Good afternoon Greenpoint parkrunners

Happy Friday to all of you. We hope that you have had an amazing week so far and are looking forward to tomorrow morning! We know we are! The weather is looking set to be absolutely stunning, bordering on ideal, for our run so we hope that you will bring everybody that you know with!

Last weekend was a huge milestone for parkrun and What an event it was! We here at Green Point parkrun were so impressed with the dedication and love show by our loyal parkrunners as a record number of 461 runners turned out to help us celebrate parkrun reaching double digits as it turned 10 years old! In 2004 Paul Sinton-Hewitt would never have imagine that his little informal gathering run at Bushy Park (London) would be a start of a worldwide running movement totaling 482 parks and 766850 runners to date. Happy 10th birthday parkrun – we are looking forward to another 10 years and beyond of records and community building at it’s best.

Back to South Africa and in particular our home-ground: Green Point

Yes!! to 461 runners scanned at the end of our new and improved funnel. Yes!! to 64 new PBs and especially YES!! to 111 first time Greenpoint parkrunners.

Every week we look forward to 08:00 on Saturday mornings and bet amongst ourselves as to the number of runners and who will lead the pack. We look forward to the growing community of runners who are challenging themselves to be healthier and fitter. We look forward to seeing how many PBs have been attained and seeing better form as runners start chatting to each other and learning from each other. This is why we #loveparkrun!

Leading the men home in first place this week was Shen Tan with a comfortable PB of 18:53 followed by Warren Grobler with a PB of 18:45 and in third position first timer Gary Byrne at 19:21!

Leading lady was Cleo Albertus at 20:35 followed in second spot by Lesyl Potgieter at 21:59 and finishing off the podium in third position was Michelle Nel in a time of 22:17.

We are excited that Green Point parkrun has consistently hosted 400+ runners for the last couple of weeks and we are certainly equally nervous and excited for the next couple of months.

With greater numbers come greater admin joys and we are asking parkrunners to please abide by parkrun rules:

- No barcode = no result
- Please do not go through the funnel twice. This interferes with the timing and results.
- Please do not walk off with our tokens. We have lost a number of tokens and the inconvenience it cause other runners is not fair. HINT if you have a token at home – please bring it back. No questions asked.

Volunteers – it seems like it’s a curse word in most communities but parkrun is facilitated by a dedicated group of volunteers and we can’t do this without you. Check out our future roster and sign your name or email us at greenpointhelpers@parkrun.co.za.

See you all on Saturday for another epic weekend of parkrun.

Claudia

Hi there Green Point parkrunners,

There are not enough words in the English Dictionary to describe the amount of fun that we had on Saturday, however, for those who, unfortunately, had to miss out, we'll try our best to capture the spirit of the day for you!

Starting with the weather – we know that you've all come to know Green Point parkrun as being "blessed". When it comes to the wetter side of the weather spectrum, we always seem to land with our butts in the butter (so to speak). Well, last weekend was no different. As a team, we held our collective breaths, throughout the week as we kept checking the weather reports for updates, hoping and beseeching the weather gods to grant us perfect weather. Come 5:30am on Saturday morning and it seemed like our prayers were still on the "to do" list of our chosen weather gods. Things looked pretty hairy and up until 7am we were texting each other with updates. Thankfully, the rain slowly faded out, and the clouds, while not clearing completely, began to dissipate. There were patches of blue skies above us and an expected chill in the air but we had the all clear to run.

To the team that got there early, including the volunteers, setting up the infrastructure took priority before our loyal Green Point parkrunners arrived! The prizes and snacks were kept under cover and our marshal's set off, on their way, to take their positions.

Next up - the run. So, after the skies theatrics, we weren't sure as to what sort of depth in the turn out we should have been expecting. Obviously, as it was a very special day for us, we were hoping to see a large turnout, but we are realists and we did note that the weather conditions would likely have deterred quite a few people from giving up the warmth of their blankets. For those of you that did, we'd like to thank each and every one of you that came to help celebrate our 1st parkrun birthday. It was a sight to see, so many parkrunners taking the theme to heart, sporting their favourite country’s football jerseys or running with flags (like the Mallicks did.. for the whole 5km!!)We had a total of 205 runners joining in on the morning's fun, with a quarter (51) of that number being Green Point parkrun newbies! What a day you chose to join in!

