'Our target was the SA Record' - Xaba's pacemaker Benedict Moeng tells us how they smashed the Cape Town Marathon

As the plaudits continue to pour in after her historic win during Sunday's (20 October) Sanlam Cape Town Marathon, Glenrose Xaba has been quick to point out the importance of her team. Just over two short years ago the 29-year-old struggled with injury and contemplated leaving the sport. But her coaches Caster and Violet Semenya encouraged her, supported her through rehabilitation and convinced her to stay in the sport - a decision for which she was rewarded with on a new SA Record, a new course record and a 2:22:22 victory on her marathon debut.

Xaba celebrates an historic victory at the 2024 Sanlam Cape Town Marathon. Photo Credit: Johann Minnaar.

But teamwork goes far beyond the coaching and mentoring that Xaba continues to receive from Caster and Violet. The pair also recruited Benedict Moeng to assist the SuperCharger in training and by pacing her on the big day. Having represented South Africa at the World Championships over both the half and full marathon distance, Moeng is one of the country’s most experienced marathoners. A former national champion who is the holder of a 2:10:21 lifetime best, Moeng is also the owner of two top ten finishes at the Sanlam Cape Town Marathon, a fact which no doubt made him even more attractive to act as Xaba’s pacemaker.

"I gave up on running a long time ago then the guys called me to come back and told me that it’s time to give back to the young ones. Violet is my friend and she invited to me to join them and told me about their plan for the record. They told me that they needed my help because of my experience. I was doubting myself but they trusted me and told me to do my thing," he told #TheTopRunner.

Xaba in the yellow vest and black and yellow tights running behind Moeng dressed in the black vest and black shorts during thw 2024 Sanlam Cape Town Marathon. Photo Credit: Caleb Bjergfelt.

Having been developed by the legendary Michael 'Sponge' Seme before joining Semenya’s group, Xaba trained alongside the likes of Stephen Mokoka, Collen Mulaudzi and Moeng in the nation’s capital. This according to Moeng is what made it easy for him to pace her - their relationship goes back almost a decade to the days when he took sixth place at the 2018 Cape Town Marathon and she won the first of two SPAR Grand Prix titles.

"We have training together for some time for this record, but it goes back further to when I was part of the Sponge Group. We used to train together then. We knew each other so it was simple. The most important thing was to do the long runs. We didn’t worry about other aspects. We knew that if we can do proper long runs then the rest is history."

Xaba training alongside Benedict Moeng (purple jacket), Stephen Mokoka, Collen Mulaudzi, Philani Buthelezi in 2019 when she still belonged to the Sponge Group. Photo Credit: Sponge Group.

With the preparation done and Xaba in the shape of her life after running 31:12 to break the national 10km record at the Absa RUN YOUR CITY DURBAN 10K in July, winning the Absa RUN YOUR CITY TSHWANE 10K in the fastest time run by a South African woman at altitude in August, and securing the second SPAR Grand Prix title of her career in October, they hoped for good conditions for Xaba’s marathon debut. Instead, Sunday 20 October was a windy day, but that didn’t stop them from smashing Gerda Steyn's SA 42,2km record (2:24:03) by over 90 seconds.

Xaba in training with teammates Karabo More and Karabo Motsoeneng as well as coach Violet Semenya. Photo Credit: Tumelo Mabua.

"The first 10km were too windy. I was panicking because I didn’t want to make a mistake because our target was the SA Record. We had our target, we had our splits. We knew that we were ready for that. It was my first time and I think I did well. I can’t say I was excellent, but so far so good. I wasn’t that ready - physically, but I made it. So from now on I’ll work harder."