BELLVILLE ATHLETIC CLUB
Address: Bellville AC Clubhouse, entrance to Danie Uys Park, 12th Avenue turn-off on Frans Conradie Drive, Boston, Bellville
When: Thursday at 6pm
Distance: 3km and 5km
The best part of the Bellville Time Trial is from 3.5km to 4.5km, a lovely downhill stretch where you can really push for home. As club chairperson, Wietsche van der Westhuizen, puts it, “Our time trial starts with a 2.5km warm-up, then there is a solid 1km uphill, a solid 1km downhill, and a nice moderate last half a kilometre to finish with. Then there is Coke and water waiting for all the finishers back at the clubhouse.”
The route runs down to Frans Conradie, turns left and then left again for a dog-leg up Carl Cronje Drive to the golf driving range, then comes back past the clubhouse road and into the suburb of Boston. From 12th Avenue (which runs parallel to Frans Conradie) you loop up into 13th Avenue via Boston Street, then up Langenhoven Street and into 18th Avenue. The turn point is at Lincoln Street, where you turn left, then left again into 17th, left again at Salisbury Street and right into 18th again – and fly back to the clubhouse. The 3km route just cuts out the dog-leg up Carl Cronje.
Wietsche says that members of several other clubs in the area often join their time trial, and the group usually numbers around 40 runners and walkers per week. “It’s a pleasant route with minimal traffic to worry about, but in winter, when it’s a bit dark for running on the roads, we move the time trial to the Bellville Track so that the runners can do their 3000m or 5000m under the lights.”
Difficulty Rating: 2.5 out of 5
