Spar Grand Prix drama in Joburg
EMMARENTIA – Runners give it their all at the Joburg event of the SPAR Grand Prix series.
It was everything we have come to expect from the SPAR Grand Prix 10km race, with passion, drama and tears shed on the road in the Joburg event.
There was plenty energy as the sun came out at Marks Park Sports Club on October 3, with 221 runners confirming their entries for the penultimate race and making it the largest event in the six-run series.
No spectators were allowed but a small crowd of family members, coaches and fellow runners waited at the finish line to cheer the runners on as they completed two laps of what was more or less one route.
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Tadu Nare (Nedbank), who had won all four events leading up to the event in Emmarentia, proved too good again with a comfortable 33:20 win, more than a minute ahead of Murray and Roberts’ Kesa Molotsane (34:34) in second, who in turn was a close six seconds ahead of third place Irvette van Zyl of Nedbank – a remarkable achievement considering Van Zyl is still recovering from a back injury that flared up right before the Olympic Games in Tokyo.
Through her Amharic interpreter, Ethiopian runner Tadu Nare described the competition between runners as challenging, but she enjoyed the race while still retaining energy for the final run in Gqeberha on October 9, where she said she may run under 30 minutes if the weather was good.
Murray and Roberts Running Club registered the top four veteran category (ages 40–49) finishers. Janie Grundling, Jeanie Henderson, Enie Manzini and Kate Rees finished within 26 seconds of each other, with Grundling (first in 38:54) describing the route as tough and the last 2.5km as uphill.
The first junior category winner, 16-year-old Naledi Makgatha (37:24), also of Murray and Roberts, finished way ahead of the next junior (Micha van Vuuren of Impala Marathon Club in 40:28).
The oldest runner at the race, Fontainebleau resident Deirdre Larkin (90) did Run Zone Athletics Club proud with a finish in 70 minutes. She gave a few words at the press conference with her usual optimistic and quirky antics, and she had the journalists and runners in stitches of laughter. She also received a kiss on the cheek by Nare.
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Fortunate Chidzivo, who had been in second place on the grand prix log, finished in eighth position, but collapsed just after finishing. She was stabilised on the finish line by the race paramedics before being taken to hospital for treatment, but was discharged in time for the prize giving.
The result moves her to third on the log behind Molotsane and Nare.
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