Matshelane Mambolo
Legendary status in sport is usually earned over a long period via consistently high performances. Of course, in South Africa — particularly in soccer — that lofty billing is often dished out willy-nilly, with just about every retired player being called a legend.
It is not so in other sports, though, and those referred to as such would have duly earned the status through many years of toiling and achieving great things.
Glenrose Xaba could well have changed the status quo with her incredible full marathon debut performance of the ages at the Sanlam Cape Town Marathon yesterday. The Boxer Athletic Club athlete smashed Gerda Steyn’s national record to smithereens as she beat a stellar field teeming with highly decorated East Africans to enter her name into South African road-running folklore.
Xaba, the current champion of the country in the 5 000m and the 10 000m on the track, completed the marathon in a time nearly two minutes faster than Steyn’s 2:24:02. The victory comes on the back of her having had a stellar year in the 10km, where she ensured the SPAR Grand Prix Series title returns to South Africa for the first time since 2018 when she herself reigned supreme.
Speaking afterwards, Xaba said she had targeted improving the race’s best time, but breaking the national record was a pleasant surprise.
“I didn’t want to say before the race, but my goal had been the course record. I did not want to put extra pressure on myself. Even if I had finished in 2:26 I would have been happy because this was my first marathon. But I’m honestly shocked to have broken the course and national record. I’m humbled to have taken Gerda’s South African record,” she explained.
Led by the pacemakers, the women’s elite field began the race at a scintillating pace, with South African marathon champion Cian Oldknow choosing not to go with them.
Xaba and defending champion Tsige Haileslase, as well as Mare Dibaba Hurrsa and Kenya’s Pascalia Chepkogei, stayed together as the rest of the competitors struggled to keep pace. Although there was a time when Xaba fell off the bunch, she quickly reconnected herself. Haileslase was dropped close to the 30km mark.
At the U-turn on the Sea Point promenade, the top three positions were decided, but who would stand on the top podium remained unclear until the last few hundred metres when Xaba bravely broke away for a victory that undoubtedly sets her apart as a special road-running talent and definitely worthy of legendary status.
Her delight understandably knew no bounds: “I am very excited with my debut.
“I was feeling really strong, and my training had made me very relaxed coming into the race. From kilometres five to 25, I felt good; the first 21km were basically a tempo run for me. At 33 (km) I felt that I had run more than what I am used to running, so I had to stay strong, focused, and brave because I dropped off the front group slightly.
“Once I worked my way back, I felt good again. My pacemaker was there, and when he got out at 6km, he told me to focus. At 40km, I saw Dibaba pass, but I knew that I had speed, so I had to focus because I was almost at the finish, and I was able to push to the finish (and win).”
In the men’s race, Abdisa Tola also broke the course record. Having set the previous best men’s time in 2018, Stephen Mokoka was the chief pacemaker for the 2024 race.
The South African running legend, who set the record back in 2018, took the lead group through 25km in 1:16:47 before the attacks splintered the field, leading to Tola winning in 2:08:16—15 seconds faster than Mokoka’s six-year-old mark.