Much-needed victory for Irvette
Irvette van Zyl’s dominance of the Spar GP continued as she won the final leg of the race in Johannesburg on Sunday.
|||Irvette van Zyl’s dominance of the Spar Grand Prix continued as she won the final leg of the race in Johannesburg on Sunday in 34.58 minutes.
She takes home the 2016 SPAR Grand Prix after winning the Cape Town, Port Elizabeth, Durban and Johannesburg legs of the series. This is a much-needed victory after a heartbreaking foot injury resulted in a last-minute withdrawal from the Rio Olympics. Mapaseka Makhanya and Rutendo Nyahora finished second and third in the race respectively. LeBo Phalula came in sixth.
"I am really happy to have won today, and I am glad it’s over, because I’ve been having nightmares about this race for four weeks," said an emotional van Zyl at the press conference.
"I wanted to finish under 35 minutes and I am glad I was able to do that."
Van Zyl said she felt confident throughout the race but struggled between the 7th and 8th kilometers because of the hilly terrain.
A relieved look crossed her face when she finished the race and she immediately ran to her son and husband, who ran the 5 kilometer race. The last two kilometers were hard but the thought of holding her son kept her going, she said.
Reflecting on her disastrous foot injury right before the Rio Olympics, van Zyl said it was her mistake not paying attention to the calcium and iron content in her body. Her body required more calcium after child birth and not being aware of that put her in hospital, van Zyl reflected.
An emotional van Zyl said all she wanted was to make up for the London Olympics in Rio, but she was happy that she could come back after the injury and win the SPAR series.
Nyahora and Phalula had a close contest, Phalula getting a lead on her on more than one occasion during the race, but Nyahora came back strong in the last two kilometers, finishing third in the race.
"I am very excited today to be in the podium. I ran both for myself and for can Zyl in Pretoria, because I wanted to make sure we win as a club, and I am very happy she won today," Nyahora said.
Makhanya said she was finally getting her momentum back and "I treated this as a test run for the Shangai Marathon on October 30, and I am happy it went well," she said.
Van Zyl takes home R160 000 and an additional R10,000 in celebration of SPAR’s 10th anniversary.
Van Zyl’s next goal is to run the Soweto marathon on November 6.
"Now that the nightmare have become a dream, I feel very motivated. It looks like I will run the half," She said and added that she is looking to rest for a bit after Soweto before hardcore training starts again.