Ethiopians runners continue to dominate Spar Grand Prix as Tadu Nare shines in Gqeberha

As expected, Ethiopian runners continued to dominate the Spar Grand Prix series as Tadu Nare claimed a comfortable victory in the second leg of the Women’s 10km Challenge in a cold Gqeberha on Saturday.   

The cold caused problems for a few runners who complained they struggled to breathe properly during the race.   

However, the 21-year-old Nare didn’t have any challenges, reaching the finish line in Pollock Beach in a time of 31:35, the fastest time to be run in the city.   

She bettered the time of 31:53 set by Namibian road running star Helalia Johannes last year.   

Nare won the race ahead of her fellow Ethiopian and Nedbank Running Club teammate Selam Gebre who also struggled to breathe as she came in second in a time of 31:53.   

Glenrose Xaba finished in third spot 32:12 which is her personal best and became the first South African home.   

Defending champion Nare had missed the first leg of the series in Cape Town last month as she was running the London Marathon on the same day.   

In her absence, Hiyane Lama, also from Ethiopia, won the race in the Mother City but didn’t run in the second leg in Gqeberha.   

Nare proved to be unbeatable in the second leg as she led for most of the race and placed herself in a good position to defend her title despite missing the first leg.

While Nare was happy with the fastest time in Gqeberha, she revealed after the race that the plan was to run a sub-31.

However, the field was not fast enough for the Ethiopian to achieve her goal on the day.

“It was a wonderful race, even the course itself was nice and easy to run. I was very comfortable,” Nare said.

“I’m very happy with the outcome even though I needed someone to help me push myself so that I could run a sub-31. That was my plan, but all in all it was a good race.”   

Gebre also finished second in Cape Town while Boxer Athletics Club’s Xaba also took the third place on the podium.   

Xaba said she was thrilled about improving her personal best and believes the race has prepared her for the SA half marathon which will be hosted in the Gqeberha next week.

“I’m feeling very happy about the race. It went according to the way I planned,” Xaba said.

“I came with a positive mind to run a very fast time and the conditions allowed us to run very fast. I knew we were going to run fast because Tadu Nare is here.”

The fourth spot went to Lesotho’s Blandina Makatisi (32:46) while Cian Oldknow was the second South African to cross the finish line and finished fifth overall with a time of 32:49.   

Kesa Molotsane (33:06), Cacisile Sosibo (33:10), the promising Tayla Kavanagh (33:11) and Lebo Phalula (33:32) were the other local athletes that made the top 10 in Gqeberha.

* Sithembiso Dindi is in Gqeberha as a guest of Spar Group.

Support independent journalism by subscribing to the Sunday Times. Just R20 for the first month.