Our History
Established in 1975
In October 1976, a marathon was held in Verwoerdburg over 26 Miles, known as the Verwoerdburg Marathon. It was organised by Willem Louw.
This gave rise to the thought of a local marathon club. Willem Louw and the de Beer brothers, Thys and Chris, held an inaugural meeting. Later, Tiny Liebenberg (as Club Captain) and Kobus Louw joined.
To register a Club, you’d need more than 5 members and for the time being they affiliated with another group of athletes and call themselves Verwoerdburg Athletics Club. The name later changed to Verwoerdburg Marathon Club (and again to Alpha Centurion Runners/Walkers, when Verwoerdburgstad’s name changed to Centurion.) In 2021 the new name, Alpha Centurion Athletics Club, was adopted at the AGM.
The first training sessions of the club were organized from Willem Louw’s house. It consisted of two rounds of 4km.
With Willem Louw’s house being the first Club House (24 Amethuslaan, Lyttleton Manor), the Verwoerdburg Marathon Club was to excel as an established club with various top athletes in its ranks.
The WALLY HAYWARD MARATHON organised by Verwoerdburg Marathon Club, was first run on 30 June 1977, over two rounds of 21Km, starting and finishing at the Verwoerdburg Afrikaans High School. Later the 21.1Km was added to this race and in 1997 the first 10Km distance was added to the race.
The number of athletes increased dramatically over the years, making the WALLY one of the largest road races in South Africa. It is currently the last Comrades qualifier and a favourite race amongst runners.
The Club entered a new era in its history by opening its own Club House on 22 October 1988.
