The first Allan Fergus Half Marathon medal in 2013 featured a pic of Mr Fergie
Running Legends
Jackie Gibson represented South Africa at the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin , Germany , finishing eighth in the marathon . He then managed a third place finish in the marathon at the 1938 Empire Games ( today ’ s Commonwealth games ) in Sydney , Australia , where another South African , Johannes Coleman , was the winner . Gibson also finished sixth in the 6-mile race at those same games . His greatest performance , however , was at the 1937 South African Marathon Championships in Bloemfontein , where , at altitude , he won the race in an Empire Record of 2:30:45 , just a few minutes outside the then World Record held by Portugal ’ s Manuel Dias .
He won the SA Marathon title three times ( 1935 , 1937 and 1939 ), as well as the 10-mile title in 1935 and the 6-mile title in 1940 ( in an SA record 31:37.4 ), and also finished second to Coleman twice in the SA Marathon Champs , in what was the greatest running rivalry of that period . Tragically , he died in 1944 , aged just 30 , while serving as an observer-navigator with the South African Air Force during the Second World War . His aircraft crashed while undertaking a reconnaissance flight near Durban . Gibson ran for Johannesburg Harriers , and after the war ended , the club decided to honour his memory by naming a new marathon after him .
Decision time at the split … actually , this was taken after the second lap , because I would have had a psychological meltdown if I had stopped here on the first lap !
They don ’ t make race flyers like they used to !
One of the runners who picked that inaugural Jackie Gibson Marathon in 1946 as his first race was a young man called Allan Ferguson . He was one of just 18 participants in a race won by another South African legend , Wally Hayward , with Allan finishing sixth in a time of 2:59 . Allan went on to run this particular marathon another 49 times , to hold what I believe is the South African record for most marathon finishes in a single event . He was obviously a man who liked his routine , also running the Naval Hill 10km in Bloemfontein 62 consecutive times ( also a South African record for a single event ). The race is now known as the Allan Ferguson Naval Hill Race , making him one of only two people in South Africa to have two races honouring his name . The other one is Nelson Mandela !
There was a great interview with Mr Fergie ( as he was affectionately known ) in the October 2009 edition of Modern Athlete , which you can read here . Some of his other feats include 36 Comrades Marathon finishes between 1948 and 1995 , with four top-10 finishes , including third in 1949 , that brought him three golds ( earned in the days when golds were only awarded to the first six finishers ). Remarkably , he clocked his fastest Comrades time of 6:57 at the age of 51 , and he smashed a 2:52 in the Peninsula Marathon as a 60-year-old . One of his Comrades was run together with his son and grandson , which was the first time three generations of a family completed the race together , and he concluded his Comrades career with a very respectable 10:16 at the age of 73 . He passed away in 2012 , aged 91 .
The Elusive Half Century
Running the same race 50 times is a very rare feat . From the research I ’ ve done , no-one has run any specific ultra-marathon 50 times or more and only four people have run the same marathon 50 times or more . Here ’ s a list of what I found . ( Note : these were correct at the time of writing in 2018 ).
Overall Finishes : 67 – Jack ‘ The Dipsea Demon ’ Kirk in the Dipsea 7.1-mile ( USA ) 62 – Allan Ferguson in the Naval Hill 10km ( South Africa )
30km Finishes : 53 – Roger Antonsson , Sune Eriksson & Lars Nordin in the Lidingöloppet ( Sweden )
Marathon Finishes : 58 – Johnny Kelly in the Boston Marathon ( USA ) 51 – Bennett Beach in the Boston Marathon ( USA ) 50 – Colin Smythe in the Rotorua Marathon ( New Zealand ) 50 – Allan Ferguson in the Jackie Gibson Marathon ( South Africa )
Ultra-marathon Finishes ( Road ): 46 – Louis Massyn & Barry Holland in the Comrades Marathon ( South Africa ) ( Both subsequently moved to 47 finishes in 2019 , all consecutive !)
Ultra-marathon Finishes ( Trail ): 49 – Kimbal Byron in the JFK 50-Miler ( USA ) ( His first was as a 12-year-old and he missed his 50th finish in 2018 .)
‘ No Time Cut-Off ’ Trail Ultra Marathon : 51 – Willi Furst in the Biel 100km ( Switzerland ) ( Listed separately , since this event can be hiked .)
The Way it is Today
The Jackie Gibson is one of the few Gauteng marathons that still does late entries , but I pre-entered to ensure I got another T-shirt to add to my collection . Whilst other runners prance around in their glamourous , luminescent , figure-hugging , hi-tech moisture-management race shirts , I find that training in your loose-fitting , cotton Jackie Gibson shirt gives you a lot more street cred . ( On that , I firmly believe that if Vanilla Ice had worn a Jackie Gibson Marathon shirt , he could have been the first Eminem !)
Allan Ferguson , the beloved Mr Fergie
31