elmarie; Pat; Ronel; Mike. Gerald.  

 

 

Elmarie meets up with John and Gerald on the promenade

 Group photo with a rising sun behind us.

 

ELMARIE CONCENTRATES AS BRUCE GIVES DETAILED INSTRUCTIONS REGARDING THE PARKRUN. PERHAPS THIS WILL INSPIRE ELMARIE TO RUN COMRADES WITH BRUCE?

 

 After our Saturday morning run Adrienne and I had a swim; Pat arranged Tea and Coffee with Rusks and then we joined the inaugural Park Run at Hobie Beach. The run was organised by Pauline and Rosalind Wilson. Bob Norris and Bruce Fordyce came to the run to assist with the launch. As it turned out this morning was a perfect morning for a run.

 

The whole atmosphere of the parkrun is relaxed and informal. We start off in front of the Clubhouse and jog down towards Summerstrand and Something Good. Here we circle around the parking area and rejoin the promenade behind the Summies clubhouse. We jog towards the Lollipop Beacon where we are directed onto the beach. Ronel is just ahead of me and (though I did not realise it at the time) Elmarie is just behind me.

 

We run along the beach past the Pipe. This Section is a familiar run for me as I have done it many times with the Nippers training on Sunday Mornings. We wave to the rest of our group who as making thier way along the route past the Surfers Parking lot.  I join up with Ronel when she waits for me. We climb back on to the walkway at Pollock Rocks and run the last section back to Hobie Beach.

 

 I have to try hard to keep up with Ronel. Ron and Lyn are on the beach with Ron doing some aerobic antics. We finish the run back on the grassy patch just in front of the Blue Waters Cafe. Bruce took part in the event while Bob has an injury and was taking times. There are two Time Keepers and a bar code scanner at the finish. We had preregistered and printed out our Bar Codes which we brought along. It is a requisit for Parkrunners to have barcodes to allow the finishing times and number of runs to be recorded.

 

Bob tells me that this has been the second biggest number of runners for a Parkrun start up in SA. Around the world there are now 23 countries taking part and in SA we have 19 parkruns starting at 8am every Saturday morning. And already we have something like over 20 000 registered parkrunners. This morning we were about 170 finishing. I received an email on Sunday morning telling me that my time was 28;33. After the run and after a short chat with Bob regarding starting a second PE Parkrun, I joined Adrienne and John at Blue waters for a coffee. We met up with Burt and Catherine; Ironmen both of them.

 

 

 

Here are our two Running Legends: Gerald and Bruce at Hobie Beach. I think that Gerald has completed 25 Comrades Marathons and Bruce, after winning 9 of these grueling events is now planning to run his 30th Comrades marathon (90km of KZN hills between Durban and Pietermaritzburg). Gerald; I apologise that my shadow shields your face in this pic.

Bruce Fordyce and two lovely ladies; Georgea Muller and Jackie Strydom. These two girls have recently joined the MPRG and took part in this mornings activity on the Parkrun.

Bruce gives instructions explaining what the parkrun is all about. He is wearing a 50Parkrun T-Shirt. He has run 72 parkruns around the world and every SA park run. Bruce is the main coordinator of Park Runs in SA and was interested to hear that Gerald and Pat had bar codes originating from Bushy Park in the UK where Parkruns started. Pat and Gerald will leaving for UK in three weeks to visit John and Lisa and little Emily. They plan to take part in Local Park runs.

After the run Jackie and Georgea relax on the steps

Here is evidence of the Bushy park bar codes with Gerald; Pat; Bruce and Peter.

 Georgea; Bruce and Jackie

 

 

 

Here is our group with Bruce on the promenade at the Hobie Beach Parkrun.

 

Pat had a good run and finishes strongly on the promenade.

Susan Burri joined us for the Parkrun. She finished with a run and was looking really strong.

Proof that Georgea and Jackie took part in the run. They look like they must have had a marvelous time on the run.

Here comes the MPRG; John; Annie; Gerald; Adrienne; and Peter DC who also joined in with the fun with Karrin.  

One of the nice things about the Parkruns is that there is no Cut Off. Everyone who completes the 5k is considered to be a finisher. The rules are simple, the route is the same each week. The start time is 8am every Saturday morning. Registration is easy, on-line and is valid for any city in the world where there is a parkrun.

 

 

 

AND SO FINISHES THE MPRG. WELL DONE TEAM

 

 

GERALD NEEDS A WARM TOP AND BEANY ON THIS SUNNY MORNING

 

ADRIENNE FINDS SOMETHING SO VERY FUNNY

JOHN AND ANNIE FINISHING THE PARKRUN

 

 

 

SUSAN FINISHING THE PARKRUN. THIS IS AN AMAZING COMEBACK FOR SUSAN AND WE HOPE TO SEE MORE OF HER. LAST WEEK GERALD AND SUSAN WALKED AND HERE SHE IS RUNNING TODAY.

