SPAR Grand Prix title already in the bag?

Helalia Johannes of Nedbank appears to have the 2019 SPAR Grand Prix title in the bag.

The 39 year old has won the first four races in the SPAR Women’s Challenge series – all of them in record time – and has a 15-point lead on the SPAR Grand Prix ladder.

Last Saturday, 3 August, she smashed the record for the Tshwane leg of the SPAR Grand Prix, winning it in 32 minutes and 39 seconds. She now has 120 points and appears to have an unassailable lead.

Ethiopian junior Tadu Nare (Nedbank) is in second place, with 105 points. Nare came second in Port Elizabeth, Durban and Tshwane and third in Cape Town, earning bonus points in the first three races. She now has 105 points.

The 2017 SPAR Grand Prix winner, Kesa Molotsane (Murray & Roberts) is in third place, with 80 points. She came third in Cape Town and sixth in Port Elizabeth, earning bonus points in both races. She was seventh in Durban and eighth in Tshwane, but did not earn bonus points.

Three times Grand Prix winner and former Hoërskool Florida pupil, Irvette van Zyl (Nedbank) is in fourth position on the ladder. Irvette had to miss the Tshwane race after undergoing surgery to repair an ongoing nerve problem in her left leg. She has 78 points, after coming fifth in Port Elizabeth, seventh in Cape Town and third in Johannesburg, with bonus points in each race.

Last year’s Grand Prix winner, Glenrose Xaba (Boxer) has had a quiet year and is 13th on the leaderboard. She came ninth in Port Elizabeth, 12th in Cape Town, fourth in Durban and 16th in Tshwane, and has 54 points.

Helalia said her main focus now is the World Marathon Championships, which will be held in Doha in October. While she was committed to running in Pietermaritzburg on 18 Augus, she said she could not guarantee that she would run in the Johannesburg race, because it was immediately after the World Championships.

“I will have to see how my body feels before I decide,” she said.

In the club competition, Nedbank has a massive lead, with 557 points. Boxer is in second place, with 176 and Maxed Elite is third, with 163 points.