'I'm so happy' - Sosibo on cloud nine after top performances ahead of World Half Marathon Champs

On a windy day when all eyes were on World Record holder Yalemzerf Yehualaw as she delivered a distance running masterclass to win the Absa RUN YOUR CITY DURBAN 10K in 30:54, Cacisile Sosibo snuck under the radar to produce another performance which underlined just how far she has come as a runner over the last two years. The 25-year-old Boxer Athletic Club top runner took eighth place in 33:03 to finish as the first South African just a shade outside her 32:58 lifetime best which was set during the Gqeberha leg of the 2022 SPAR Grand Prix.

"I have to thank my coach Sponge," she told #TheTopRunner. "It's all about the way he treats me. He treats me like his own child. When he asks me to dig deep and do what he says until the time is right- I do it. He even advises me about what to do during a race. So I really must thank him along with my club Boxer, my training partners at the Sponge Group and my province Central Gauteng Athletics."

Sosibo is overcome with emotion after finishing as the first South African at the Absa RUN YOUR CITY DURBAN 10K on Sunday 9 July. Photo Credit: Stillwater Sports/Anthony Grote.

For a man who has produced over 300 national colours, a number of national records and an Olympic gold medalist in the form of Caster Semenya, Sosibo may just become coach Michael Seme's most satisfying student because of the long road she has had to travel to reach her current heights. Having discovered her as a junior in rural KZN, Seme has built Sosibo into national class athlete who represented South Africa at the 2022 African Championships.

But Sosibo's most eye-catching performance has come over the 21km event where she has shown tremendous improvement. On the 3rd of June, she took seventh place at the Nelson Mandela Bay Half Marathon in 1:09:46 to smash her previous best of 1:17:45 set in 2021 by over seven minutes. "I'm so happy to have run that time. It means God was with me while I was running. I wasn't expecting to run that fast. I was targeting 1:10 or 1:11, so for me to go under 70 minutes makes me so happy. I have no worries."

Sosibo running in the red, yellow and black of Central Gauteng Athletics on the way to smashing her 21km lifetime best at the 2023 Nelson Mandela Bay Half Marathon. Sosibo was the first CGA woman across the finish line. Photo Credit: Richard Pearce Photography.

And because she finished as the second South African behind Glenrose Xaba during that race in Gqeberha which doubled as the ASA Half Marathon Championships, Sosibo has earned selection to the team that will represent the country at the World Half Marathon Championships in the Latvian City of Riga on Sunday 1 October. She is over the moon that she will once again don the green and gold.

"I'm so thankful that I have made the team because I really wanted to be included in that team. I'm particularly happy because I had a bit of an injury but now I am better. National colours are now my thing," she laughed.