It was in Tshwane that South Africa’s Glenrose Xaba put just over 2 minutes on Nare over the final 3 km of the race to become the victor. Nare finished 2nd however had been ill for the race. “The day before I started to feel sick and my stomach was giving me problems,” said Nare. “If it was any other race, I would not have started but because the Spar series are so important to me, I tried my best to run.” Nare has since recovered but now the telling factor will be if she has recovered enough from her R1 million victory at last week’s Mpumalanga Marathon. Nare was a clear winner in the race and although she did not push 100%, the marathon effort may still be in her legs come Saturday.

Also joining Nare in Gqeberha will be Nedbank running club teammate, Diniya Abaraya. The young Ethiopian has, like Nare, started her international running career on the roads of South Africa, She finished 2nd behind Xaba in the Cape Town leg of the series and is a young athlete who is always improving. “We have a very strong development program in the Nedbank running club that focuses not only on our runners here in South Africa, but also a very strong group in Ethiopia under the watchful eyes of Belay Hagos who also brought out Nare when she was just 16 and is now one of the worlds fastest female marathon runner ever,” says Nick Bester, National team manager of the Nedbank running club.

Also out in action will be 70+ world age group record setting superstar Margie Saunders.

The SPAR Grand Prix Gqeberha race will be Livestreamed from 06:50 on Saturday morning on the SPAR Grand Prix and Athletics South Africa Facebook pages.