Athletics South Africa (ASA) has noted with interest the supreme form that Rene Kalmer has displayed this year, and that she has not been beaten on the road since her 6th place at the Nedbank Half Marathon in Pretoria in January.
Kalmer has swept all before her in what has been the best season of her life, and after winning the SPAR 10km challenge in Durban on the weekend past, she is a clear favourite to claim the Nedbank SA Half Marathon title on Sunday 1 July, also in Durban.
In the first indication of what was to come, she ran solo for most of the 3000m in Pretoria on 9 March, to finish in 8:58;67 at the Yellow Pages Ultimate Athletics Meeting, and the smile on her face afterwards told the story.
Prior to that, she had won the Nedbank 10km race in PE (held in conjunction with the Nedbank SA Marathon Championships), cruising to a 34:01 victory.
When she ran 15:35 for the SA 5000m title (again with no competition to push her), the writing was on the wall, and from there, Kalmer’s performances just continued to roll.
She placed second at the Old Mutual Two Oceans Half Marathon in a new best time of 73;42, and ten days later she jogged to victory in the Nedbank Half Marathon in Bloemfontein in 74:11.
On 5 May she devastated a quality field in the Spar Women’s 10km Challenge in Port Elizabeth to win in 33:50, despite picking up a niggle in her calf.
And if there were any doubts that Kalmer was the one to beat this Sunday, her 32:54 personal best on Sunday 24 June at the second Spar Women’s 10km Challenge will give her competitors cause for concern.
Athletes can enter online or submit entry forms to Athletics South Africa and KwaZulu Natal Athletics.
Online entries are being accepted for Sunday’s Nedbank Half Marathon in Durban at the Nedbank Sport website, and will also be accepted on the day of the race, for both the 21.1km and for the 5km fun run.
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