THE SPAR Women’s Challenge has over the years grown from humble beginnings to one of the top three biggest women’s races in the world.
The six races, which are held in Cape Town, Port Elizabeth, Durban, Pretoria, Pietermaritzburg and Johannesburg, attracts international professional athletes from the continent and Europe as well as a great number of social runners.
The race started in 1996 with 600 athletes entering the race in Pretoria to the now 25 000, who will once again gather at SuperSport Park Stadium for the run on August 5. The Elite group of runners will take each other on in the 10km run while the 5km run will be for the recreational runners and the juniors.
Participants include Olympians, such as the Kalmer sisters, René and Christine, as well as Lebogang Phalula, Irvette van Zyl from South Africa and Rutendo Nyahora from Zimbabwe.
The SPAR Women’s Challenge is the premier event of the Gauteng North road running calendar. The Pretoria race is a key part of the SPAR Grand Prix series – the only competition of its kind in South African road running. The Grand Prix series allows the country’s most outstanding female runners to score points across five SPAR Women’s Challenge 10km races and be eligible for cash prizes and other rewards.
At this stage of the competition there is no clear-cut leader in the Grand Prix series and any of the athletes can still walk away with the top prize. Prize money has also been increased, with the series winner taking home R173 000. There will also be cash incentives for winners who meet target times for races.
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