She hasn’t quite wrapped things up yet, but Ethiopian star Tadu Nare has a good chance of securing her third straight SPAR Grand Prix series title when she lines up for the fifth leg of the country’s top women’s road running series in Tshwane on Saturday.

There will still be one more race to run this season, at the final leg of the series in Johannesburg, but if she can pick up another bonus-point victory in Centurion this weekend, Nedbank Running Club’s Nare will have an unassailable lead at the top of the standings.

Considering her spectacular form, having won the last three races after skipping the first leg of the series, Nare will be difficult to beat.

She does, however, have to hold off a challenge from perhaps the strongest field of the 2023 campaign.

The current series leader, 20-year-old Ethiopian Selam Gebre (Nedbank), has already competed in four races this year, and with each athlete’s best four results counting towards points on the SPAR Grand Prix leaderboard, she will be eager to take a step up with a win after securing the runner-up spot in every race this season.

Also with four races under her belt, South Africa’s Glenrose Xaba (Boxer) will be hoping to rake in more points with an improved performance, as will Lesotho’s Blandina Makatisi. Xaba and Makatisi are currently in second and third positions.

While she is currently placed eighth, Cian Oldknow (Hollywood) will also be looking to climb the standings, having run only two races in the series thus far.

Although they are not prominent on the Grand Prix leaderboard, a few other athletes will be looking to put up a fight, including former series winners Irvette van Zyl and Rutendo Nyahora and their Hollywood Athletics Club teammate Neheng Khatala.

The fifth leg of the series, which includes a 5km fun run and the 10km race, will start at 14:00 at SuperSport Park in Centurion on Saturday.

Remaining races:

• Tshwane – Saturday, August 5 – SuperSport Park
• Joburg – Sunday, October 1 – Marks Park Sporting Club