After five races, two Ethiopians, Tadu Nare and Selam Gebre, have a significant lead on the 2022 Spar Grand Prix Women’s 10km standings.
Nare, who won the Spar Grand Prix last year, after finishing second in 2019, has 149 points after winning the Joburg race on Sunday. She was second in Gqeberha, but won the Durban, Mbombela, Tshwane and Johannesburg races.
Spar Grand Prix technical coordinator Ian Laxton said it was still technically possible for Gebre, who has 141 points, to overtake her Nedbank teammate, but this would require her to beat Nare by at least nine places in the final race in Cape Town on Sunday, 23 October.
Gebre was third in Gqeberha, Durban, Mbombela and Johannesburg and second in Tshwane.
The 2019 champion, Helalia Johannes of Namibia, is third on the log, with 117 points, and has no chance of overtaking Nare and Gebre. Johannes, who missed the entire 2021 series, won the opening race in Gqeberha, but was second to Nare in Durban, Mbombela and Johannesburg. She missed the race in Tshwane because she was unable to get back from the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham in time.
The 2017 Spar Grand Prix titleholder Kesa Molotsane (Murray & Roberts) retained her fourth place on the log with 105 points. Molotsane’s consistent performances in all the races, finishing between fifth and eighth in the five races so far, with bonus points for outstanding times throughout the series, have proved the value of participating in all the races in the series.
Another consistent performer is Cacisile Sosibo (Boxer), who is in fifth spot with 92 points.
The 2018 titleholder, Glenrose Xaba, missed the first two races as she focused on trying to qualify for the Athletics World Championships and the Commonwealth Games. She finished fourth in Mbombela, Tshwane and Johannesburg and would be higher on the log if she had run all five races. She is in eighth place, with 81 points – two ahead of three-time Spar Grand Prix winner Irvette van Zyl, who has missed two races because of injury.
Nare confirmed on Sunday that she would definitely be running the final race in Cape Town later this month.
“All this hard work would be in vain if I didn’t run the final race,” she said.