VOORTREKKER MONUMENT PRETORIA PARKRUN REVIEW
GETTING THERE
I had the privilege of travelling to South Africa over
the Christmas break last year. I found myself in Pretoria over New Years so I
managed to convince my brother-in-law and nephew to take us to the Voortrekker
Monument Parkrun for our first Parkrun of 2016. The Voortrekker Monument is not
difficult to find! It can be seen from almost every vantage point across Pretoria
and can be accessed from Eeufees Road.
PARKING
Parking isn’t as plush as
many Australian car parks. We had access to a parking spot found to the north
of the monument which was unpaved and very dusty and exactly what makes South
Africa so appealing. I didn’t notice any car guards so I assume it is a fairly
safe place to park but one can never be too cautious.
TOILETS
There is a toilet facility
closer to the monument. My wife reported to me that it was clean and of a good
standard. The good news was that the area was guarded by security making it
quite safe.
THE COURSE
This course is really unique. The start is in the car
park closest to the Function Centre and the western entrance to the monument.
We arrived quite early and got time to stretch and catch up with new friends.
The event starts at 8:00am which is an hour later than in Australia. As it became
closer to the starting time, the car park continued to fill. South Bank in South
East Queensland could host up to 500 runners. Voortrekker Monument on that day
had just under 500 people running and has a record of over 1000 which happened
a couple of weeks later.
After the announcements, the crowd was introduced to
the living legend, Bruce Fordyce!!!! I have to admit that I had a fanboy moment.
Bruce has won the Comrades Marathon a record 9 times and is now an ambassador
for Parkrun. (And no, I wasn't trying to grab his butt!)
After the formalities, we were off and running. I
took it easy as I was running with family and wanted to take in the event. The
course takes you along the road that encircles the monument. This part of the course
is relatively flat to somewhat undulating. As you run along the eastern side of
the monument, you look out over the city of Pretoria and the view is
spectacular.
You then reach the car park and horse riding paddocks where you take
a right and head up to the top of Fort Schanskop. This part of the run is quite
steep and difficult. Once at the top, we ran through what seemed to be a
section that looked like a garden of remembrance. The return journey was much
faster as it was almost all downhill. The final stretch ended in the car park.
This event has been running since September 2013 but it wasn’t until January 2015 when the 17 minute mark was broken. It has only
been broken a further 6 times since then indicating that this is quite a slow
course when it comes to setting a personal PB. The hill up to Schanskop is most
certainly the reason for that.
What was also quite amazing for me was seeing a large
field of slower runners. There were people of all ages and abilities taking
part and even though my perception is that South Africa is a nation that
embraces competitive running, Parkrun doesn’t seem to attract as many elite
athletes as I would have thought, but it is certainly attracting ordinary members
of the public which is wonderful.
The roads are wide and the facility is designed to
handle large crowds so it is ideally suited for such an event and it is all
credit to the Tswane City Council for allowing public access to this. The Voortrekker
Monument is a nature reserve so obviously there are certain rules that need to
be kept such as not allowing dogs other than guide dogs on the course. The website also warns about coming into contact with ticks as they are potential carriers
of Lymes disease.
VOLUNTEERS
It takes an army of
volunteers to host a large event like this. The finish tents were very efficient
and channeled runners into a series of tunnels where bar code scanners were ready
to scan us and move us on. The atmosphere was fun-filled and festive. The
Facebook page has a few requests for volunteers and with such a large field, you
need much help.
PHOTOS
Photos were taken on the
day I ran and were posted onto the Facebook page, but I was not able to find my
picture in amongst the hoards of people running. Not to worry though. I managed
to take a few selfies to remember the occasion.
THE ALL IMPORTANT COFFEE AFTERWARDS
The Parkrun page advertises
the Monument Restaurant as a good place to have a coffee after the event but on
the day we attended, the shop was closed because it was a public holiday.
OVERALL
It was an incredible privilege running this event. I
did not take it for granted and was really glad to have been able to run with
my son. That being said, this is a really slow event because of the Schanskop
hill. The highlight had to be meeting Bruce Fordyce. Running on this historical
site was certainly memorable and whilst I can understand that some people may
find the monument offensive, I am so glad that it has been preserved none the
less and I was certainly privileged to have been able to run here. It is really difficult to give this run a Gary
rating so I have chosen not to rate this particular run. Somehow, it just doesn’t
seem right this time. Thank you Tswane/Pretoria.
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