Modern Athlete Magazine Issue 147, Dec 2021 December 2021 | Page 15

Johan Fourie intention was to surpass his record ( 4:05.4 run in Durban in May ), 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 dream mile in 1964 .

Clark had actually 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 .

The second national mile record came at the 19th Vernon Barnes Memorial Meeting in Port Elizabeth in 1982 . It was produced by Johan Fourie , who achieved the first of his four SA four-lap records with an outstanding 3:53.29 – more than four tenths of a second faster than Sydney Maree ’ s previous mark . Francois Annandale was a long way behind in 4:04.62 , with Bennie Greyling third in 4:08.97 . Over the next five years Fourie brought the record down to 3:50.82 , a time that was the fifth-fastest in the world in 1987 and stood as a national record for more than 27 years .

This section lists the best South African performance for each of the age categories over the most popular road distances . Note that the categories are not closed , i . e . athletes can be included in younger age categories if their times qualify . ( Correct at the time of writing , 10 December )

About the Author

These stats 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 .

OPEN VETERANS ( 40 +) MASTERS ( 50 +)

10km 28:11 Precious Mashele Durban , 31 Oct 30:08 Peter Muthubi Durban , 31 Oct 34:32 George Mooi Durban , 31 Oct

GRANDMASTERS ( 60 +) GREAT GRANDMASTERS ( 70 +) JUNIORS

15km 68:56 Hannes Els Gqeberha , 2 Oct 68:56 Hannes Els Gqeberha , 2 Oct 1:00:51

Jay-Dee Deerling

Gqeberha , 2 Oct

42.2km 3:02:55

Friedl van der Merwe

Cape Town , 17 Oct

3:36:00

Tony Abrahamson

Cape Town , 17 Oct

OPEN VETERANS ( 40 +) MASTERS ( 50 +)

10km 32:10 Tayla Kavanagh Durban , 31 Oct 35:32 Charné Bosman

Cape Town , 4 Sep

40:11 Judy Bird Durban , 31 Oct

15km 55:17 Zintle Xiniwe Gqeberha , 2 Oct 1:05:11 Bulelwa Simae Gqeberha , 2 Oct 1:06:27

Christine Claasen

Gqeberha , 2 Oct

GRANDMASTERS ( 60 +) GREAT GRANDMASTERS ( 70 +) JUNIORS