Door opens for overseas entries

GRAND PRIX: POPULAR SERIES GOES INTERNATIONAL

A cool R173 000 up for grabs for the eventual winner.

Eleven years after it was first launched, the country’s most popular road running series will expand its reach today as the Spar Women’s Grand Prix opens its doors to foreign competitors for the first time.

While international athletes had previously been allowed to participate in individual 10km races, and were eligible for prize money, they did not qualify for the lucrative Grand Prix series.

Among the athletes affected by the previous restrictions was consistent Zimbabwean marathon runner Rutendo Nyahora, who regularly finished on the podium in recent seasons but was excluded from the year-end prize giving.

Mapaseka Makhanya (pictured), who won the 2013 series, said she welcomed the expected influx of foreign contenders, which was expected to lift the standard even further after the annual series had gradually improved the quality of local women’s road running performances.

Makhanya, displaying solid form on the road and track over the last few months, was expected to be among the front-runners in an attempt to hold off the international onslaught.

“I am particularly excited that the Grand Prix is now open to non-South Africans, and I am so happy for Rutendo,” Makhanya, who was announced as a Grand Prix series patron this week, said ahead of tomorrow’s series-opener in Cape Town.

“She is going to make life tough for the rest of us who are trying to win Grand Prix points.”

While three-time winner Rene Kalmer, also named as a patron, was sidelined for the first leg of the series after having her first child (daughter Karli) two weeks ago, the local contingent was set to be spearheaded by defending champion Irvette van Zyl, Kalmer’s younger sister Christine and twin sisters Diana-Lebo and Lebogang Phalula.

The winner of the series, expanded to include six legs for the first time this year, will take home R173 000, while additional bonuses were on offer for target times throughout the campaign.