TIGHT RACE EXPECTED IN PORT ELIZABETH

Port Elizabeth, South Africa - Port Elizabeth will be the focus for South Africa’s top female roadrunnerson Saturday when they take part in the SPAR Women’s 10km Challenge at Pollok Beach on Saturdaymorning.
The Port Elizabeth Challenge is the second of five SPAR Women’s Challenge races held around South Africa. Irvette Van Zyl won the first race in Cape Town last month, with Nyahora in second place and Lebogang Phalula third.
Van Zyl and two other top contenders, Rene Kalmer and Diana-Lebo Phalula, all ran marathons the week after the Cape Town race, and may still be feeling the effects, but other top runners such as Nyahora, Lebogang Phalula, Mapaseka Makhanya and Christine Kalmer are all in fine fettle and the race should be a tight one. Van Zyl appears to be in the form of her life after giving birth to a son last September and may well be able to shake off the effect of her run.
The queen of South African road-running, Sonja Laxton, will be setting a new record on Saturday when she takes part in her 90th SPAR Challenge. Setting records is nothing new to Laxton – she’s been setting them for more than 45 years and one of her greatest achievements was to become the first athlete, male or female, to be awarded national colours in all three branches of athletics, track, road and cross-country.
In all, Sonja collected 70 national titles, on the track, on the road and in cross-country. She set 28 senior national records over the 1500m, mile, 3000m and 10 000m on the track, and over the half and full marathon distances on the road. She also set numerous SA age group and provincial records.
This year, for the first time, the six women who have won the SPAR Grand Prix – a prize awarded to the runner who fares best in the five Challenge races – are each mentoring a junior runner. Simonay Weitz, who finished 11th overall in Cape Town, has been partnered with Mapaseka Makhanya, and Ashleigh Simonis, who was 12th overall, has Lebogang Phalula as her mentor. Nicole van der Merwe, who was 15th overall in Cape Town, has Van Zyl as her adviser.
Poppy Mlambo, the second Grand Prix winner, has Lebohang Ramela as her junior, while Rene Kalmer is mentoring Chery-Lee Schoeman, who is a pupil at the school at which Kalmer used to teach. Diana-Lebo Phalula is taking care of Keletso Senosi. For the first time, all six Grand Prix winners and their juniors will be running on Saturday.
ends