Irvette van Zyl wary of local field for OneRun race

Despite the absence of in-form athlete Kesa Molotsane, defending champion Irvette van Zyl expects to face a tough battle on Sunday, after being unveiled in the elite women’s line-up for the Cape Town 12 OneRun.

Van Zyl won the 12km race last year in 39:40, less than a minute outside Elana Meyer’s long-standing SA best of 38:49 over the rarely run distance.

Also read: The Kenyan pretender to Stephen Mokoka’s throne

Despite struggling to find her best shape this season, the Olympic marathon runner was again set to toe the line as favourite in the absence of Molotsane, the national 5 000m champion.

“I am looking forward to the race. I had a really good run here in 2016 and would like to defend my title,” Van Zyl said.

“It is sad that Kesa is not here – we have had some great races this year – but that doesn’t mean that I can relax.”

With Van Zyl having led a local onslaught last year, after a strong foreign contingent dominated the inaugural race through the streets of the Mother City in 2015, the elite women’s field was again spearheaded by SA athletes.

Her strongest challenge was expected to come from Western Cape star Nolene Conrad, who finished second behind Van Zyl at the Two Oceans Half-Marathon five weeks ago, and marathon specialist Cornelia Joubert, who clocked a 10km personal best of 33:46 at the Spar Women’s Challenge road race in Cape Town last month.

Organisers confirmed last week that local athlete Stephen Mokoka would defend his title in the men’s race, after missing the world best of 33:31 by three seconds to secure victory last year.

Over 13 000 runners had entered the third edition of the race, which offered a R200 000 prize purse to the elite field.

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