Armed with newfound confidence, Glenrose Xaba is on the rise

Glenrose Xaba has risen to national prominence over the last few months, but she’s hardly a new kid on the block.

The 29-year-old distance runner has raked in a long list of South African titles on the track and the road over the last five years.

This season, however, Xaba has been unstoppable, taking her career to another level.

During a spectacular 2024 campaign, Xaba won four national titles over various distances. In addition, she clipped one second off the long-standing SA 10km record held by Elana Meyer when she clocked 31:12 at the Absa Run Your City race in Durban in July, and she went on to win the Sanlam Cape Town Marathon last month in 2:22:22, chopping nearly two minutes off Gerda Steyn’s national record on her 42km debut.

Xaba’s season also included overall victory in the Spar Grand Prix 10km series, becoming the first South African to secure the crown since the series was opened to international athletes in 2019.

“I’m very grateful for achieving all the goals I aimed for this year,” Xaba said at the Spar Grand Prix awards this week, where she received a R275,000 cheque and a Proton car to use for a year.

“It wasn’t easy for me but I have a strong support structure around me.”

An early start

Born in eMbalenhle township in Mpumalanga, Xaba started running at the age of 13.

After teachers at school spotted her natural ability, and her mother motivated her to nurture her talent, she joined a club.

She later joined Michael Seme’s training group in Pretoria, before moving on to the Semenya group where she has become a leader among her peers.

Diminutive in stature and reserved in her demeanour, Xaba does most of her talking with her feet, but her recent success has helped her find a more extroverted side to her nature.

She showed real emotion in her celebrations after winning races this year, and she has opened up more in media interviews.

Semenya’s influence

Aside from her stellar performances, it has also helped having former world and Olympic 800m champion Caster Semenya in her team.

Though she is more involved with track athletes in their group, while her wife Violet Semenya coaches the road runners (including Xaba), Caster Semenya has played a significant role in motivating Xaba to get the best out of herself.

“Caster and Violet have taught me to be tough… and they have helped me to be myself,” Xaba said.

Caster Semenya confirmed they had focussed on building Xaba’s confidence, which was the biggest hurdle in helping her reach her full potential.

“Glenrose is a hard worker, but it’s about instilling positivity in everything we do, even when she has doubts,” Semenya said.

“Now when she lines up for a race, Glenrose knows she can do it. She believes in herself.”