Kalmer Beats Injury in PE Win

Brushing aside a calf injury, past champion Rene Kalmer stormed to victory in 33.50 minutes in the SPAR Women’s 10 km challenge with Bokomo at Kings Beach here on Saturday, to take the early lead on the newly-instituted Grand Prix Challenge leaderboard.

Kalmer broke away early, and held the lead throughout the race.   South African 10 000m track champion, Poppy Mlambo, was second in 34.34 minutes, followed by Catherine Nkosi in 35.08. Irvette van Blerk was fourth, in 35.15 minutes.

“I wanted to run a sub-33 minute time, and I knew that I had to run 3.20 a kilometre to do this,” said Kalmer.  “At about four kilometres, I felt my calf muscle tear, and this broke my momentum – I wasn’t even sure if I could finish.”

“But it’s a nice flat route, so I carried on. The wind gave me a few problems but I’m very pleased with my time, considering the circumstances.”

Kalmer, who collected 33 points to go to the top of the SPAR Grand Prix leaderboard, confirmed that she would be competing in the second leg of the Grand Prix series, the Durban Challenge on June 24, after travelling to the Netherlands to run the 5 000 metres event at the Grand Prix meeting in Hengelo on May 26.

Mlambo, who is one point behind Kalmer on the leaderboard, was also happy with her run.  “I didn’t have a great start, and Rene was very fast off the mark.  But after three kilometres, I was feeling better and picked up the pace.  I felt I ran well today.”

A record 9 328 women entered the race, and it was the strongest field the Port Elizabeth Challenge has seen.

The second leg of the SPAR Grand Prix will be held in Durban on June 24^th followed by Pretoria on August 25^th, Cape Town on September 9^th and lastly Johannesburg on October 14^th.