Records expected to tumble in Durban's 10km women's race on Sunday

21 June 2022 - 13:02 By SPORT REPORTER
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Two Oceans Champion Gerda Steyn is one of the local favourites for this Sunday’s 2022 SPAR Grand Prix series 10km race in Durban.
Two Oceans Champion Gerda Steyn is one of the local favourites for this Sunday’s 2022 SPAR Grand Prix series 10km race in Durban.
Image: Rogan Ward

Organisers of the SPAR Women’s 10km Grand Prix series are expecting records to tumble in the second leg of the popular women-only road race in Durban on Sunday.

After the season opener in Gqeberha last month, which was very fast, with the first 11 runners home finishing in under 34 minutes, race director of the Durban edition Brad Glasspoole predicts more of the same on Sunday.

“The race is all at sea level, with the highest elevation nine metres,” he explained.

“It’s an ideal route for in-form runners to break records.”

The race starts and ends in Battery Road, outside Kings Park swimming pool and is one of the few races in SA to finish on the road rather than in a stadium.

The athletes will line up facing the famous Moses Mabhida Stadium.

The first 5km take the runners on a circuit around Kingsmead Cricket Ground while the second 5km takes them along Durban’s famous beach front, finishing in front of Kings Park swimming pool.

A quality field has entered the race, headed by the 2019 Grand Prix winner, Helalia Johannes of Namibia.

Forty-one-year-old Johannes was thought to have run the fastest time by a veteran in Gqeberha when she won the race in 31.53 minutes, but it was later found that 43-year-old Australian Lisa Weightman had run the Sydney 10km in 31.20 three weeks earlier.

However, Johannes set a world record for over 40s in the SA half marathon championships, with a time of 1hr 7.49 minutes, beating Weightman’s world record time of 1hr 8.48.

Two Oceans champion Gerda Steyn has confirmed her entry for the Durban race.

Also running on Sunday are Ethiopians Tadu Nare and Selam Gebre, who finished second and third respectively in Gqeberha. Nare won the Grand Prix in 2021. 

Local runners include Tayla Kavanagh, a Durbanite, who was the first South African home in Gqeberha, the 2018 Grand Prix winner Kesa Molotsane and three-time Grand Prix winner Irvette van Zyl.

Another exciting prospect is rising star Karabo Motsoeneng of Prestige College, who will represent SA at the World Under 20 Championships in August.

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