It’s back to business at the SPAR Women’s Challenge

It’s all action once again at the SPAR Women’s 10km Challenge, as the 2023 edition of the popular series gets underway in Green Point, Cape Town on Sunday (23 April).

While the SPAR Grand Prix circuit blazed brightly last year, offering elite athletes from Africa the opportunity of  racing regularly against top opposition over 10km on the road of South African cities, this year will be the first time since COVID that the masses will be able to rejoin the party, returning the event to the glory days which made the SPAR series the biggest women’s road series on the continent.

14000 women will run or walk 5km or 10km in a circuit around Green Point and out and back along the Sea Point Promenade. The race sold out in a heartbeat, and it is hoped that the City will allow numbers to return to their pre-COVID levels (over 20 000) next year.

The SPAR series has seen the country’s and continent’s leading athletes fight it out for overall honours in past years, with the likes of Sonja Laxton, Elana van Zyl, Rene Kalmer, Irvette van Zyl and Kesa Molotsane among past-winners.

Last year Ethiopian, Tadu Nare, swept to victory in the Cape Town leg of the series – and the overall Grand Prix title – ahead of her compatriot and training partner, Selem Gebre, and Namibian Helalia Johannes.  But the talented Nare will be running London Marathon on Sunday, opening the field and  potentially handing over the baton to 20-year-old Gebre or fellow Ethiopians, 2:29 marathoner Genet Abdurkadir, or Hiyane Geshe, all running in the light green strip of Nedbank Running Club.

Rising Lesotho star, Mokulubete Blandina Makatisi (Maxed Elite) finished 3^rd in the Women’s Two Oceans Half Marathon last Sunday and will also be in the mix at the front of the field, challenging for a podium place or a win.

On current form the South Africans most likely to push for victory are Boxer Athletics Club athlete, Glenrose Xaba, who equalled her personal best over 5000m on the Green Point track a stone’s throw from tomorrow’s start, last Friday, and Hollywood Athletics Club new signing, Cian Oldknow, the leading South African home at the World Cross Country Championships in Australia in February.

Several other strong athletes give depth to the field with the likes of Xaba’s Boxer teammates, Cacisile Sosibo and the evergreen Phalula twins Lebo and Lebogang, Murray and Roberts athletes Kesa Molatsane and Jenna Challenor and local favourites Fortunate Chidzivo (Langa Athletics Club) and Anel Terblance (Nedbank) likely to push hard for a stake in the generous prize money for the top ten positions.

All races – the 10km run, 10km walk and 5km run / walk get underway on the Granger Boulevard and finish on the fields on the Green Point Common.  The 10km run starts at 07h00 with the other races following at 07h15 and 07h40 respectively.