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Joburg streets a hive of activity hours after relaxation of lockdown regulations

The streets of Johannesburg were a hive of activity on Friday morning as runners finally laced up for a long awaited run after being confined indoors for five weeks.

The lengthy lockdown was implemented by the government to curb the spread of the Coronavirus.

Last week president Cyril Ramaphosa moved the national regulations to level 4, allowing runners and outdoor exercise within a 5km radius of their homes between 6am and 9am.

One such runner was Kgalaletso Mphuthi, 34, a Team Vitality member from Midrand who was excited to be out and about.

"It is a great feeling to be out running, I have been running in my backyard, it is nice to run on the open road again. It was mentally challenging to run around my house, I had to circle my house 32 times just to cover 2km. But mostly I kept fit by doing strength training and I have been trying to perfect my push-ups, I hope all the runners adhere to the rules so that government does not change their minds" she said.

Mphuthi is a Comrades Marathon hopeful who was looking forward to run her first Comrades this year said she was disappointed at postponement of the ultra-marathon.

"I'm very disappointed but I think it should be postponed till next year, alot of people have not qualified, we wont have enough time to prepare and qualify for the race", said Mphuthi.

Bheki Nkosi, 35, who took all the necessary precautions while on his 9km run, wearing a buff to cover his mouth and nose last ran before the lockdown.

"It's good to be out again, I missed running a lot. I was doing a lot of YouTube exercising but the fitness is not the same, being off for a week is okay, but four weeks off, your running fitness is gone, so my fitness is horrible".

Many other runners took to social media to express their joy at being allowed to run again, Afrika Tau from Fat Cats Athletics Club expressed his gratitude to the president.

Meanwhile in Cape Town runners flooded the beachfront, causing concern as people ran in very close proximity to each other.

Level 4 regulations require people to wear their masks whenever they leave their homes but some runners said the regulation would be difficult to follow as one needs alot of air to breath. "During running you need alot of air to flow to your lungs, a mask would hinder that and it will be difficult to breath, it is better we are allowed to run with a buff" said one runner who did not want to be named.

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