Xaba impressed once again with a solo performance in Gqeberha on Saturday.
Long-distance runner Glenrose Xaba. Picture: Ashley Vlotman/Gallo Images
With the standard being lifted across the board, experienced athlete Irvette van Zyl says a lot of the credit for the state of South African women’s distance running should go to Glenrose Xaba.
Xaba, who holds the SA 10km and 42km records, finished 13th in 1:07:49 in the half-marathon race at the World Road Running Championships in Copenhagen last week.
Rising star Tayla Kavanagh stole the show, however, by taking fourth position in the women’s 5km race in 14:51, setting a national record.
After returning home this week, Xaba produced a spectacular performance on Saturday, winning the Spar Grand Prix 10km race in Gqeberha in 31:17 and missing her own national mark by just five seconds despite running alone for the entire second half in wet conditions.
And Van Zyl, a four-time Olympian, believed the performances being produced by Kavanagh and others were largely thanks to Xaba, who continued to set the standard.
“It’s great to see how she (Xaba) can run so fast on her own, without any real competition, and I think a sub-31 is around the corner,” said Van Zyl, who felt Xaba had not received enough recognition for her performance at the World Championships.
“I’m still in awe of what she did last weekend (in Copenhagen), and coming from that and performing again this weekend, I think it just shows how good of an athlete she really is.”
Strong training group
A 14-time national champion on the track and the road, Xaba had not only raised the general standard at domestic level in recent years, but Van Zyl also felt she had laid the path for her entire training group which had been making waves across a variety of distances and disciplines.
Coached by Violet and Caster Semenya, the group (based in Pretoria) also included the likes of African 1,500m champion Karabo More and former world student cross country champion Karabo Mailula, who were Xaba’s teammates at Boxer Athletics Club.
“What Glenrose is doing is definitely working. I think her training group is the best for her, and the whole group is doing well,” Van Zyl said.
“Their whole group is making great progress and they are flourishing off what Glenrose is doing. You need one in a group that makes the change and I think Glenrose is not just doing that for her own training group but for all South African ladies by lifting them to the next level.”
If Xaba wins the fifth and final leg of the Spar Grand Prix series in Joburg on Sunday, she will become the first athlete to secure the overall title four times.