On to the top runners; in the Mens Category we had a one horse race, from start to finish, for the whole duration of the run. Our first male runner to cross the finish line, running his second parkrun ever, was Emiele Paulsen, finishing with an impressive PB time, and a mere 0:14 over the current CR, of 15:48. Emiele is one of our Olympic hopefuls so be sure to keep an eye out for him in future runs. In second place we had Darren Stevens in 17:33 followed by, our best dressed runner, Christopher Muller in 18:22, who caused many a giggle from guys and girls alike. Did we say that this was the season for running tights? We meant running spandex outfits!

In the Womens Category, Green Point parkrun loyalist (and crowd favourite) Candyce Hall, crossed the finish line first and in a time of 19:47 (Candyce finished 11th overall. A sign of how quick the runners on the day were if the top 10 all finished under 20 minutes). Candyce was followed in by Jo Haw, crossing in a time of 21:26, and Phyllis O’Brien in third place, finishing off the podium at 22:14.

The full breakdown of the results can be found here Latest Results.

After the run we got down to the real reason that everybody was there so early in the morning - the PRIZE GIVING, of course!! We had a multitude of spot prizes to give away thanks to Adidas, Spur, Thorpe Plumstead and Pro Auto Car Care. Our parkrunners were given a token and then a random draw commenced with many "oohs" and "aahs" as we handed out great prizes. Christopher Muller, as already mentioned, walked off with Best Dressed while our Top Male and Female (on the day) walked off with spot prizes as well. Unfortunately (due to a slight backlog) we were unable to present Qiyaam and Faldiela Mallick with their TenBits wristbands, which they were awarded after ending on top of the points table for the year.

Green Point parkrun were are also celebrating with Gesant Ryklief, Qiyaam Mallick, Faldielah Mallick as they became the first Green Point-registered parkrunners to reach their 50 run milestone!! We have a few more coming up in the next few weeks as well. Congratulations and thank you to those about to hit such an incredible milestone. We'd like to remind all our parkrunners that, upon hitting your 50th run, you will receive an email from parkrun HQ that you will need to complete and submit. Your shirts will then be sent to be presented to you!

A special shout-out to John and Eileen Hall, from Pietermaritzburg, who joined us at Green Point and missed out on their home run at Dusi parkrun's birthday. We value your friendship and support and hopefully we will be seeing you guys again soon.

Another extra special thank you to the Kiernan and Galvaan ladies who spoilt us with lovely cupcakes. They were indeed very yummy and greatly appreciated.

To those that gave their time to help volunteer - we could not do this without you! Here at parkrun, we rely on support from the running community. We are for the runners, by the runners. If you would like to help out and volunteer, please send us an email to greenpointhelpers@parkrun.co.za with your name and your barcode number. You can also check out our Future Roster page on our website and see which weeks we're a little shy of hands!

Don’t forget to head on to our Facebook photo gallery for photos of this week’s celebration and other runs and tag yourself in it.

Lastly, but not least, an incredibly large, enormous, THANK YOU to the team here at Green Point parkrun for organising such a marvelous event, this weekend and all the others! You guys truly Rock! Keep doing what you do!

See you on Saturday
Claudia

Hey there Green Point parkrunners,

we trust you've all had a great week so far? You've already made it to Wednesday afternoon. Not long now until the best part of any week - parkrun!

This past weekend was a blast though, wasn't it?! We certainly had a great time making sure that you got your weekly parkrun fix. Can you believe that this was Event #52? Already?? It seems like just yesterday we were running the very first parkrun here in Green Point, with just 105 brave souls facing the Cape July weather, 6 volunteers and one very determined event director, Suraj Valand. Things have changed since then and Green Point has grown in leaps and bounds. We now boast over 4700 registered runners and average out at 167 runners per event, have a Facebook audience of over 1150 engaged users and a growing Twitter presence. There is just no stopping Green Point parkrun!

