MyPE

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PE hosts the happiest 5k on the planet

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It’s known the world over for being “The Happiest 5k on the Planet”, so where better for the African launch of the internationally acclaimed The Color Run™ 5k event than South Africa’s own Friendly City … Port Elizabeth.

Spring Day in Port Elizabeth is going to be a lot more colourful than usual, when the world’s single-biggest event series brings an explosion of colour to the NMMU nature reserve in Summerstrand, the venue for the first-ever The Color Run™ on African soil.

The Color Run™ is known the world over as a fun, family-friendly race that celebrates healthiness, happiness, individuality, and giving back, bringing together communities to create a five-kilometre-long canvas of colour.

Participants arrive at the starting line wearing white – anything from white T-shirts to white tutus – and when the start gun fires, the festival of colour begins.

Each kilometre of the event is associated with a colour: yellow, red, blue and purple. In each colour zone, volunteers shower runners and walkers with clouds of brightly coloured powder. (It’s food grade, coloured cornstarch, so it’s 100% natural, safe, and washes out.)

The race ends with a colour-throwing party where Color Runners and spectators get to make the world a brighter place, turning the finish line into what CNN iReport described as looking “like a tie-dye convention”.

First run in Phoenix, Arizona, in January 2012, The Color Run™ event toured 50 US cities and three international cities in its first year, attracting over 600 000 participants, 650 000 Facebook fans, and over 4 million views on YouTube, while raising donations for over 60 charities.

“The demand has been crazy and exciting,” says The Color Run™ founder and CEO, Travis Snyder. So crazy and exciting in fact, that this year The Color Run™ will be splashing its trademark palette over 100 US cities and scores of cities across Europe, Australia, South America and Asia, with over a million participants worldwide.

“Every day, hundreds of people make requests on our Facebook page for us to bring the event to their favourite city,” says Snyder. “We’re now excited to be answering the call in South Africa!”

So come 1 September 2013, Port Elizabeth will go on the map as the first city in Africa to host this colourful event, making it, quite literally, a Rainbow-Nation city.

The Color Run™ organisers chose PE because locals have a reputation for giving 100% when it comes to supporting events in their city. It’s all about having fun, celebrating life and promoting healthy living, getting all of PE up and out and enjoying a unique community experience.

“I wanted to create an event that would encourage people to get out and run just for the fun of it,” says Snyder. “I wanted people to enjoy the community experience of running or walking together.”

As a non-timed race, The Color Run™ is the perfect event for both novices and serious athletes. Sixty percent of Color Runners are first-time runners or walkers, participating for the sheer joy of doing something unique, healthy and fun with family and friends.

And for the people of Port Elizabeth, it’ll also be about being part of a colourful piece of local history, as the city records a colour-specific first for South Africa and the continent.

Entries are open for The Color Run™ 5k event in PE. The Color Run races fill up extremely fast, and since the event is guaranteed to sell out before race day, be sure to sign up before it’s too late. To enter pick up an entry form at Brian Band Sports in Newton Park, News Café at the Boardwalk, or the Zports offices in Sydenham.

Because if you miss this one, there’s only one colour you’ll be … blue.

The Colour Run
The Happiest 5k on the Planet
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Alan Straton

Chief Cook, Bottle Washer and Broom Mechanic at MyPE
Passionate about Port Elizabeth and definitely NOT packing for Perth. Alan's ethos is epitomised in the words of Nelson Mandela; "I have fought against white domination and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the idea of a democratic and free society. If need be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die." See more articles by Alan.