Help Bulithando parkrun

Although I love running I only recently started running parkrun in 2019. Our community has a local parkrun (Bulithando parkrun) that attracts a very small number of runners every week. Even though it is small, I enjoy it a lot because the people are friendly and it gives the young people in our area something better to do on a Saturday.

Lots of people in our community could benefit from taking part but they don't know about it and it is run in a place that is not very well maintained. There are people who come here from other parkruns to run but they never return. I think it is because our run takes place in an open field (veld) that is not looked after by our community leaders.

The run goes through wild (veld) grass that is difficult to run on and is not always cut. Other people come here to dump their rubbish and there is always a burst water pipe that is spilling water on to the course. That is why I think many people don't want to run here.

I have seen other parkruns in our country that have hundreds (even thousnads) of people who attend but we are lucky when we get 40 people. I think it is because they take place in parks that are looked after. There is so much more we can do in our community if we can just fix up the park and set out a proper running path.

I decided to start this campaign because I want to hire a Bobcat and use it to grade out the running route. I want to have signs made that mark out the path and then get some local people involved to maintain the park using grass cutting equipment that we will buy with the rest of the money raised.

I am not involved with parkrun - although I try to volunteer when I can. I just love the idea and want to take part more while involving others in my community to come and do the same. This is an idea I have on my own and want to work with peopel around me to improve our community. I just think that the parkrun is a very good way to achieve this if we can get the money we need to do this thing.