Moving on, were you one of the 221 runners who joined us on Saturday? Things were a touch chilly earlier in the morning given the clear skies that welcomed us during setup and volunteer briefing but, as usual, there was not a hint of rain (or much wind, for that matter). With winter comes later sunrises but as time drew nearer to the start, the sky brightened up and things were looking good at Green Point.

Some of you may have noticed the film crew on the course and interviewing people. We were lucky enough to be visited by SABC 3's "Doctor's Orders", who came around to find out a little bit more about parkrun and what it means to the running community. When we receive more information from the show as to when it will be airing, we will keep all of you closely in the loop. A big thanks to the crew for coming through and taking the time to share the message of parkrun.

Core team member Ganief Galvaan chatting to the crew of SABC 3's "Doctor's Orders".

As mentioned above, 221 runners managed to peel themselves from the comfort of their beds to be with us at 8am on Saturday. Of those 221 runners, 46 were first timers to Green Point parkrun. We certainly hope you enjoyed yourself and that you will be joining us again sometime soon! Maybe this weekend even?

Away they go!

In the Men's Category, Jaysen Golding stormed over the finish line in first place - his second time in three appearances at Green Point parkrun - in a time of 18:36, only 0:18 quicker than second placed Robert Zive who was breathing down Jaysens neck in the final 200m. Robert crossed the finish line in 18:54. Third man in, and capping off the podium, was Allan Van Zyl in a time of 19:25. All three top men earned themselves new PBs on the route. A highly competitive run was had, it seems.

Jaysen Golding - first man home.

With Green Point parkrun local rippers Cleo Albertus and Kate Mapham M.I.A this weekend (more than likely setting PBs at the Knysna Oyster Festival Half and Full marathons) the Women's Category was wide open for anybody to swoop in and claim the top spot. Jana Van Houwelingen and Caroline Balkwill, both of Atlantic AC, pushed each other hard with Jana sneaking in over the line a mere 0:03 ahead of Caroline. Jana crossed in a time of 23:10 with Caroline agonisingly close behind in 23:13. Third and final spot on the podium, and securing a clean sweep for Atlantic AC, was Velma Corcoran in a time of 24:31.

Jana Van Houwelingen - first woman in.

The full breakdown of the results can be found here Latest Results.

A huge congrats to those that took the top spots but an even bigger congrats to everybody that came and participated! The philosophy of parkrun revolves around encouraging people of every ability to take part. As it states on the parkrun website; "from those taking their first steps in running to Olympians; from juniors to those with more experience; we welcome you all". It brings us such joy to see the commitment in your eyes as you cross that finish line after putting in a truly terrific effort.

To those that gave their time to help volunteer - we could not do this without you! Here at parkrun, we rely on support from the running community. We are for the runners, by the runners. If you would like to help out and volunteer, please send us an email to greenpointhelpers@parkrun.co.za with your name and your barcode number. You can also check out our Future Roster page on our website and see which weeks we're a little shy of hands!

The full photo gallery from Saturday can be found here. A huge thank you to Lloyd Baatjes for taking such fantastic images of all the runners!

As we end the year cycle, seeing as we have reached event #52, so too does the Annual Points Competition cycle end. Not only do you receive Discovery Vitality points for scanning your barcode at the end of each run (or volunteering) but there is also a points competition to allow us here at parkrun to acknowledge those who were the most dedicated to parkrun for that yearly cycle. No surprises here as the Mallick family, just about, perform a clean sweep in both the Men's and Women's Standings.

Current standing in the Men's annual points competition:
Qiyaam MALLICK (Unattached) 4417 pts.
Mogamat Aslam MALLICK (Unattached) 3778 pts.
Naasih MALLICK (Unattached) 3713 pts.

