Xaba wins two 10km races three days

Just two days after winning the Spar Women's 10km Challenge race in Gqeberha, on-form Glenrose Xaba continued with her dominance as she clinched the Absa Run Your City 10km this morning in Johannesburg.

Xaba has been in excellent form in the last few months winning almost everything she has been participating in.

On a chilly Tuesday morning, Xaba finished with an impressive time of 31 minutes 55 seconds ahead of Blandina Makatisi of Lesotho who finished second in 34:03. 

Xaba was happy with her performance despite saying she was a bit tired after winning the Spar race on Saturday.

“When I was warming up, I felt that my body had not recovered but after doing a warm-up, I felt OK. I was a bit tired, but I managed to do well,” Xaba told the media after the race.

“I'm going for my marathon, so I have to continue running. Absa races are motivating because we come here to run very fast. We know that if we can run fast, we can get incentives.

“So, we come with that mentality that lets me add some bonuses to the money so it can be much more.

“I'm happy to have won it because I have been getting second position from 2022. I aimed to win it and it was difficult and the wind was strong.

“But I tried to maintain the pace and try to drive when we came to the hills and when it came down, I tried to relax and move my legs so I could be fast.”

Xaba also believes the strong competition she had pushed her to the limit on Tuesday as she won the back-to-back races after clinching the Tshwane leg last month.

“The competition was good because we have Makatisi who is an Olympian and we had Karabo Maluila, my training partner,” she said.

“We had the Phalulas [Lebo and Lebogang] and all the other girls that are doing well. I can see the competition was very great and it is good to have the ladies that are doing very well.

“The route was very tough. I don't want to lie.”

In the men's race, Gideon Kipngetich from Kenya finished first in 28:51 ahead of SA's Chris Mhlanga, who was second in 29:13 and Kabelo Mulaudzi was third in 29:16.     

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