Spar 10km Women Race launched

The Spar 10km Women Race was launched in Windhoek on Tuesday amid lofty ideals that aim to put the event on the Southern African map. 

The event will be held at the Wanderers Sport Club on 6 April 2024.

Event organiser Bethold Karumendu said that they want the event to grow into one of the main road race events in Southern Africa. 

“Spar Namibia wants to give back to the community and the vision is that this race will grow and eventually become a major event in the Southern African region. The aim is that this race will also attract top athletes from Southern Africa and that it is incorporated as one of the races of the South African Spar 10km Women series,” he said. 

Registration for the event has already opened online at www.spar.run while Karumendu said that athletes can also apply through sport officers in Namibia’s regions.

“I’ll forward the registration link to all our sport officers around the country to make it easier for athletes in the regions to register. Sometimes they have difficulty to go online so now they just need to go to their town or region’s sport officer to register. Payment canbe done either online or at any Spar branch in Namibia,” he said. 

“The race was there before, but then it died down for a few years before we revived it again last year. We had a fine turnout of about 500 athletes, with Alina Armas winning the race. Our target this year is to double that so we hope to attract about 1 000 athletes,” he added.

The overall winner will receive N$10 000, with the runner-up receiving N$7 500 and the third-placed athlete N$3 500. There will also be cash prizes for the top three athletes in the masters and veterans categories while the total prize money amounts to N$42 000.

Karumendu said he expected some fierce competition with top athletes entering for the race. 

“We are expecting some top class athletes from the Namibia Correctional Service, the Namibian Police and the Namibia Defence Force to enter andthe event will also serve as an opportunity for marathon athletes who wish to qualify for the Olympics to help with their speedwork,” he said.