Current standing in the Women's annual points competition:
Faldiela MALLICK (Unattached) 3951 pts.
Chloe CAMU KIERNAN (Unattached) 2325 pts.
Wasimah MALLICK (Unattached) 2136 pts.

Congratulations to Qiyaam and Faldiela Mallick who win themselves an awesome Tenbits parkrun wristband. Please send through an email so that we can award you the prizes.

Lastly, we are very excited for our First Birthday party this weekend. We hope that you can join us for a cracking run, some birthday festivities and prize giving on Saturday morning. There will be prizes to be won for everybody.
You can find out more on the events page. Make sure you click attending and then share it with all your friends!

See you on Saturday
Ryan

Hey there Green Point parkrunners,

Another epic Green Point Parkrun was had this weekend, yet again. A beautiful, clear and crisp winter’s morning on Saturday the 21st of June, making for absolutely perfect running conditions, greeted the 236 parkrunners who were disciplined enough to drag themselves from the comfort of their warm duvets and long pyjamas. For those of you that missed out, we can't say we blame you but hopefully the coffee and breakfast in bed was worth it! What's that? You DIDN'T have those things? Hmm.. guess we know how won Saturday morning then!

66 first timers to Green Point parkrun joined in on the Saturday morning fun. We'd like to welcome each and every one of you. We hope you thoroughly enjoyed your run on our route and plan on joining us again soon! These new faces and those of our regular runners made it a total of 236 parkrunners who toed the start line, awaiting the loud hailer siren. This is why we #LoveParkrun.

The first runner over the finish line was Christopher Muller, who now has 3 first place finishes in the last 4 weeks, pushing hard until the very end and crossing in a time of 17:34 – just 10 seconds off his PB. He was followed by Robert Zive in second place, recording a time of 19:16, and third placed Gideon Granville, in a time of 19:30, both recording PBs on the day.

Crossing the finish line in first place in the Ladies category, as well as taking down 10th position overall, was Chloe Reid with a new PB of 20:35. She was followed closely by last weeks first place Lady Cleo Albertus, crossing the finish line in a time of 21:21, who shaved another 2 seconds off her PB. Samantha Watts, in her first parkrun, crossed the finish line in third place and rounded out the Ladies podium with a solid effort of 22:06.

Overall, a great run was had by all who ran and we ended the day with 56 new PBs and even more smiling faces. The full event breakdown can be viewed on our site here: Latest Results

All the photos from Saturday's event can be viewed on our Facebook page. Have a look and tag yourself.

Thank you to everyone who has signed up to volunteer. We appreciate your giving up of a running Saturday morning to make Green Point parkrun happen. Remember you still earn your Discovery Vitality points if you volunteer. If you have not signed up to volunteer yet – we have a few more spaces open for Saturday 5th, 12th and 19th July that need filling. Head on over to the future roster page and see where you can help out then send an email to greenpointhelpers@parkrun.co.za with your name and parkrun barcode.

And lastly; a BIG reminder that our First Birthday run is coming up on the 19th of July - we would love your suggestions for a theme for the run. Just head on over to our Facebook wall and drop us a comment, letting us know what you think we should do on our big day, because.. well.. a party isn't a party without an awesome theme!

See you on Saturday
Claudia

Greetings Greenpoint Parkrunners,

Wow, what a Saturday! Event #48 was awesome for a million reasons, naturally, but seeing as we need to get this report done and dusted, we'll just stick to a handful, shall we?!

Coming in hot at number 1 is our community of runners. It makes it all worth it when, moments before the countdown begins, all the are runners are trying to keep warm ahead of the run, listening to any last minute announcements and generally just building great relationships with other runners and growing our community of runners. Green Point parkrun has gone from strength to strength over the past 48 weeks, as can be seen in the astronomical growth of our Facebook page and the continual increase in registered runners - currently sitting at 4429. With the support of all of you and a dedicated few individuals, we've created an event for a community of runners, maintained by a community of runners and loved by the entire Green Point community.

