Xaba saunters to victory in 10km Grand Prix opener but unhappy she was 'a bit slow'

Glenrose Xaba sauntered to victory in the first race of the Spar women’s 10km Grand Prix on Sunday — and won so comfortably she felt she didn’t have strong enough competition.

Xaba confessed that her official time of 33:13 “was a bit slow” for a race she led from the start at Greenpoint Athletics Stadium to the finish just outside the Cape Town Stadium precinct.

“I’m happy to win the first race, but disappointed with the time,” Xaba told the post-race press conference. She was also displeased that the race started 30 minutes later than scheduled due to light rain delaying thousands of participants from arriving on time.

“My muscles were stiff because of the waiting, but I had a great race in the end,” she said.

Xaba is confident she can defend the Grand Prix title and win it for the third time, which would enable her to join an exclusive club made up of South Africans René Kalmer and Irvette van Zyl, and Ethiopian Tadu Nare.

“I want to defend my title, yes,” said the 30-year-old who won the five-race series in 2018 and again last year. “For now, I’m putting my focus on improving my time in the 10km. I have done a lot of track, and that’s helped me a lot. I want to qualify for the world championships [in Tokyo in September].”

Xaba beat second-placed Ethiopian Selam Gebre (33:18) and further good news for SA was that Karabo Mailula got her first podium win after coming third in 33:33.

“I didn’t plan to be in the top three, but I was so happy to be running with the leading bunch,” said Mailula, a University of Pretoria student who, like Xaba, trains under the watchful eye of former 800m world champion Caster Semenya.

“I had a tough week leading up to the race because I had exams. I could hardly sleep, but I made it. My aim is to represent SA at the world student games [in Germany in July],” said the 23-year-old.

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