PETER GIDDY.: 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.