KNYSNA NEWS - On Tuesday 7 July the Knysna Rotary Club tipped their hats to long-time runner and local parkrun director Kenny Wilkinson through the bestowing of the Paul Harris Award via an online Zoom meeting.
This award recognises outstanding contributions by individuals in placing "service above self" in their community and is one of the highest accolades that Rotary can give.
"I don't do this for awards but rather for the chance to bring the local running community together," said the 80-year-old Wilkinson upon receiving the honour.
Born and raised in East London, he took up running in his early 20s after spending the majority of his childhood, "seven days a week", in the water as a rower. "We'd do our training on the Buffalo River and with the area being notoriously windy there would often be days when we weren't able to train our rowing, so we'd have to do other exercises, such as jogging," Wilkinson said. He took to running like a moth to a flame.
"I just grew to love it," said the veteran, adding that he ran his first Comrades Marathon in 1965, followed by 20 consecutive Comrades.
Wilkinson left East London for George after 44 years, before moving to Knysna two years later.
He ran what he thought was his last Comrades in 1986, but three years later his newfound Knysna "comrades" convinced him to take part in one more, and so he ran his 22nd and final Comrades in 1989 – which was also the start of his 20-year-long stint as organiser of the Knysna Forest Marathon. "I stopped in 2009 because I thought it time for someone else to take on the mantle," he said.
But Wilkinson still yearned to be involved in local running and in 2014 he found a way when he took part in the 2014 Surfers Challenge in East London as a celebrity guest. "When there I was told by the locals about this new thing called a parkrun," he said.
"So, I went and had a look, and immediately knew I had to bring it to Knysna." Legendary South African runner and national director for parkrun Bruce Fordyce was also at the 2014 Surfers Challenge and he and Wilkinson entered into talks with Fordyce and parkrun about a Knysna event.
On 31 January 2015 the Knysna parkrun was launched and as run director Wilkinson hasn't looked back since. "It's a really fantastic event because it caters for everyone," he said. "There are some who just dawdle, some with their walking sticks, and you get those who absolutely bomb along, but it's amazing to see."
The octogenarian, who has also taken to cycling in the meantime, still runs up to 6km a week – a far cry from the "100 miles" he used to do weekly. "I do run a bit slower than I used to, but I still love it as much as I used to."
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