Following closely in at a strong number 2 we have none other than the weather. A brisk breeze, especially coming off the ocean along Bay Road, and a glorious early winter chill greeted those who braved the elements to join us. But, as it does, the skies cleared and we even had a little ray or two of sunshine peeking through at times. Thankfully you guys are so quick that we were even spared from bearing the full brunt when the heavens opened up on Green Point at 09:30. A proverbial torrential downpour pounded the Atlantic Seaboard but by the time it arrived, we had already packed up and started processing your results over a delicious cup of coffee at Brew.

Our third, and final, point (this is a brief summary, remember, not a Lord of the Rings novel) is the amazing team of volunteers that sacrifice their runs and who brave the Green Point weather; come rain, wind or snow (yeah, yeah.. one day!) waiting on the runners to come through the various marshal points along the run. We absolutely love the enthusiasm that these members of our running community display when the runners come past and how they cheer for everyone coming in from Number 1 to the last person walking in. Thank you for all your hard work and assistance.

This week we had 38 first timers to Green Point parkrun joining in on the fun, which brought our attendance for event #48 up to 163 parkrunners. Of those 163 runners, 21 achieved a new PB even with the windy weather from kilometer 3.

Off they go..

In the Men's Category, Phumlani Nxusani was the first runner home, finishing in 15:46, a mere 22” off his Green Point CR and PB of PB 15:34. Phumlani set off fast and never looked back as he cleared out the route by more than 3 minutes! A great effort from Phumlani and we hope to see him back to try and break the 15 minute mark at Green Point. Coming in at second and third respectively were, first timers to Green Point parkrun, Jaysen Golding in a time 18:59 and Ollie Davies shortly after in 19:03. Both men fought a hard race for that second spot.

Phumlani Nxusani running with the GoPro – basically one grey blur of the route.

In the Women's category, and starting to really dominate the podium, Cleo Albertus was the first womens runner to cross the finish line and for the second consecutive week. Cleo set herself a PB last week when she finished first and this weekend was no different. She crossed the line in a time of 21:23, earning a new PB by 0:04! Cleo was followed over the line by First Timer Tina Zkorupa, second place (14th overall), in a time of 23:03 and Tali Berman, third place and 23rd overall, in 24:10.

Cleo Albertus giving the guys a run for their PB’s.

All the photos from Saturday's event can be viewed on our facebook page over in the gallery!

Big "thank you’s" to everyone who has signed up to fill a volunteer spot. We truly appreciate your generosity and giving up of a running Saturday morning to make Green Point parkrun happen. If you have not signed up to volunteer yet – we have a few more spaces open for Saturday 5th, 12th and 19th July that need filling. Head on over to the future roster page and see where you can help out then email us at Greenpointhelpers@parkrun.co.za with your name and parkrun barcode.

And lastly; a BIG reminder that our First Birthday run is coming up on the 19th of July - we would love your suggestions for a theme for the run. So far we have:

The Fast & The Furious
World Cup
Superheroes

Head on over to our Facebook page and let us know what you think we should do!

See you on Saturday
Claudia

Hey hey Green Point parkrunners,

hopefully you've all had a super great week so far. If not, don't worry too much. It's about to get way, way better. That's right.. not only is there parkrun this weekend but you also get the added bonus of a public holiday on Monday to log some extra kilometres! Don't say we never treat you to awesome things!

Now don't be shy, how many of you thought it was going to be rainy and gloomy on Saturday morning? Go on, put those hands up. It's ok though, we all make mistakes from time to time. Aren't you happy that you still risked it and joined us for the run? Sure, it was a little chilly but we kept the mist at bay and there wasn't a hint of rain in the air. Still, the season of running tights, long sleeves, buffs and gloves is well and truly upon us. We'll just call it the season of aerodynamic running! Plus, black lycra is very slimming!

Chilly weather and all, we still had 227 runners come test themselves against the clock, 47 of which were first timers to Green Point. We here at parkrun are thrilled to see that the colder weather months haven't seen a dip in attendance. It definitely makes it worth leaving the comfort of the duvet-cocoon.

