Times Of Swaziland: MBABANE PARKRUN  TURNS 200 ON SATURDAY

MBABANE PARKRUN  TURNS 200 ON SATURDAY
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Sanele Jele on 24/01/2023 08:23:00


MBABANE – The Mbabane parkrun will this Saturday celebrate its 200th run.
This was disclosed by one of the parkrun organisers, Lean Drinkwater, yesterday.
“On Saturday we will be having our 200th parkrun which is a huge milestone for
local parkrun,” said Drinkwater. The 5km run is staged every Saturday and it
starts and finishes at the Mbabane Club. It is run over the rolling lush green
hills of the Mbabane Golf Course. The first edition of the parkrun was on May 6,
2017. During its launch, the weekly 5km timed run attracted 128 runners. The
overall record holder for the local parkrun is Umbufto Eswatini Defence
Force’s (UEDF) Nkululeko Gama on an impressive time of 14:56 minutes. Gama set
this record on January 6, 2018. The female record holder is Swazi Slojos’ Gugu
Mthembu.
finished
Her best time was on November 18, 2017 when she finished the race in 22:47
minutes. On average, the parkrun attracts 80 runners/joggers on a weekly basis,
while the average time for the runners to finish the race is 37:39 minutes. The
race has seen participation from both individuals and clubs. There are over 70
clubs/groups which take part in the weekly race and they include Swazi Slojos,
Correctional and UEDF, to mention a few. The 199th edition was won by Mduduzi
Dlamini, who clocked 17:43 minutes, while Phiwokuhle Bulunga was the winner in
the female category after clocking 24:02 minutes. Participation is free. Runners
just need to register on www.parkrun.co.za to be members of the parkrun family.
Meanwhile, research reveals that parkruns increase confidence, help to reduce
isolation, depression, anxiety and stress, and gives participants space to
think.