Modern Athlete Magazine Issue 124, November 2019 | Page 10

KALMER’S
CORNER
Our Modern Athlete Brand Ambassador’s Blog
By Rene Kalmer
JUGGLING ACT
It’s my favourite time of the year again: The days are getting longer and the nights shorter, and the streets are covered
in the ‘Purple Rain’ from the blooming Jacaranda Trees. Getting up for morning runs is becoming an absolute pleasure,
and you are seeing more and more runners back into training to work on those December bodies. This also means
that we are in the final straight of 2019, with the Spar Grand Prix series done and dusted after the final SPAR Women’s
Challenge race that took place in Johannesburg on 6 October.
T
he theme of this year’s SPAR Joburg race
was celebrating the different generations
of runners, with the young and old all
joining in the fun at Marks Park. This also made
me reflect on my amazing SPAR journey, which
started way back in 1994 when I ran my first
SPAR 10km at the age of 13. Two years later
I shared the podium with the legendary Sonja
Laxton and Nicole Fuller. In my wildest dreams, I
would never have imagined being a proud SPAR
Ambassador for the race 25 years later, not to
mention all the fabulous women (and men) I have
met along the road, as well as the lifelong friends
I have made with fellow runners over the years.
Karli was very cautious of the big Bear and I ended up
carrying her across the finish line. She was horrified
when she saw how the bear later took off his own
head, just to discover an actual man, Nic de Beer,
inside the bear. Luckily, Nic sent her a short video later
telling her not to be scared of the Bear, and inviting her
for another run with the
Bear when she
is in Cape
Town
again.
In the 5km, the girls from the Murray & Roberts
Vorentoe Academy took an astonishing 14 out
of the first 15 places. Big thanks to Marlene
Gunter for taking special care of the Vories –
they had an absolute blast before and after
the race, and went home with butterflies or
Spiderman painted on their faces. The Vories
are also one of the beneficiaries of the “DROP
OFF A PAIR and show you care” campaign, for
which they are truly grateful.
Good for Us All!
Getting Back to Form
I am proud to report that I ended the Spar series on
a high with an 11 th place, my best position for the
year. It was also great to share the road again with
my sister Christine, who was sidelined for most of the
year with a Plantar Fasciitis injury. Christine and I were
very familiar with the race route, as we do most of
our midweek long runs in the Emmerentia, Greenside
area. We will definitely incorporate the hill from 6km to
8km along the Park View Golf Club in our future runs.
(I won’t mention any names, but we did pass a couple
of elite runners that were walking on this gruelling hill.)
Thank you once again to SPAR for this amazing
series and hosting almost 100,000 women
(and some ‘confused’ men) across the country,
with races that took place in PE, Cape Town,
Durban, Pietermaritzburg, Pretoria and Joburg!
This series brings together runners of all ages, fitness
levels, shapes and sizes, and whether you run the 5km
or 10km, whether you finish first or last, the SPAR series
certainly remains one of the highlights of the running
calendar. As they say, SPAR – Good for You!
One runner that definitely flew up that hill was Namibian
sensation, Helalia Johannes, who clocked her sixth
consecutive record-breaking win in 33:16. What made
her performance even more remarkable is the fact that
she won the bronze medal in the women’s marathon at
the World Championships in Doha just a week prior to
this race. Also, hats off to our local girls, Gerda Steyn
and Irvette van Zyl, for finishing second and third,
respectively, and flying the SA flag high. Congrats as
About the Author:
René Kalmer is a two-time Olympian, having represented SA in the 1500m at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and
in the marathon at the 2012 London Games. She has also won more than 40 SA titles in track, road and
cross country at youth, junior and senior level, in distances from 800m to the half marathon.
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ISSUE 124 NOVEMBER 2019 / www.modernathlete.co.za
What made this year’s Joburg race extra special is
the fact that Sonja ran her 100 th Spar race. That’s
an amazing achievement! My daughter, Karli,
and I also had the privilege of crossing the finish
line with Sonja for this momentous occasion,
along with Sonja’s daughter Kim, who was dressed
like Goldilocks and running with a bear-friend, because
“Goldilocks and The Bear” was Sonja’s charity of choice.
Their aim is to provide early detection and intervention
for children with ADHD and other mental health issues.
well to the legendary Deidre Larkin on winning
the 80-plus category in 64:14.