SPAR Grand Prix winners rewarded for their achievements
After another season of tough competition and challenging races in the SPAR Grand Prix, the top athletes were able to receive the reward for their hard work of 2022 on Wednesday afternoon during the official awards event in Pretoria of this popular road race series.
The top athletes, who are normally only seen in athletic wear or tracksuits during races in the SPAR Grand Prix, were able to dress up properly on Wednesday afternoon for the grand occasion in the Maslow hotel at Time Square in Menlyn, when this road race series’ official winners were rewarded with their prizes.
For the second successive year, Ethiopian Tadu Nare (Nedbank) is going home to Addis Ababa with a substantial winner’s cheque.
Nare successfully defended her 2021 SPAR Grand Prix Women’s 10km title with resounding victories in five of the six races to collect the first prize of R190 000. With additional prize money of R30 000 for each of her wins in the individual races, she has pocketed more than R350 000 from the SPAR Grand Prix this year.
Nare was thrilled with her victory, saying the money would be used to complete the house she started building with her prize money last year.
“I have also bought some land as an investment,” she added.
The young athlete is grateful to SPAR and Nedbank for making it possible for her to earn substantial prize money while boosting her standing as an international level athlete. Nare, who was runner-up to Nedbank teammate Helalia Johannes of Namibia in 2019, said she had come to regard South Africa as a second home while competing in the series.
Photo: Ron Sibiya
“The people here have made me feel very welcome and I have loved running here. I hope I’ll be able to defend my title next year, but that will depend on possible international commitments. I will have to discuss it with my coach and see what is best for me,” she remarked.
Nare is scheduled to compete in the Valencia Marathon in Spain on December 4 and is hoping to repeat her success of last year in Barcelona, where she won impressively in 2:23:53 in her debut marathon.
Fellow Ethiopian Selam Gebre, who is also in the Nedbank stable, finished second in the SPAR Grand Prix and will take home R100 000. Gebre finished third in four races and second in Tshwane and Cape Town. She also won the junior category by a large margin, winning all six races.
The 2019 SPAR Grand Prix winner, Helalia Johannes, is third on the SPAR Grand Prix ladder and will pocket R60 000.
Johannes, who did not compete in the series in 2021, won in Cape Town, finished second in Durban, Mbombela and Johannesburg but missed the Tshwane race due to Commonwealth Games commitments. In the final SPAR Grand Prix race in Cape Town, she was third overall and easily clinched the over 40-49 year age category title in the series.
Kesa Molotsane (Murray & Roberts), the 2017 SPAR Grand Prix winner, finished fourth on the table, proving the importance of consistency. She was eighth in Gqeberha, fifth in Durban, Mbombela and Tshwane, seventh in Johannesburg and fourth in Cape Town.
Marili Munnik (Murray & Roberts) won the 50-59 year category and Judy Bird (Murray & Roberts) finished top in the category for runners over 60.
Photo: Reg Caldecott
SPAR Group Sponsorship and Events Manager, Charlene Subbarayan confirmed that SPAR would continue with their sponsorship of the SPAR Grand Prix in 2023.
“After two difficult years of hosting events due to COVID-19 we look forward to returning back to normal in 2023 and promise that the SPAR Grand Prix will be bigger and better with each of the six races forming part of the SPAR Women’s Challenge series. Our target for next year is to reach 120 000 women throughout the country through this sponsorship and to keep growing the numbers of women’s road running in the country working closely with our partner Athletics South Africa,” said Subbarayan.
Subbarayan also said that, although the series will be “back to normal” in 2023 and will be presented again with mass participation in the streets of the respective cities where the races take place, she believes SPAR has done the right thing to present the race as a virtual event for the masses during the past three years.
According to Subbarayan, the “SPAR Women’s Race” brand has continued to grow despite the challenges over the past three years and it is now officially the third largest brand in this market after the Comrades and Two Oceans marathons.
She also confirmed that the prize money for the SPAR Grand Prix will be increased next year.
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