The race is on for first place

The Johannesburg race is the last of the five-race Challenge series, and the winner of the annual Grand Prix is virtually cut and dried.

There is only the smallest technical possibility that Diana-Lebo Phalula will not emerge as the winner of the Nissan Micra, awarded to the runner with the most points from the five races.

She has a total of 94 points, after winning the Cape Town and Port Elizabeth races in record time, and finishing fourth in Durban and Pretoria.

Her nearest rival is three-times Grand Prix winner Rene Kalmer, who is 28 points behind, with 66 points, just two points ahead of last year’s Grand Prix winner, Mapaseka Makhanya.

Diana-Lebo’s twin sister, Lebogang, and two-times winner of the Grand Prix, Irvette van Zyl, are in joint fourth place on the log, with 57 points. Lebogang won the Durban race and Van Zyl was first across the line in Pretoria.

Although the outcome of the Grand Prix may be unknown, the top runners have all let it be known that they will be satisfied with nothing less than victory on Sunday.

The evergreen Sonja Laxton will also be running.

Last year, Laxton completed her 80th Spar race when she won the Grandmasters category in Johannesburg.

A few weeks later she was struck by a car while training, and suffered multiple fractures.

While there were those who thought she might never run again, Laxton had other ideas, and less than six months later, she ran in the Port Elizabeth Challenge, finishing in 57.12 minutes – a time that would put most women of her age to shame.

Late entries will be accepted at registration at the Wanderers on 9, 10 and 11 October, but only pre-entries are eligible for the free race T-shirt.