Runaway SPAR Grand Prix victory for Tadu Nare
Ethiopian runner Tadu Nare achieved a resounding win in the SPAR Grand Prix women’s race.
Ethiopian runner Tadu Nare (Nedbank) ran her best 10km time to achieve a resounding win in the SPAR Grand Prix women’s race in Greenpoint, Cape Town, on September 4.
Her time of 31:28 was a record for the Cape Town race.
Nare finished nearly three minutes ahead of second-placed Kesa Molotsane, who finished in 34:10, just six seconds ahead of her Murray & Roberts teammate, Cian Oldknow.
Nare shot to the lead right from the start and was soon out of sight of the rest of the field.
She said she thinks she could have run faster if there had been more competition.
“I was very cold at the start, so I struggled for the first couple of kilometres. But I preferred this flat course to the course in Pietermaritzburg. I am training for the Barcelona Marathon in November, so I decided to go fast to help me learn to handle the pain,” said Nare.
She also said she found it easy to run in South Africa after training at altitude in Ethiopia.
Molotsane, who is a former SPAR Grand Prix winner, said she was delighted with her second place.
“I have been struggling with injury and it feels good to be coming back to where I was. I also preferred this route, particularly because it was only two laps. I found the three loops in Pietermaritzburg difficult to cope with,” she said.
For Oldknow, it was a first podium finish.
She said she was in the ninth position at the halfway stage, but felt good, so she decided to go for the finish.
In the category for runners between 60 and 69, Judy Bird (Murray & Roberts) broke Sonja Laxton’s record with a time of 40:19. While former Comrades Marathon winner Charne Bosman (Murray & Roberts) ran the fastest time (35:31) for a runner between 45 and 49.
Nare’s second victory gives her an almost unassailable lead in the race for the overall SPAR Grand Prix title.
The 2019 winner, Helalia Johannes (Nedbank), missed the first two races because she was recovering from the women’s marathon at the Tokyo Olympics last month, but she will be back in action in Durban next week.
