Glenrose Xaba clinched the 2024 SPAR Grand Prix Series in Johannesburg in early October with an emphatic win in Johannesburg – her fourth of the series – in 32:48 . She is the first South African to win the SPAR series since she last did so in 2018 , and it comes hot on the heels of her SA title over 10km in March , her SA Record for 10km in July , and running the best inland ( at altitude ) time ever by a South African on home soil . This month we include a list of Xaba ’ s last 11 races over 10km . ( This list was originally her last 10 times , but she subsequently completed the SPAR Series .) Five of those times are sub-32 minutes ( of which two came at altitude ). No other SA woman has ever clocked five sub-32 times in one year – the previous best was four by Elana Meyer in 2001 . Also , the average of Xaba ’ s 11 times is 32:17.4 – a time only five other South Africans have ever bettered : Meyer , Colleen de Reuck , Dominique Scott-Efurd , Irvette van Zyl and Tayla Kavanagh .

TOP 10 STATS

TIME POS . RACE DATE 33:00 1 st SA Championships ( Johannesburg ) 10 Mar 24 32:16 1 st SPAR Women ’ s Challenge Cape Town 24 Mar 24 33:04 6 th Absa RUN YOUR CITY Gqeberha 7 Apr 24 31:56 2 nd Spar Women ’ s Challenge Durban 23 Jun 24 31:12 * 4 th Absa RUN YOUR CITY Durban 7 Jul 24 32:52 1 st Spar Women ’ s Challenge Pretoria 3 Aug 24 32:56 1 st Totalsports Women ’ s Race Johannesburg 17 Aug 24 31:51 ** 1 st Absa RUN YOUR CITY Tshwane 25 Aug 24 31:22 1 st Spar Women ’ s Challenge Gqeberha 21 Sep 24 31:55 1 st Absa RUN YOUR CITY Johannesburg 24 Sep 24 32:48 1 st SPAR Women ’ s Challenge Johannesburg 6 Oct 24

Glenrose Xaba

KEY * – South African Record ** – Fastest time at altitude by a South African woman on home soil

Only one edition of the Olympic Games has ever started in November and run into December . The 1956 Games in Melbourne , Australia were also the first Olympics in the Southern Hemisphere . One of the most exciting distance races of the Games came on this day when two Americans , Tom Courtney and Arnie Sowell , led the men ’ s 800m until the athletes entered the final straight . Derek Johnson ( Great Britain ), who ran the fastest time in the heats , was just behind them , and with 70m to go , a gap opened between the leaders and Johnson sprinted through . Sowell fell behind , but the big , powerful Courtney responded and fought back to draw level with the Briton . They raced shoulder to shoulder and it was a mere 10m from the line that Courtney ’ s greater power took him ahead and gave him the gold medal in a new Olympic record of 1:47.7 , with Johnson only one tenth of a second behind . Audun Boysen ( Norway ) was third , with Sowell fourth .

South African Road List Leaders for 2024 As at 4 November 2024 This section lists the best South African performances for 2024 in each of the officially recognised road racing distances .

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About the Author

These stats and results are drawn from the weekly Distance Running Results mailer compiled by internationally acclaimed athletics statistician Riël Hauman , who has more than 50 years ’ experience as a journalist , author , publisher , commentator , pundit , administrator , event organiser , coach , team manager and runner in South African athletics , road running and cross country . He is also a former editor of the South African Athletics Annual , and author of two books , Hardloop en Lééf and Century of the Marathon 1896-1996 . To subscribe to his weekly newsletter , send him a mail at rielh @ mweb . co . za .

KEY | A – Aided course , e . g . point-to-point , and therefore not record-legal .

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