Modern Athlete Magazine Issue 120, July 2019

ADVERTORIAL Third Record for Johannes Maintains SPAR Grand Prix Domination Helalia Johannes set the 30 th edition of the Durban SPAR Women’s 10km Challenge alight on 23 June as she continued to dominate the 2019 SPAR Grand Prix Series. The top three in Durban, from left: Irvette Van Zyl, Helalia Johannes and Tadu Nare T he third race in the 2019 SPAR Women’s Challenge Series proved quite a day out for Namibian Helalia Johannes as she set still more records and cemented her position at the top of the SPAR Grand Prix competition log. She took control of the race after 4km, breaking away from Ethiopian junior Tadu Nare, to win in a blisteringly fast 30:59, shattering her personal best by 46 seconds, and beating the course record of 31:18 set by Colleen de Reuck in 2000. She also set a new all-comer’s record for the fastest time ever run on South African soil by a woman, and a third new Namibian 10km national record and third new SPAR course record in as many outings in the 2019 Spar Grand Prix series. Earlier in the year, Johannes won the PE leg in April (clocking 31:51), and then won in Cape Town (31:45) in May, and also set a new Namibian half marathon record in the Two Oceans Half Marathon in April. After her latest win in Durban, she said, “I am very happy with my time, and the conditions were perfect. I have been focussing on shorter distances, but from now on I will be training for the marathon at the World Championships in Doha in October, so I don’t know how I will do in the next SPAR races.” Behind her, Nare finished second in 32:36, with South Africa’s Irvette van Zyl third in 32.57, thus giving the Nebank Running Club a clean-sweep of the top three 30 ISSUE 120 JULY 2019 / www.modernathlete.co.za Helalia Johannes and Tadu Nare break away from the pack podium positions. Last year’s Grand Prix overall winner, Glenrose Xaba (Boxer), finished fourth in 33:22, posting her best result thus far this year in the series. The first three runners all earned 10 Grand Prix bonus points for beating last year’s winning time of 33:07, but Nare admitted she went into the race knowing she could not keep up with Johannes. “What I wanted to do was to improve my time, and I am very happy that I was able to do so,” she said. Meanwhile, Van Zyl, a three times winner of the SPAR Grand Prix, said she had been determined to earn bonus points in Durban. “Having the international athletes competing this year has been very good for the SPAR Women’s Challenge series, because we are all running faster times. I wanted bonus points, because then you can stay in touch with the top runners in the Grand Prix. If you don’t get the bonus points, then you can drop right out of contention... and we are all going to struggle to get bonus points next year, because of the fast times set this year.” The SPAR Women’s 10km Challenge Durban is the oldest race in the national SPAR Women’s Challenge Series, and the 30th anniversary edition saw a total of 14,751 runners and walkers taking part in the 10km Challenge and the 5km Fun Run. The next race in the series will be in Pretoria on 3 August. The athletes came in their numbers to mark the 30 th running of the oldest race in the SPAR Series Namibian Helalia Johannes crosses the finishing line in the SPAR Women’s Challenge Durban at Jonsson Kings Park

Modern Athlete Magazine Issue 120, July 2019 | Page 30