Three Olympians, Helalia Johannes, Irvette van Zyl and Gerda Steyn will headline the return of the Spar Ladies 10km challenge this week in Pietermaritzburg.
The race will be limited to 250 runners and takes place under strict Covid-19 regulations. The Grand Prix series consists of six races in Durban, Cape Town, Gqeberha, Tshwane, Johannesburg and Pietermaritzburg.
The overall winner on points gets R190,000, the second-placed runner pockets R90,000 and the third-best runner walks away with R55,000.
Fresh from the Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan, Van Zyl, Johannes, and Steyn of the Nedbank Running Club will grace the occasion.
Johannes of Namibia was the best performer at the Olympics when she secured an 11th place finish in 2:31:22. She will be confident of defending her title in the Grand Prix series, which she won in 2019.
Steyn secured 15th position with the time of 2:32:10 in the 42.2km Olympic marathon.
Van Zyl failed to complete her Olympic marathon for the second time in a row. Her coach, Nick Bester, who doubles as the Nedbank Running Club team manager, said she was injured three days before the marathon.
“I don’t know how she got injured close to the race. When she left the country, she was in good shape. But she suffered a knee injury and she ran with the pain and could not finish the race. She went under the knife in the week of the race and could not take the pain. But she will run the Spar Ladies, and I hope she will make up for the Olympic disappointments,” Bester told Sowetan yesterday.
Kesa Molotsane, Glenrose Xaba and the Phalula twins Lebo and Lebogang hope to give the three Olympians a run for their money on Sunday.
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