A few month ago I discovered Parkrun, and to be precise a Parkrun at Waterfall, Mall of Africa. To say that my weekends have changed for the better is an understatement
What is Parkrun
Park run as established in 2004 and is a collection of 5-kilometre events for runners, walkers and volunteers that take place every Saturday morning at more than 2,000 locations in 22 countries across five continents. The best part is that Parkrun is for free and anyone from any age group can come. I have even seen parents with strollers on the trail
Parkrun locations
Yes, I took a screenshot to show you that there are over 200 locations of parkruns that are active in South Africa, From the shot, you can see that major cities in South Africa have more than one parkrun location. For this review, I have information on the Midrand Parkrun where I have signed up and participated several times this year
Mall of Africa Park Run
The Waterfall or Midrand Parkrun is located at the Mall of Africa. They use the trail which is after the outdoor food court where the restaurants are as you are heading to the carnival area. Please note that the volunteers are quite strict when it comes to starting time and at 08:00 sharp, the race-walk begins.
Course type
The Parkrun at Mall of Africa is 5 kms. I will say this though, it feels like 8 kms to me because if the the hill we climb to finish the walk. In case you are curious, it takes me 50 minutes on a good day to finish the trail. However this is because I am unfit and a good number of people seem to walk the trail rather than run. Otherwise its a nice outdoor trail with not much scenic view in my opinion
Type of people who go the Mall of Africa Parkrun
I mentioned previously that I walk the Mall of Africa trail and a number of people do run the trail. So in essence, its a mixed bag of people at the parkrun. People run or walk solo, as groups or families. I have done both, go with a friend and solo. However, I noticed that going solo works best for me as I walk faster and I don’t feel the need to treat it as a Sunday stroll.
Can you make friends at Parkrun South Africa
This depends with your personality if you can strike up conversation and do small chat. I have spoken to a few people and even walk with them a bit. With that, it is a great place to meet new friends and build relationships. However, as I said, people come in groups and because of walking/ running speeds, it might be difficult to strike up conversations
What to do after park run at the Mall of Africa
That is the best part of doing your Park run at mall of Africa, afterwards you can go shopping before the mall gets a lot of foot traffic and the best part is, breakfast joints will literally be open for you. As l said, i walk for around 50 minutes on the 5km trail. With the event starting at 08:00 you will generally leave the Parkrun area by 09:00 which is in time for the Mall of Africa to open.