And they're off..

In the men's category, an early break from the front runners at the first marshal turn-point set the tone for the "dramatic" finish and the positions stayed as they were from that point on. Chris Muller crossed the finish line first, for the second time in 7 appearances, in a time of 18:23 (Chris holds a 17:24 PB at Green Point). Chris was followed by parkrun's own core team member Ryan Short, second in 18:52, and Qiyaam Mallick, third in a time of 19:33.

Christopher "Jazz Hands" Muller sealing the victory by 29 seconds.

The Women's run was dominated from start to finish by Cleo Albertus. This was Cleo's first time crossing the line in first place after a strong of Top 3 finishes. Cleo crossed the line in a time of 21:27, setting herself a new PB and crossing in, nearly, a full 2 minutes ahead of second place Tali Berman, who fought off Reinette Walker, to cross the line in second and third place with times of 23:25 and 23:35, respectively.

Cleo Albertus doing her best to hide her "I'm FIRST" smile!

We'd like to give a huge round of applause and say a big thank you to those that volunteered. We know that all the runners appreciate the sacrifice made so that we can keep these events going, week in and week out. If you'd like to get involved then just head to our website and check out the future roster. You can then send us an email with your name and your parkrun barcode and we'll sign you up to volunteer!

The photo gallery from the run can be found here.

Don't forget, it's our first birthday in 5 weeks time! We have a little contest running on our Facebook page. All you have to do is comment with your idea for a theme for our party. Otherwise, you can vote for your favourite idea with a comment or a like. So head on over and get involved. A great time for all is gauranteed!

See you on Saturday
Ryan

Good afternoon Green Point parkrunners,

another Saturday and another successful parkrun, Event #46 went off without a hitch. We were greeted by Saturday morning with low cloud cover, a veil of fog and a winter chill but thankfully we avoided the rain and hopefully we can keep to this pattern for the rest of winter. We do encourage all runners to be aware of the weather conditions and to check our social media feeds before you leave home, we do our best to keep you all updated on the run conditions before the run and we'd hate for you to be ill-prepared for your run.

207 parkrun-crazy runners braved the chill and toed the starting line and in their midst were 45 first timers to Green Point parkrun. We sincerely hope that our visitors, both international and national, enjoyed their run with us and we'd like to let them know that they are always welcome back to Green Point.

A few pre-run announcements before things kick off.

In the Men's category Christopher Muller raced to a 17:44 First place finish. This is his first win at Green Point parkrun in 6 appearances. Qiyaam Mallick crossed the line in second place with a time of 19:17 and Gideon Granville rounded out the podium in third place with a finishing time of 19:35.

Chris Muller on his way to first place.

International runner Carita Riutta, from Helsinki in Finland, took first place in the Women's category (and fifth overall) in a winning time of 19:54. Chloe Reid, joining us from Delta parkrun, and ,Green Point parkrun regular podium-topper, Cleo Albertus capped off the Ladies podium with times of 21:02 and 21:50, respectively.

Finnish runner Carita Riutta strolling to her 2nd parkrun SA victory.

Congratulations to the top finishers as well as to everybody else who gave it their all. 50 runners achieved new PBs with only 3 of those coming from the Top 10 finishers. Don't forget to go to our Facebook page and check out the latest photos from Saturday's run. Find the photos of you and your friends and tag away!

Thanks to all those that volunteered this weekend; Albertus Botha, Bianca Loreggian, Emma Jones-Phillipson, Hirun Gabriel, Jeremy Gristwood, Lauric Bakomito and Lisa Atkins. Without the assistance, each week, of a few awesome people, we would not be able to keep this event going so if you LOVE parkrun as much as we do and want to lend a hand, please check out the future roster page on the website and see which dates need all hands on deck. It's as easy as sending an email through to greenpointhelpers@parkrun.com with your name and parkrun barcode number (and which role you'd ike to fill, if you want).

