Kavanagh plays the field to perfection

TAYLA Kavanagh cunningly used the strong international field to pull her along as she shattered her personal best 10km time at Sunday’s extremely fast Totalsports Women’s Race Durban, the local favourite confirming her status as one of the rising young stars of South African distance running.

- ROWAN CALLAGHAN

The consistent Kavanagh, who clocked 34:20 to win the Durban International Marathon 10km race on May 4, was the first South African runner home on Sunday.

The 24-year-old Hollywood Athletics Club distance runner finished fifth in a fast time of 31:53. She dipped under 32 minutes for the first time.

The race was won by defending champion Christine Njoki of Kenya, who broke the all-comers record in near-perfect conditions in a time of 30:14. Clare Ndiwa came in second in 31:37 while Jane Chacha finished third in 31:51, making it a clean podium sweep for the Kenyans.

In fact, Kavanagh prevented a foreign sweep of the top 10 in the prestigious women’s race that was the first of a series of three women-only races in August.