The Rondebosch Common Running Route
When the gym’s treadmill becomes a tad tedious and your tekkies are itching for the outdoors, a popular running route in the Southern Suburbs of Cape Town only 15 minutes from the CBD is the Rondebosch common of about 40 hectares (100 acres) and 2.5km in circumference.
When to go?
– Any time during daylight hours (as there are no fences), but you will find most runners there early morning or late afternoon.
Where to go?
– Rondebosch Common can be accessed by either Park, Campground, Sawkins, Klipfontein or Milner Roads in Rondebosch, Cape Town.
What to expect?
– Running Routes (2.5km circumference of the area)
– Endangered Cape Flats Sand Fynbos
The Rondebosch Common Running Route is not an official route, but rather a good 5km jog known amongst locals. This park-like area is popular for runners and walkers in the early morning or evening, for cyclists, those sneaking in a quick lunch break, flying kites or any other recreational activity.
Rondebosch Common is surrounded by five major roads which make up the running route; Park Road, (with the well-known Forres Pre-preparatory school), Campground Road where Europcar and BP Cottage Motors are located, Sawkins Road, Klipfontein Road, (which is also known as the M18) connecting Athlone through Rondebosch and Rosebank to Mowbray, Milner Road which houses The Children’s Hospital Trust, Colleges of Medicine of SA and Common Ground Church and Café which rounds off the outline of The Rondebosch Common Running Route.
The best place to start running a decent 5km run is at the corner of Park and Campground Roads. Take in the natural setting which was declared a National Monument in 1961 and holds over 200 species of flora that are all native to the Cape and enjoy the circular run. Expect to see flora such as the renosterveld, buttercups, gazanias, arum lilies, irises and much more.
The Rondebosch Common is also an important conservation area for the critically endangered Cape Flats Sand Fynbos vegetation which exists nowhere else in the world. The common is also home to 110 species of bird, small mammals, reptiles and amphibia.
With the combination of the view of the University of Cape Town at the foot of Devils Peak, the rich biodiversity of the Cape Flats Sand Fynbos and the comfortable feel of your trainers locked around your feet, escape into the loving embrace of Mother Nature.
So every now and then dodge the gym and iron-pumping “mirror lovers” and run for free in the Southern Suburbs’s most scenic “outdoor gym,” on Rondebosch Common Running Route.
Content: Ed Beukes