If you have any questions about what volunteering involves, please check out the page on our site here for more info. Who knows, you could even find yourself being cast under the spotlight in our Volunteer of the Month column.

Don't forget, Green Pointers, we're fast approaching our FIRST BIRTHDAY and we'd like to give something back to YOU for sticking with us and making Green Point parkrun the success that it has become. So, with that in mind, we're opening the floor up to you guys to decide what kind of event we throw. Check out our post on Facebook and go leave your ideas there or vote (aka "Like") for an idea that somebody else has already left. But remember, only 5 more weeks until the big day, so get voting now - CLICK HERE.

Well, that wraps things up for this week! We hope that you have a great week ahead of you and are looking forward to parkrun this Saturday.

See you on Saturday
Ryan

Hi Green Point parkrunners,

so who else was impressed by the early morning light display that the weather put on for us? We know you were all up and watching because we were bombarded by questions from worried parkrunners, fearful of the fact that they may not be able to run due to inclement weather! Well, we would like to reassure all of you that, no matter what the weather throws at us - wind, rain, hail or sun - parkrun will always go ahead. If we ever do have a need to cancel an event (obviously for something more than just the weather being ick!) you can bet your bottom dollar that we'll make sure that we give all of you fair warning so that you can make other arrangements. Stay tuned to our Facebook and/or Twitter page/s and you'll always be up to date!

But, having said all that, you know that a parkrun has the blessing of nature when, week after week between 8am – 9am, the rain cedes to the most beautiful parkrun in South Africa. It happened last winter and we're hoping that it happens again this winter, where our little ol' parkrun sneaks in an hour of rain and wind free running weather. We were a little worried that it wouldn't go our way but thankfully things went according to, ahem, plan.

Despite the threat of said miserable conditions, we still had a great turnout of runners toeing the starting line, all ready to go, at 8am. Current CR holder, Phumlani Nxusani, was back for his third run at Green Point, as was former Womens CR holder, Candyce Hall. Joining these two elite athletes were 46 first timers (to Green Point parkrun) all making up the field of 167 runners. Check out the photo gallery from the run to see all the starting line action.

"Before the storm"

He was back for more this weekend and he did not disappoint. First male runner home was Phumlani Nxusani, the current Green Point course record holder, In a blazing time of 15:34. Considering the fact that there are two 180 degree turns on our route, essentially killing your speed dead in it's tracks, this time by Phumlani is absolutely phenomenal. It is also a full 20 seconds faster than his previous CR time and, if we are to believe the word that his PB for 5kms is 14:16, you can sure as heck bet that we're looking forward to seeing Phumlani return and demolish his own record. Second place this week was Kurt Duvel through the finish line in 18:33 (yes, nearly a full 3 minutes after Phumlani! Couldn't you just imagine the puzzled looks on the faces of the volunteers at the funnel, looking for the rest of the runners, once Phumlani had come in?!!). Rounding off the podium, for the Mens category, was Robert Zive of Atlantic AC in a time of 19:26.

"Phumlani laying down the law on the Green Point parkrun route!""

The Womens category saw first place runner, Candyce Hall, dominate the run and finish in a time of 20:19 (PB remains at 18:47) which would have been much quicker had it not been for a pit stop along the way. We're nearly 100% sure that Candyce will be a returning figure at Green Point, in her efforts to reclaim her CR back from Kate Mapham. Second female runner through was Terry Deats, participating in her first Green Point parkrun, in 21:15 and, rounding off the Womens podium, was Cleo Albertus who crossed the line in a time of 22:15.

"Candyce Hall on her way to an impressive finish, given the circumstances"

Check out the great snaps, on our facebook page, taken along the route by none other than Green Point parkruns very own Aneeqah Ryklief!

Thank you to everyone who volunteer and make the weekly run such a success. We truly can’t do this without you. We would like to encourage parkrunners to volunteer 1 out of every 10 runs. Check out the future roster and sign up or email us. As it stands, we need a few more volunteers for the 14th and the 21st of June! So step on up, get involved by helping out and give back to the parkrun community. Who know's - you may even be featured as our Volunteer of the Month!! Oh, the prestige!

