Big Tree runs kick off again next weekend
OVER the past 27 years, scores of athletes in the metro have probably owed their Two Oceans and Comrades Marathon medals to Alan Taylor, 60, and his band of helpers who are behind the Big Tree training runs from the Fig Tree Park in Charlo.
The road running enthusiast, who has senior and veteran provincial colours for the marathon and has completed 11 Comrades and 23 Oceans, started the training run 27 years ago .
“The run actually started around 1980, but for some reason fell away,” Taylor said.
“In 1990, I decided to revive it and it has been running ever since thanks to volunteers and of course our sponsors, like Coke, who have been with us since the beginning.
“There has always been a dairy involved. For the past 20 years, Brian Bands have been manning the watering points.”
This year the main sponsors of the runs are Sunridge SuperSpar, Barnes Daily KwikSpar in Kragga Kamma Road and Despatch SuperSpar.
“Over the years, some 1 500 athletes have done the run and we will be eternally grateful to the volunteers who get up long before daybreak, often in foul weather, to assist us in achieving our goals,” Taylor said.
Initially, about 50 athletes did the run. Today the average is 200.
In the early years organisers took a lot of flak from road running officials who felt the run was detracting from the road races on the day and was affecting numbers in the road races.
“The criticism was unfair,” Taylor said. “Those preparing for Comrades and Oceans were doing their training runs all over the city and would not have been taking part in the 10km races.
“All we were doing was to get them to train together and help each other.”
The training runs are not races. Runners leave in groups depending on pace and each record their own times.
Club colours are not necessary, but runners are urged to wear reflective clothing as it is still dark when they set off.
The first, slower, runners leave at 4.45am and the last group at about 5.30am.
Distances range from 27km to 38km and usually follow a route through Circular Drive and Kragga Kamma Road and return through Seaview. This year a run from Lake Farm Centre, on March 11, has been added.
It is a mass run starting at 5am and the entry fee is R90, with all the proceeds going to the centre.
The first Big Tree run is next Saturday, February 4, and the eighth and last run on May 6.
There is no entry fee, but each runner must donate R35 and all proceeds go to the Rotary Club and the Rotary Foundation. For info, call Eusentha on 084-665-0910.