The SPAR Grand Prix series got off to a wet and chilly start in Cape Town . The cold , windy conditions slowed the runners down and for the first time in two years , no runners in the open category achieved the challenging targets of 33:00 ( for 10 bonus points ) or 33:30 ( 5 points ) to be able to add to their position points . In previous years , runners were able to build up a significant gap between themselves and their nearest rivals by scoring these extra points .

This year the top runners will go into the second race in Gqeberha in a close pack , separated by just a single point from one position to the next . The two Ethiopian runners , Hiyane Lama and last year ’ s Cape Town SPAR Grand Prix runner-up , Selam Gebre , top the leaderboard with 20 and 19 points respectively , followed by two former Grand Prix winners , Glenrose Xaba ( 18 points ) and Kesa Molotsane ( 17 points ). Rising star Cacisile Sosibo has 16 points after finishing fifth .

Some of the age-group runners did beat the weather and the bonus points targets . In the 50-59 years category , Ronel Thomas and Janene Carey both beat the target of 41:00 , ending up with 10 and 9 points respectively . In the 60-69 years category , perennial winner Judy Bird collected 10 points for easily beating the 48:00 target with her winning time of 40:55 , and two other runners in this category , Grace de Oliveira and Dee Smale , also collected bonus points .

Boxer got off to a flying start in the club competition of the 2023 SPAR Grand Prix and leads with 76 points from seven scorers . Nedbank also scored seven times , accruing 56 points , while Murray & Roberts ( 27 points ) and Phantane ( 18 ) both had two scorers each .

The next race in the six-race SPAR Grand Prix series takes place in Gqeberha on Saturday 27 May . With the

1 Hiyane Lama Nedbank 20

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race for top honours neck-and-neck , the excitement is already building up after just the opening round . For the first time in SPAR Grand Prix history , the runners ’ top four points totals out of the six races will count for the final points , with their lowest two being discarded . Equally , an athlete entering the race in the second or even third race could still win overall .

This means that anything can still happen in the 2023 Series , and the news that last year ’ s Grand Prix winner , Tadu Nare of Ethiopia , plans to join the competition in the second race in Gqeberha , only adds to the uncertainty and drama . Nare missed the Cape Town race due to competing in the London Marathon where she finished 8th .

The top three finishers of the Cape Town SPAR Women ’ s 10km Challenge

This is how the standings look after the first race in Cape Town in April , with individual runners scoring points in their categories , and clubs scoring points depending on how many athletes qualified for points in these categories .

1 Christiane Adriaanse Nedbank 5

Race winner Hiyane Lama

2023 Cape Town SPAR Women ’ s 10km Challenge winner Hiyane Lama with 1993 winner Elana Meyer

20 Lee-Shay Willemse Velocity 1 5 Dawn Saunders Helderberg Harriers 1

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