FEATURE
without the sustained support of her family , sponsors , coaches , Caster and Violet . “ I am immensely proud of my achievements in 2024 . It was a magical year , and I am also grateful for the blessings I received from my grandmother . She was my inspiration , and I worked extremely hard with my coaches to achieve my goals .”
Supercharger was to leave her best performance of the year for last when she shattered the national marathon record on debut at the Sanlam Cape Town Marathon on Sunday , 20 October . She finished the 42.2km race in a remarkable 2 hours , 22 minutes , and 22 seconds , breaking both the course record and the national record , earning herself a prize of half a million rand .
Glenrose broke the previous national record of 2:24:03 set by Gerda Steyn at the Valencia Marathon in 2023 .
“ I was extremely honoured to break SA ’ s greatest long distance runner Gerda Steyn ’ s marathon record . We all look up to Gerda because she does incredible things . She motivates us and shows us that anything is possible .”
This victory finished off an exceptional year for Glenrose . Besides being crowned 5000m and 10000m champion at ASA Senior National Track and Field Championships in April , she won eight 10km races as well as the national half-marathon ( 21.1km ) title .
She therefore had a good reason to celebrate her 30th birthday on 31 December .
Glenrose said her incredible achievement of winning a major marathon on debut would not have been possible
Her coaches Caster and Violet always boost her confidence before races so that she doesn ’ t doubt her ability . “ They always tell me there is nothing I need to fear . I learned so much from them in the last few years , so that when I come to a race , I am always well prepared mentally and physically .
“ They worked out a programme for me that combined both of their strengths of speed and endurance . Caster is more focused on my track work , whereas Violet focuses on my road running programme , cross country and long runs . This has contributed to my success thus far .”
Glenrose also revealed that she took advice from three-time Olympic marathoner Stephen Mokoka who encouraged her to do the marathon . “ He said if I can run 21.1 km in 69 or 70 minutes without feeling pain the next day , I am ready to do a marathon . My body was ready for a marathon . I trained well and I am happy to have broken the SA record on my first attempt .”
Despite her success in the marathon , Glenrose maintains that her focus remains on the track and improving her times over 5km , 10km and 21.1km distances . “ We want to qualify in the 5000m or 10 000m to go to the World Track & Field Championships and I would like to go faster in the half marathon ,” she said .
“ The World Half Marathon Champs is in our plans , but not the World Marathon Champs . “ We are still going to meet with my manager Lee-Roy Newton to do the planning , but so far that is what he told me . For now , I will aim to do only one marathon per year until I become mature enough for the standard marathon distance .”
17