Caster-coached Xaba ready for marathon supercharge

GLENROSE Xaba is ready to make the big move up to the standard marathon, and there is every chance she is going to do very well there.

South Africa’s national record holder in the 10km – she set the new mark of 31 minutes and 12 seconds at the Absa Run Your City Durban 10K in July – and the country’s half-marathon champion, the Boxer Athletics Club starlet believes the time is ripe for her to graduate to the 42.2km distance.

“I am focused on moving to the longer distances – not the ultras, but the marathon,” said Xaba, who turns 30 at the end of the year (December 31).

“In South Africa we lack girls in the marathons and if there can be more of us doing marathons and supporting those that are already doing it, we can do much better.”

Having gone through all the development steps of track, cross country and the shorter road distances (10km and 21.1km), the lass from Mpumalanga is primed to take on the marathon. Such was her stellar showing in all of those disciplines in which she was national champion that it is easy to foresee her doing well in the 42.2km.

Formerly a shy girl who was so reticent as to be unreachable, the athlete who is trained by Caster Semenya has become a confident young woman who always talks up her chances.

Though many would be daunted by the prospect of moving up in distance, Xaba believes she will set the bar in the marathon.

“I am going to run the marathon soon. I can’t promise you when, but soon,” she said immediately after she won the Johannesburg leg of the Totalsports Women’s Race at a canter, a minute ahead of the second-placed runner.

“If I can run a 2:20 or a 2:22, or even a 2;19, then we are close to matching those Ethiopians and Kenyans. If one of us (South Africans) can do it, then the other ones will follow.”

The national women’s marathon record is Gerda Steyn’s 2:25:28.

Lest you start thinking Xaba is over-ambitious, the man who laid the foundation for her current incredible form and growth as an athlete is of the view that his former athlete has what it takes to do very well in the standard marathon.

“Glenrose looks ready to do the marathons now. This is her time and I know she will run very good times,” said legendary coach Michael ‘Sponge’ Seme.

Xaba is currently in the form of her life, finishing on the podium in every race she’s run this year, and looks set to bring the Spar Grand Prix title back to the country for the first time since 2018.

“The focus is on the Grand Prix, yes. There are two races to go (Gqeberha and Johannesburg) and I am crossing my fingers because I am almost there. I must take it one step at a time.

“If I bring the title back home, it will motive youngsters; they will believe that we can do better as South Africans. If I can win it, then Cacisile (Sosibo, her teammate at Boxer) can win it also. I will be very happy because the last time we got the title was in 2018.”

The victor back then was, you guessed it, Xaba.

She has put herself in line for this year’s title with two victories out of the three races already completed. In one of those, in Tshwane, she beat reigning perennial champion Tadu Nare of Ethiopia for the first time.

“I did beat Tadu Nare but she said she was not okay (on race day), but you know how we athletes are. I am just glad I beat her because she is a good athlete, she motivates us, and it shows that I am going somewhere. She is the greatest and beating her means I am almost there to be the most greatest,” Xaba chuckles.

She is running yet another race this weekend, the Absa Run Your City Tshwane10K in Pretoria tomorrow, and you can bet your last cent that she will be on the podium.

Lest you start thinking she is over-racing, Xaba assures she is taking care of herself.

“I have been working with Power2Health. They help athletes to recover using various methods such as ice baths, oxygen and ozone. I started working with them in 2020 when I had a knee problem. Now they understand my body because I have been attending their sessions consistently. I usually attend three recovery sessions a week when I am busy racing. It helps me a lot,” Xaba explained.

Just like the Totalsports Women’s Race last weekend, the Tshwane race is run on a hilly course at altitude, and the likes of Sosibo, Ethiopia’s Ebste Atagoud Btaw and Lesotho’s duo of Neheng Khatala and Olympian Blandina Makatisi will probably chase her shadow.

“When it comes to hills, I destroy them,” says Xaba jokingly.

She will not be joking when she speeds off from the start at the Union Buildings intent on being the first woman back to the finish on the lawns of the country’s administrative headquarters.

Then she will set her sights on securing the Spar Grand Prix title before she makes that long-awaited marathon debut.