GQEBRHA - THE cap covers the head as it always does. It wouldn’t be her without it. Whereas in the past it used to seem more as a way to hide herself from the media glare, such has been Glenrose Xaba’s growth in confidence that the cap has kind of become her trademark accessory.
She does not hide behind it like before. Neither does she speak softly and somewhat apologetically as she used to. No, the Boxer Athletic Club runner commands attention as she eloquently shares her plans for an upcoming race. Call it confidence. Call it self-belief. After all, when you have prepared well and know what you are capable of, why not voice it out, right?
Inside the City Hall, here in the Friendly City ahead of the Absa RUN YOUR CITY Gqeberha 10K, the opening race of the popular five-city series, Xaba was not mincing her words as she shared her plans for an event she's yet to win. The athlete from Mpumalanga is gunning for the national record that she owns.
“I am targeting a fast time on Sunday,” she said. “If I can break my PB, which is the SA record, then I can go for another SA record and go much faster. My aim is to try to run 30 minutes.”
Glenrose Xaba is determined to break her own national 10km record at the Absa Run Your City 10km in Gqeberha on Sunday.
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Cue applause from those gathered in the hall.
“I believe that I can run the race if I manage to pace myself very well.”
In a country where sportsmen and women are often cautious and usually say what they believe are the right words in the build up to events, this was a breath of fresh air. And coming from an athlete who has – in recent years – performed like a true champion – it was easy to lap it all up.
“I started my year well because of my training, I’ve done lots of mileage in December,” Xaba who has already won provincial and national titles on the track as well as begun the defence of her Spar Grand Prix Series with victory in the Spar Cape Town 10km Challenge said.
Her confidence also stems from her knowledge of the racecourse for Sunday’s event in which the men’s record is also on the line with America-based Adrian Wildschutt confident he will smash it.
“The course of PE (Port Elizabeth, now Gqeberha) is very flat but it has a bit of a steep when you approach three kilomtres. But it is very fast and if you want the time you can go for it, you just need to believe in yourself and stay in your lane so that you can manage the pace.”
Her PB, the national record, is that scintillating 31:12 which she ran in the Absa RUN YOUR CITY Durban 10k to depose the great Elana Meyer, who had set the mark way back in 2001 - long before Xaba could even imagine herself racing.
Such are the rewards for talented athletes who take their sport seriously and invest in their training that the 30-year-old is not only the holder of the 10km record but she’s also the fastest South African woman in the standard marathon after she ran that beautiful 2:22:22 on her debut in the 42.195km distance at last year’s Sanlam Cape Town Marathon.
To improve on her 10km record, Xaba will have to beat some useful east African opposition one of whom is a familiar foe in the form of Selam Gebre – her adversary in the Spar Ladies Series.
The Ethiopians used to get the better of Xaba in tandem with her compatriot Tadu Nare but last year the South African turned the tables on her and she also beat her a fortnight ago in the Cape Town 10km Challenge.
Kenya’s Mercy Jebet Kibor is a rookie in the Absa series but comes to the race fresh from a fantastic victory at the Two Oceans Half Marathon and has said she will be completing Sunday's race in 30 minutes.
“As I have won the hard course, what could prevent me from winning this flat course? I want to break my Personal Best and run 30 minutes,” Kibor said.
It is game on then, we are in for a fast race on Sunday and expect Xaba to be right in front.
“Because I know the course, I will try my best to go with the guys and pace myself the way I usually do in training so that I can dip under 31 for the national record. The aim is to run very fast. If you don’t run fast yet you train very hard, what’s the use of training very hard,” she said, her confidence unmistakable even behind that white cap that seems to be stuck on her head but now no longer hiding her face.