Heat plays role as Nyahora pips the rest of field to win

THE heat played a major role during the elite 10km run at the annual Pretoria leg of the SPAR Women’s Challenge.

On Saturday, August 29, the record turnout of more than 26 000 runners assembled at the starting line at 14:00 for a run in 29 degree weather.

It was Zimbabwe’s Rutendo Nyahora (26) who played it smart and waited for the perfect time to pip the strong field of elite runners in the 10km challenge. Her winning time of 34:54 reflected the hot conditions under which the runners had to make their technical moves to snag the coveted win. Nyahora made her late surge and notched an impressive 10km victory.

Nyahora overtook the strong-starting Phalula twins, Lebo and Lebogang, at the 7.5km mark and was not challenged again as she cruised to the finish. She collapsed as the heat caught up with her and upon finishing the race had to be treated for dehydration even though she mentioned at the press conference that she trained at midday.

“It all went according to plan and I’m so happy. I’ve been training at midday every day from the beginning of the month, so the heat did not affect me that much. I was struggling for the first two kilometres, but after that I enjoyed the race,” Nyahora said.

Lebo Phalula finished second in a time of 35:10, while Lebogang was third, a further 28 seconds back. Lebogang has earned enough points to be virtually assured of the SPAR Grand Prix Series title.

The series now moves to Johannesburg on October 11 where a determined Lebogang Phalula hopes to round off an excellent series with the overall title.