Van Zyl wins third Spar 10km Grand Prix title
Irvette van Zyl not only won the SPAR Women's Challenge Joburg leg but also the Grand Prix series.
WITH just a six points lead in the Spar Women’s Challenge Grand Prix series of 10km road races, prior to the fifth race of five, Irvette van Zyl didn’t disappoint as she won for the fourth time in four starts to clinch her third Grand Prix Series title.
The Jo’burg leg at the Wanderers Club thus resulted in a perfect 2016 Spar Women’s Challenge ending for Van Zyl on Sunday October 9. The Nedbank running club athlete led the pack from start to finish in 34 minutes, 58 seconds. Olifantsfontein’s Mapaseka Makhanya finished strongly from back in the pack to claim second place in 35:46, ahead of Zimbabwe’s Rutendo Nyahora (also Team Nedbank) crossing the line for third in 36 minutes.
Van Zyl didn’t run in the Centurion leg in September due to a foot injury, which also kept the Olympian – who is married to fellow Olympian L.J. van Zyl – from competing in the marathon at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games. Thus the Jo’burg leg was a must win for her to secure the biggest prize she could contest, having won the first three races in Cape Town (April), Port Elizabeth (May) and Durban (June) to build up substantial Grand Prix series points lead after the third race.
“I trained a lot in the warmer conditions, so that it wouldn’t have any effect on me and then this much cooler weather helped me all the way,” said Van Zyl. “I knew I had to built up a strong lead between me and the rest of the field, as there are some strong runners on both the downhills and uphills and they were all chasing me.”
“Midway through the race at the long uphill, I thought I wanted to make the gap even bigger and so I really put everything into that hill, believing the turning point to head home was just around the corner – but unfortunately, that wasn’t the case and I realised it was even further to the line. My whole body just had a slight collapse and I had to go slower to recuperate, which cost me 20 seconds at the end of the race. But all in all I am very satisfied.”
“My foot is much better and we controlled the way in which I trained and my overall running. I’ll race in the Soweto marathon, which will be the last for the year. I won’t be looking at running in track events in the near future, but will concentrate on the road events.”
A record entry of 14 562 women took part in Sunday’s race.
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