Xaba starts SPAR Grand Prix title defence with victory in Cape Town

After enjoying the best season of her career in 2024, Glenrose Xaba has picked up where she left off last year. South Africa's fastest female 10km athlete of all time has had a busy month of March winning the distance double (5000m & 10 000m) at the Athletics Gauteng North (AGN) Championships, the 10km race at the Motsepe Foundation's Race to Gender Equality and yesterday Xaba started the defence of her SPAR Grand Prix title with victory in The Mother City.

Xaba kicks for home. Photo Credit: Ashley Vlotman/Gallo Image.

SuperCharger as she is affectionately known bested a field of the country's best and a few East Africans when she produced a devastating finishing kick during the last kilometre to shake off Selam Gebre and Karabo Mailula. After crossing the finish line in 33.13 ahead of Gebre (33.18) and Mailula (34.14), the Boxer Athletic Club top runner who broke 33 minutes at altitude twice last season, revealed that she was happy with the win, albeit slightly disappointed with the finishing time.

"I'm happy with the race but I'm a little disappointed with my time. We stood too long at the start and my muscles were stiff and my body didn't respond very well, but I'm glad I was able to run a good race and stay focused until the end," she explained.

Karabo Mailula who took third place earned her first SPAR Grand Prix podium finish. Photo Credit: Ashley Vlotman/Gallo Image.

Gebre was also satisfied with her result, just two weeks after she finished second at the Rome Marathon in Italy in 2:28:22. "To be honest, I need a little more time to recover from the marathon, and I felt the wind was a bit harsh, but I did my best and I'm happy with the result," said the Nedbank Runnign Club athlete.

With her first victory of the five-stop Grand Prix series secured, Xaba earned a total of 20 points which places her at the top of the overall leaderboard and in pole position to win her the third SPAR Grand Prix title of the season. But after grabbing second place in a series where an athlete's top four results score points, Ethiopia's Gebre will be confident of catching up to Xaba if she can deliver a win at the next SPAR Grand Prix race in Durban on 22 June.