To say Glenrose Xaba is enjoying a purple patch would be putting it mildly. The girl is on fire.
The Boxer Athletic Club starlet just can’t seem to stop winning and she was at it again on Heritage Day when she reigned victorious in a course record time at the final leg of the popular Absa RUN YOUR CITY 10K series in Johannesburg.
Xaba was splendid on a cool and somewhat windy morning in the City of Gold, as she obliterated the women’s field to add the JOBURG10K title to the Tshwane one that she captured last month.
The lass from Mpumalanga clocked a scintillating fast time of 31:55, nearly two minutes faster than the 33:03 mark set by Ethiopian Debash Desta last year.
She was also 02:08 faster than second-placed Blandina Makatisi of Maxed Elite, while Karabo Mailula completed the podium places with her 34:14.
On a morning when the men’s course record of 29:03 was also obliterated by Kenyan Gideon Kipngetich with his 28:51 ahead of the Boxer duo of Chris Mhlanga (29:13) and Kabelo Mulaudzi (29:16), it was Xaba everyone was raving about. And with good reason too, for this is a woman who is running like the wind at the moment.
Just this past Saturday, she won the Gqeberha leg of the Spar Grand Prix to put herself in line to bring the title back home for the first time since 2018 – when she won it. Xaba, now needs to just finish in the top three in the final race in Johannesburg next month in order to be crowned Grand Prix Series champion.
Prior to that race, she had won the Absa RUN YOUR CITY TSHWANE 10K as well as the Totalsports Women’s 10k in Johannesburg. Overall, yesterday’s win was Xaba’s seventh victory in10km races – one of which being the national championships.
The athlete coached by Viiolet Semenya is also the South African Half Marathon champion, and she is now set to make her debut in the full marathon next month when she will run the Sanlam Cape Town Marathon.
Xaba expressed her delight afterwards: “I’m very happy to win this race because I have come second from 2022.
“My aim was to win the race, but the race was so difficult and the wind was very strong, and I tried to maintain the pace when it comes to hills. When it came to the downs, I tried to move the legs so I can be very fast.”
@Tshiliboy