Modern Athlete Mag Issue 155 MA_Issue 155 | Page 13

Pushing for Aus Selection South African Cross-country Trials , Potchefstroom , 3 December

Precious Mashele and Cian Oldknow won the long races over 10km at the SA Cross-country Trials , held to select team for the World Cross Country Champs in Australia on 18 February . In the men ’ s race , Mashele finished in 30:15 , followed by training mate Maxime Chaumeton ( 30:25 ) and Elroy Gelant ( 30:45 ). Oldknow had a more comfortable race , taking the win in 35:31 and finishing nearly a minute ahead of Kyla Jacobs ( 36:28 ), with Kesa Molotsane third in 37:32 . The Junior men ’ s 8km race was won by Dino Nako in 24:59 , with Naledi Makgatha ( 22:40 ) claiming the women ’ s win .

Kyla Jacobs , Kesa Molotsane and Cian Oldknow

20 December 2003

The Avbob 15km in Table View , Cape Town , reportedly has the longest continuous single sponsorship of any race in South Africa , with Avbob sponsoring every edition since the first race in January 1981 . The first 22 editions were all held in January , but on this day it moved to December for the first time , and Neo Molema scored his second consecutive victory in 48:44 ( he had set a race record of 44:51 the previous year ). Matshidiso Thelejane took the women ’ s race in 58:57 . ( Molema would win it again two years later , but in a much faster time of 45:12 .)

Neo Molema

26 December 1958

The famed Boxing Day Meeting in Paarl produced many outstanding performances during the years when , under the leadership of “ Oom ” Martin du Toit , it was one of the best track and field meetings in the country . On this day , the mile was the highlight , with SA Recordholder Harold Clark in the field . Clark ’ s intention was to surpass his record – he ran 4:05.4 in Durban in May that year – and he succeeded when he sped away from his rivals to break the tape in 4:04.9 . This record was to stand for almost six years , until De Villiers Lamprecht recorded South Africa ’ s first sub-4-minute ‘ dream mile ’ in 1964 . Clark had run 4:04.5 in Kimberley only six days before the Paarl event , but this was never recognised as a national record . Also , earlier in the year , SA junior record holder Michael Hodgson had run 4:04.5 and 4:04.9 in the USA , but in those days performances in overseas meetings were not recognised as SA Records .

South African Road List Leaders for 2022

( As at 5 December 2022 ) This section lists the best South African performance for each of the most popular road distances .

These are some of the standout performances in December-January from the annals of SA running .

31 December 1904

Only one South African title race over one mile or longer , in any of the three disciplines of track , cross-country and road , has ever been held in December . It happened on this day , when the national championships were held in Cape Town on 31 December 1904 and 2 January 1905 . Defending champion Charles Hefferon , who was born in England and came to South Africa after living in Canada for a while , had no trouble winning the 4-mile event again in 22:09.4 , and two days later , he also won his second mile title in a national record 4:34.6 . He would win four more titles in both events in 1906-1909 , and when the 10 miles was held for the first time in 1909 , he won that as well for a then unprecedented total of 13 SA titles . Although he never won the SA marathon title , Hefferon won the silver medal in the 1908 Olympic Marathon , clocking 2:56:06 to also become the first South African to run under three hours .

MEN

WOMEN

10km 31:58 Dominique Scott-Efurd Charleston , 2 April

Charles Hefferon

17 January 1987

Monica Drögemöller scored the second of three consecutive victories in the 11th Bay to Bay 30km race in Cape Town , running an impressive 1:53:01 to break her own SA Record , set the previous year , by 39 seconds . This national record still stands . All three of her wins in this race were accomplished in under two hours , and no other woman has achieved this feat . In fact , only seven other women have ever won the race in faster than two hours , and it has happened only five times in the past 22 years .

Monica Drögemöller

15km 47:51e Dominique Scott-Efurd Houston , 16 January

21.1km 1:07:32 Dominique Scott-Efurd Houston , 16 January

KEY a – Aided course , e . g . point-to-point , and therefore not record-legal | e – Set en route during a longer race .

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 .

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