HISTORICAL HIGHLIGHTS
These are some of the standout performances in August from the annals of SA running .
17 August 1920
Bevil Rudd occupies a unique place in South African athletics : He is the only athlete who won a complete set of Olympic medals . The chain-smoking Rudd , a Rhodes scholar at Oxford University and former soldier who was awarded the Military Cross medal in World War I , was born in England but chose to run for South Africa , where he went to school and lived before going to Oxford . On this day in 1920 , he won the first of his three medals when he finished third in the 800 metres behind Albert Hill ( Great Britain ) and Earl Elby ( USA ). Rudd ran 1:54.0 after leading into the home straight , with Hill clocking 1:53.4 and Elby 1:53.6 . On 20 August Rudd won the 400m in 49.6 on a rain-soaked track , and on 23 August he teamed up with Harry Dafel , Clarence Oldfield and Jock Oosterlaak to win the silver medal behind Great Britain in the 4x400m relay .
Bevil Rudd
3 August 1975
At one stage , South Africa ’ s longest running club marathon ( not counting the SA Championships ) was the Durban Athletic Club , or DAC , Marathon . It was was first held in 1927 , when the winner was Olympian Marthinus Steytler . Sadly , it was discontinued after its 68th running in 2001 . On this day in 1975 , just a few months after scoring his second consecutive victory in the Comrades Marathon , Derek Preiss won in a personal best of 2:21:56 from Ron Moir ( 2:26:26 ). Preiss is still the only male runner who has won the Two Oceans and Comrades marathons in the same year , a feat which he achieved twice , in 1974 and 1975 .
Derek Preiss
26 August 1985
A little less than a year after her traumatic experience in the Los Angeles Coliseum in 1984 , when she was at first disqualified from the inaugural Olympic women ’ s 3000 metres and then reinstated , Zola Budd officially smashed the 5000m World Record by more than 10 seconds on this day . In early 1984 , the then 17-year-old Budd had run an unofficial World Record , clocking 15:01.83 in Stellenbosch , but Norway ’ s Ingrid Kristiansen set a world mark of 14:58.89 , the world ’ s first sub-15 time , in Oslo . Now , in a special invitation race at the international meet between England , Poland , Hungary and Czechoslovakia , Budd was up against Kristiansen , but beat her easily with a new World Record of 14:48.07 . Kristiansen was second in 14:57.43 . Almost a year later Kristiansen would take the record back with 14:37.33 .
Zola Budd
16
South African Road List Leaders for 2022
This section lists the best South African performance for each of the most popular road distances .
ISSUE 152 | www . modernathlete . co . za
MEN
10km 27:58 Maxime Chaumeton Durban , 10 July
15km 47:13 Ashley Smith Constantia , 5 February
21.1km 1:01:03 Melikhaya Frans Gqeberha , 4 June
25km 1:23:21 Packson Banda Somerset East , 14 May 1:15:26a Nkosikhona Mhlakwana Pinetown , 30 January
30km 1:33:11 Melikhaya Frans Despatch , 19 March
42.2km 2:11:15 Tumelo Motlagale Durban , 8 May
50km 2:40:13 Stephen Mokoka Gqeberha , 6 March
WOMEN
10km 31:58 Dominique Scott-Efurd Charleston , 2 April
15km 47:51e Dominique Scott-Efurd Houston , 16 January
21.1km 1:07:32 Dominique Scott-Efurd Houston , 16 January
25km 1:48:25 Lisa Collett ( veteran ) Durban , 27 March 1:35:57a Zinhle Shabalala Pinetown , 30 January
30km 1:56:36 Nwabisa Mjoli Despatch , 19 March
Marathon 2:40:59 Jenet Mbhele Durban , 27 February 2:38:22a Stella Marais Cape Town , 20 February
50km 3:08:47e Gerda Steyn Cape Town , 17 April
KEY
a – Aided course , e . g . point-to-point , and therefore not record-legal | e – Set en route during a longer race .
7 August 1992
It remains one of the great images of African athletics , and sport in general : South Africa ’ s Elana Meyer and her Ethiopian rival , Derartu Tulu , circling the track together after their epic battle in the Olympic 10,000 metres in Barcelona . Those Olympics signalled South Africa ’ s return to the global arena , and Track & Field News called Meyer and Tulu “ symbols of a new day in women ’ s distance running .” From about 10 laps to go , Meyer had thrown down the gauntlet to her rivals with laps of 72 and 73.5 seconds . With Tulu on her heels but never leading , Meyer tried everything to get away , but it was to no avail . Tulu sizzled the last lap in 65.9 to set a new African Record of 31:06.02 , with Meyer getting the silver medal in a national record 31:11.75 . It was an exhilarating contest in which six national records fell .
Derartu Tulu and Elana Meyer
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 .
Images : Getty Images & courtesy Two Oceans Marathon , Zola Budd Pieterse Collection , Wikimedia / National Library of France