THE most sought-after title in women’s road running, the Spar Grand Prix, is 10 years old this year, and is celebrating by looking to the future.
To celebrate the 10-year anniversary of the Spar Women’s Challenge, each of the previous Grand Prix winners will take a promising junior runner under her wing. This mentorship programme will include the junior runners travelling to all five races with their mentors and having access to advice about training, strategy and various aspects of competition.
The Spar Women’s 10km Challenge series is by far the biggest in South Africa, with more than 100 000 women competing in the five races held around the country. Many of South Africa’s elite athletes have launched their careers with the Spar Challenge, with runners like Rene Kalmer and Irvette van Zyl making their mark while still running as juniors.
In an environment where women’s sporting achievements are largely under-reported, the challenge has been an opportunity for the top runners to receive the recognition they richly deserve.
The Grand Prix was launched in 2007 to consolidate the five Spar Women’s 10km Challenge races into a single series for elite athletes. It has proved highly successful, with South Africa’s top runners vying for the top spot and raising the profile of each of the five races, which are held in Cape Town, Port Elizabeth, Durban, Pretoria and Johannesburg.
Five of the six runners who have won the Grand Prix have either qualified, or are in the process of qualifying, for the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro later this year, and Kalmer and van Zyl both took part in the London Olympics in 2012.
Kalmer has won the Grand Prix title three times and Irvette van Zyl has won it twice. Poppy Mlambo won the inaugural title. The ebullient Mapaseka Makhanya won in 2014, and the road running twins, Diana-Lebo and Lebogang Phalula took the title in 2015 and 2016 respectively.
Kalmer said she was very excited about the mentorship programme.
“I think it’s awesome that we are going to mentor some of the junior runners,” she said. “I feel privileged to be able to give something back.”
“The juniors will travel to the Spar races with us, so we will be able to advise them and to help them with training programmes and race tactics. I think we will be like a helpline for the juniors. It is all part of building for the future,” said Kalmer.
