With more than 4 000 entries, the Spar Irene Lantern Race, hosted by Irene Athletics Club, is by far one of the most popular night races in Gauteng North.

With 2 293 finishers on the 10km and 1 765 on the 5km races respectively, runners at this year’s event were pleased with the beautiful medals and the bonus goody bags from Spar. It stands out from other road races due to the unique atmosphere of the event taking place on the Agricultural Research Campus (ARC) and its farm-like surrounds, as well as the distinctive lantern lit route.

Lucky Mohale (not affiliated to a club), won the men’s 10km in a time of 30min. 20sec. and Mapaseka “Speedstar” Makhanya broke the 9-year-old 10km-record for women athletes in a magnificent time of 34min.34sec.

Makhanya did justice to her nickname when she broke away from the pack very early on and finished almost 4 minutes before her closest rival. The previous record time of 35min.40sec. for this race was improved with more than a minute. Irene Athletics Club hosts three well-known road races every year, being the Spar Lantern Night Race, the Irene Village Mall Spring Race early in September and the Liquifruit half-marathon and 10km-races in October.

This year, Irene Athletics club will host a marathon for the first time in the club’s 21 years existence. The marathon, which will be an early Comrades qualifier on 30 August 2015, is perched to serve as a training run for ultra and endurance athletes, with the marathon starting at 12:00 midday, with a cut-off of six hours.

In true Irene style, this will be a family-friendly event, complete with half-marathon, 10km and a massive 5 km fun run. The first Irene Lantern Race was held in 1997. Spar has been the sponsor for the past 15 years.