Modern Athlete Magazine Issue 122, September 2019 | Page 26

ADVERTORIAL
Johannes Leads
Spar Grand Prix,
but Nare Could
Snatch Victory
Amazing runs by Namibian Helalia Johannes
(Nedbank) has given her five wins and five new
course records in the SPAR Women’s 10km
Challenge
rg could
The final leg of the series in Jobu
Grand
SPA
the
of
er
winn
decide the final
150 points
Prix, with Helalia Johannes on
points
and Ethiopian Tadu Nare on 134
Having won all five races thus far in the 2019 Spar Women’s 10km
Challenge Series, Namibian Helalia Johannes has put herself in a
very strong position to claim the SPAR Grand Prix title at the Joburg
race on 5 October. The Nedbank athlete is now on 150 points, with
her closest rival being Nedbank teammate Tadu Nare, the junior
from Ethiopia, who has 134 points after finishing second in all five
races in the series.
T
he 2019 series has taken women’s road
running in South Africa to new levels thanks
to an influx of international runners lifting
overall standards, leading to faster times, which in
turn has seen several of the top runners beating last
year’s winning times in the various races to earn extra
bonus points. For example, the first eight runners to
cross the finish line in the Pietermaritzburg race in
mid-August all beat last year’s winning time of 34:26,
giving them each 10 bonus points.
Furthermore, reigning Commonwealth Games
marathon champion Johannes has not only won the
five SPAR races thus far in Port Elizabeth, Cape Town,
Durban, Tshwane and Pietermaritzburg, but has set
new course records at all five as well. This included
a 30:59 winning time in the Durban leg in mid-June,
which is now the fastest time ever run by a woman on
South African soil, and gave the Namibian a fifth new
Namibian national record this past year, from 10km to
the marathon!
26
The winner of the SPAR Grand Prix will take home a
whopping R185,000, while the runner-up will pocket
R65,000 and the third-placed runner will receive
R40,000. The top 15 on the SPAR Grand Prix ladder
all receive cash prizes. After Johannes (first) and Nare
(second), the next runner in the current Grand Prix
standings is 2017 Grand Prix winner, South African
Kesa Molotsane (Murray & Roberts), currently in third
position on 107 points. She has finished third, sixth,
seventh, eighth and fourth in the five races so far,
earning bonus points in three races.
Another South African, triple Grand Prix winner
Irvette van Zyl (Nedbank) is five points behind her,
on 102 points, having finished fifth, seventh, third
and seventh, and earning bonus points in each race,
but she missed the Tshwane race while recovering
from surgery to repair nerve damage in her left leg.
However, she stormed back in Maritzburg with
another top 10 finish, despite it being only seven
weeks after the operation.
The coordinator of the SPAR Grand Prix, Ian Laxton,
says the introduction of foreign runners has raised
the standard of running in South Africa. “Runners
like Johannes and Nade are forcing our local runners
to run faster. It is noticeable that in all races except
Tshwane, more than one runner earned bonus points.
The competition for points is fierce, and it is now very
difficult for a runner to miss a race. Irvette is doing so
ISSUE 122 SEPTEMBER 2019 / www.modernathlete.co.za
well because she earned bonus points in all the races
she has run in, so although she missed a race, she is
still right up there.”
Exciting Finale in Joburg
The 2019 series will come to an end at the sixth and
final race in October in Johannesburg, but there
may still be a twist in the tale of the 2019 Grand Prix
championship. This is because Johannes will be
competing for her country in the IAAF World Champs
Marathon in Doha, Qatar, on September 27, and
will only decide after that whether to compete in
Johannesburg. If she misses the Joburg race, which
takes place just one week after her marathon outing,
it could see Nare snatch the title away from her,
provided she can close the 16-point gap by winning
the race and earning bonus points for posting a time
faster than last year’s winning time.
Meanwhile, Nare is comfortably in the lead in the
junior category of the SPAR Grand Prix, with 30 points
from the three races run so far that count towards the
competition. Bulelwa Simae (Boxer) tops the 40-49
division on 33 points, former Comrades Marathon
gold medallist Grace de Oliveira (Murray & Roberts) is
in the lead in the 50-59 category, with 34 points, and
Olga Howard (Nedbank) has already clinched the 60+
category – she has 43 points and is 28 points ahead
of her nearest rival. Nedbank dominates the club
combination, with 667 points, while Boxer has 249
points and Murray & Roberts is on 209.
Chasing a Podium Finish