 

BRUCE AND PETER DISCUSSING IMPORTANT STUFF

BRUCE GIVES PETER'S HEAD A RUB

 

THE MPRG AT THE HOBIE BEACH PARKRUN. PETER; RONEL; SUSAN; PAT; ELMARIE AND ADRIENNE

 

BRUCE AND PAULINE EXPLAIN THE CONCEPT OF PARKRUNNING

 

 

LOOKING TOTALLY LOST. WHERE IS THE FINISH?

 

 

BOARDWALK HOTEL IN THE BACKGROUND

 

 

LOOK WHAT I HAVE. A BAR CODE. THAT MAKES ME A LEGIT PARKRUNNER.

 

ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS TO HAND THIS CARD IN AT THE FINISH OF FIVE KAY AND YOU WILL RECEIVE YOUR TIME AND POSITIONS WITH IN A DAY.

 

ELMARIE AND RONEL ENJOYING THE MOMENT WITH BRUCE

 

 ADRIENNE AND PAT (BIRTHDAY GIRL) ARE ALL SMILES TO BE HUGGED BY BRUCE LIKE THIS

ROSALIND ENCOURAGES RONEL AS SHE FINISHES HER FIRST EVER PARKRUN

 

DAVID GLOVER HAD A GOOD RUN THIS MORNING. GERALD LETS BRUCE KNOW: "NO... DOESNT MATTER HOW MANY YOU ARE GOING TO DO -- I HAVE DONE 25 COMRADES AND THAT IS THAT!"

 THIS IS THE HOBIE BEACH PARK RUN TEAM OF BRUCE; ROSALIND; BOB; PAULINE AND .......

ROSALIND AND PAULINE: YOU HAVE GOOD CAUSE TO SMILE AFTER THE AMAZING SUCCESS OF YOUR PARKRUN LAUNCH.

 PETER; GERALD; ANNIE AND JOHN COMPLETE THEIR FIRST PARKRUN. GERALD HAS, OF COURSE, DONE THE BUSHY PARK PARKRUN WHEN HE VISITED JOHN AND LISA LAST YEAR.

ELMARIE; BRUCE AND RONEL AT THE HOBIE BEACH PARKRUN 10TH AUGUST 2013

 

 

I'M GETTING MARRIED IN THE MORNING. SO GET ME TO THE CHURCH ON TIME!

 SINGING IN THE SUN WITH JACKIE AND GEORGEA COMING IN AT THE BACK

SUSAN. AN AMAZING ATHLETE. COMPLETED OVER 20 TWO OCEANS. NOW JUST AS DELIGHTED TO HAVE BEEN PART OF THE PE PARKRUN

HAVE YOU EVER SEEN GEORGEA HAPPIER? AND LOOK AT THE SMILE ON JACKIES FACE. WELL DONE GIRLS

 

 PETER ADMIRING THE NUMBER 50 ON THE BACK OF BRUCE'S SHIRT.

 AND THE WAY TO GET TO 50 RUNS ( AND THIS SPECIAL T SHIRT) IS TO CONCENTRATE ON PARKRUNS.

 ROSALIND HANDING OUT THE FINISH NUMBERS AND CONGRATULATING EACH FINISHER.

 PETER SPRINTS IN AT THE FINISH. JUST BEHIND RONEL.

 AND HERE COMES BRUCE. THESE PICS ARE DEFINITELY NOT IN FINISHING SEQUENCE.

A SATISFIED ROSALIND BEING CONGRATULATED BY OUR EASTERN CAPE COORDINATOR -- BOB NORRIS.

 

AND THE RUNNERS ARE OFF. 8AM ON SATURDAY MORNING AT HOBIE BEACH. SEE IFYOU CAN SPOT JACKIE AND GEORGEA.

 

 

 ROSALIND GIVING INSTRUCTIONS AT THE START OF THE EVENT

LOOK WHAT YOU WILL EARN IF YOU COMPLETE 50 PARKRUNS. A T SHIRT WITH A 50 ON THE BACK. CANNOT TAKE YOU LESS THAN A YEAR AS THE PARKRUNS ARE ALL ON SATURDAYS AND ALL START AT 8AM.

HELLOOOOOO! CAN YOU HEAR ME THERE IN THE BACK?
ON YOUR MARKS --- GO!

LOOK HOW ENTHUSIASTIC ANNIE LOOKS!

 

 

 PARKRUN TEAM.

LESLIE BOSHOFF LOOKING OH SO IMPORTANT.