Lebogang Phalula, Christine Kalmer, Ruthendo Nyahora, with the exception of Irvette Van Zyl, graced the media launch and also confirmed their participation at this year’s challenge on October 9.
Being this year’s final race in the five-race SPAR Grand Prix, over 15 000 participants are expected, therefore, this means female runners will be taking part in an effort to gain as many Grand Prix points as possible.
SPAR South- Rands’ Marketing Director Martin Webber says they expect more women to partake this year, since its revenue is drawn from females.
“Our race is not only about top athletes and social runners and walkers but also about fun and entertainment so it’s with pleasure we have Rene and Mel Kalmer as our faces of the Joburg Challenge this year,” he said.
Nyahora, who last year won the Pretoria battle says she looks forward to another great encounter with competitors but also promised to outnumber the Phalula sisters.
This years’ Johannesburg SPAR 10km Challenge and 5km Fun Run, designed by legendary Sonja Laxton, have become an important fixture on the road running calendar, with thousands of women and girls from all walks of life taking part.
Asked on the sidelines, if there’s possibility in future that Spar might be the potential sponsor to the Olympics, since they’ve produced more athletes, Webber simply responded “it’s the prerogative of the big bosses at SPAR nationally”.
As part of the race social programmse, more than 1000 pairs of running shoes will be donated as part of the Drop off a Pair and Show You Care initiative and since October is Cancer Month, the designated charity organization Reach for Recovery, a voluntary support group for women with breast cancer, will benefit from the race as well.
SPAR also encourages schools to participate in the race and have partnered with Mercer to award the top three schools with the largest entries and race finishers with IT prizes.
For more information on entries visit: www.spar.co.za, www.entrytime.com or http://sparjoburg@entrytime.com
Indeed, this would be SA most beautiful race!
