MATSHELANE MAMABOLO
Glenrose Xaba put the cherry on top of what has been a fantastic season with a compellingly dominant run to win the inaugural Boxer Super Run Tshwane on Sunday.
The 2024 campaign is sure to go down as arguably the best episode in the Mpumalanga athlete’s running story, Xaba setting two national records, winning a national title, and ensuring the crown of a popular series returns to South Africa for the first time in six years.
Running her last race of the year at the University of Pretoria campus where she’s grown up in her club’s event, the Boxer Athletic Club starlet had all intents of being the star. She broke away from the star-studded field of elites only as early as the first kilometre to literally race against the clock.
For a long time, it looked as though she would add the South African 5km record to the 10km and marathon ones she ran this year until her legs reminded her she had run a splendid 42.195km less than a month ago.
“The first 3km were so good, but in the last two, I started feeling lactic in my legs because I was never training seriously – I was just jogging and doing strides only. I just did two sessions and then I came here,” said Xaba, who won the Spar Grand Prix Series that had been dominated by foreign athletes since she last reigned victorious in 2018.
That she started like a house on fire was because Xaba was literally running away from her competitors in some kind of fear.
“I knew I had to run very fast those early kilometres because they (the others) were training while I was resting. I was looking for a win, not just the time, but I am happy that I ran the fastest time in SA at altitude and it is my PB because I previously had a 16:03.”
She breasted the tape to rapturous applause in 15:42, while Karabo More was second in 16:17, with Cacisile Sosibo completing the podium places in 16:32.
Xaba thanked her coaches Caster Semenya – who finished a credible 7th in the race – and Violet Semenya, as well as her club’s manager Ryan Swanepoel and her sponsor Puma for helping her to a memorable year.
“They’ve been very supportive of me, and I am very grateful to all of them because I would not have achieved all the things I did this year without them being behind me.”
There was no solo run to victory in the men’s race, although Maxine Chaumeron tried to set the pace only to fade away, leaving Luan Munniik to battle it out with Elroy Gelant for glory. The youngster triumphed over the South African running stalwart, Munnik breaking Gelant with 800m to go to cross the line in 13:50, eight seconds ahead of the national marathon champion.
Gelant’s Boxer teammate Chris Mhlanga came in a distant third in a time of 14:13.