Still some TenBits wristbands that have not been collected here at Green Point: Mishal Pandie, Byron Georgiades, Shelley Dormer and Veena Naran. If you know any of these names, please alert them to the fact that their hard-earned money that they spent is lying in a bag, collecting dust. Alternatively if one of those names IS your name, then please come and collect your wristband before the run this Saturday. If you would like to order the wristband please check them out online at www.tenbits.co.za and order. Fashionable and functional, these handy little wristbands have all your parkrun and medical aid information in case of an emergency, and they're very affordable!

See you next Saturday
Claudia

Hi there Green Point parkrunners,

Let's talk about last Saturday, shall we? Who else was totally blown away by the sheer volume of runners we had turn up? Even with such a crisp and, downright, fresh start to the morning, 290 runners still turned up to lay it all out on the route. You may have noticed the presence of the Sleek Geeks, fronted by their fearless leader Elan Lohmann. We here at Green Point parkrun would like to say a huge thank you for coming through to our event, an even larger congratulations to those that set themselves new PBs and that the Sleek Geeks are always warmly welcome back anytime! The more, the merrier!

As mentioned earlier, Saturday morning presented us with some (very) cool conditions. As we make the transition from Autumn into Winter, we can expect the temperature to be chillier, the sky to be a little gloomier and, as it goes, even some rain. We hope that this doesn't deter any of you from joining us for your weekly Saturday morning fix of running. We can't promise that you won't be cold and wet but we can gaurantee that you'll carry your runners high with you through the whole weekend, which is probably better in our opinion. And on the off chance that it doesn't warm you to the core, you can always join us at Brew for a truly magical coffee after the run.

On to the running. Kurt Duvel led the men home in a new PB time of 18:33. This is the first time Kurt has taken the win in 8 appearances at Green Point parkrun. Sizwe Ntuli, 2nd Male and 3rd overall, crossed the line in a time of 19:35, followed closely by Qiyaam Mallick, in 3rd Male and 4th overall, 19:48. Kate Mapham was the first lady home, in a time of 19:25, making this her third 1st place finish in as many appearances. Suzette McIvor was 2nd Female and 6th overall, crossing the finish line in 20:10 and earning a new PB. Cleo Albertus rounded out the top 3 Females, with a time of 21:59.

Kurt Duvel cruising to a first place finish!

Kate Mapham looking way too relaxed for her new PB!

We think it's worth noting that a few milestones were achieved this week for Green Point! Not only did we reach 4000 registered runners and hit the 800 likes mark on our Facebook page but this week there were 290 runners which makes parkrun #44 the most well attended Green Point parkrun to date. So congratulations all round. Special mention must be made to the 61 new PBs set, this past weekend, as well as a warm Green Point parkrun welcome to the 95 first time runners we had. We hope you had a great run and will continue to join us.

We'd like to take the time to thank all of those who volunteered on Saturday, giving up their run to lend a hand, as well as to everyone who signed up to volunteer next Saturday 24th May. We absolutely appreciate your commitment to parkrun and want to encourage more people to sign up and volunteer 1 in every 10 runs. You will still earn your Discovery Vitality points. Remember we can’t do this without you. If you are interested in volunteering, please see the Future Roster to see which dates need volunteers.

We still have a few TenBits wristbands that have not been collected. If you are or know any of the following people, please encourage them to come through and collect their wristbands: Mishal Pandie, Byron Georgiades, Shelley Dormer and Veena Naran. If you would like to order the wristband please check them out online at www.tenbits.co.za and order. Fashionable and functional, these handy little wristbands have all your parkrun and medical aid information in case of an emergency, and they're very affordable!

A friendly heads up to all Green Pointers – our birthday is coming up soon and we will be making special announcements as to what you can expect in a few weeks time. Be prepared – we definitely do not do anything in half measures. You have been warned.

See you next Saturday,
Claudia