Bubbling Just Under
On the men ’ s side , the SA Record of 27:38 was set by Stephen Mokoka in 2015 . He is also the only athlete to go sub-60min in the half marathon on a legal course – his SA Record of 59:36 was set in Gdynia , Poland at the World Half Marathon Championships in 2020 . A glance at the SA all-time list for 10km shows that Mokoka is still top of the pile of the current crop of athletes , but it ’ s exciting to see that six of the top 10 are all active athletes . Even more exciting was seeing youngster Maxime Chaumeton become the first South African to break 28 minutes on SA soil at the Absa RUN YOUR CITY DURBAN race in July , clocking 27:58 to move to third on the all-time list , with Mbuleli Mathanga coming close as well with his 28:03 in the same race .
The Absa RUN YOUR CITY Series has brough top international talent to race in SA , helping local athletes raise their performance levels
Fastest in the world this year is Joshua Cheptegei of Uganda with his 26:49 , while Hamid Ben Daoud of Spain sits in 100 th position with his 28:23 . Three South African ’ s feature in the top 100 , with Chaumeton ( 51 st ), Mathanga ( 58 th ) and Mokoka 83 rd with his 28:14 . All three were run in Durban this year at the Absa Run Your City Series , where they finished fourth , sixth and eighth respectively . The other seven athletes in the top 10 at that race were all international athletes , but 20 South Africans recorded PBs that day in a very fast race .
Chaumeton is 22 years old , Mathanga 29 , Thabang Mosiako 27 , Kabelo Seboko 24 , while Nicholas Seoposengwe and Andries Sesedi are both 21 , and all of these athletes ran PB ’ s in Durban . Given their ages , there is a lot more we can expect from them , especially the four that are still under 25 , as 2022 was just their breakthrough year . And with Chaumeton leading the way , we can expect more athletes to break the 28-minute mark .
But , how does that compare with the rest of the world ? In 2022 , the top 51 athletes broke 28 minutes . Only Maxime Chaumeton is in that list . Compare that to the mid-1990s to early 2000s , when SA ’ s Hendrick Ramaala , Gert Thys , Shadrack Hoff , Abner Chipu and the like were beating some of the best in the world across various distances . In particular , Ramaala had some scintillating duels with Kenyan Paul Tergat : At the 1998 World Half Marathon Championships , Tergat beat him just three seconds , and the following year they actually recorded the same times , but Tergat narrowly took the title again . Then at the 2005 New York Marathon , Ramaala was out-dipped by Tergat , 2:09:30 to 2:09.31 . Those were the days !
Where Has it Gone Wrong ?
While we have some hugely promising prospects now in SA running , particularly in the men ’ s arena , there is still some way to go if we want to be competing at the top level on the world stage again , and there are a number of factors to consider in the apparent demise of South African running . Getting back to the discussion that developed under that Facebook post congratulating Nare on her series win , that is why both Hoff as well as renowned coach and commentator , Alec Riddle , made strong cases for competing on track before moving to the roads .
During the heyday of Meyer , De Reuck , Ramaala , Gert Thys , Shadrack Hoff , et al , the season looked vastly different . In that era , there were a whole host of track meetings , in addition to the provincial and SA Championships , that provided both 5000m and 10,000m races . During the 80s and 90s , these athletes would compete in the Engen Series and the Prestige meetings , notably in Stellenbosch and Port Elizabeth . We also had some serious rivalries in those days . I remember , in particular , the Absa Series of 1998 to 2003 , where you would regularly see Hoff and Ramaala battle it out over 3000m , 5000m and 10,000m . The Engen Series also had either 3000m or 5000m races , and that series attracted international competition .
Let ’ s face it , from the 80s to the late 90s , South Africans were quite competitive on the track by international standards , in spite of our athletes being banned from international competition due to the country ’ s apartheid policies . We also saw this core group of athletes place a big focus on cross country . In fact , Ramaala swore by cross country , and to this day , his training group can be found pounding out the laps at Zoo Lake , on a grass ‘ track ’ around the recreational area .
Internationally , names such as Tergat , Haile Gebrsellasie , Keninisa Bekele , Grete Waitz , Ingrid Kristiansen , Derartu Tulu , Liz McColgan and Tegla Laroupe all came through the track / cross country ranks before hitting the roads .
Even now , you will still see some of the best in the world doing track and cross country to give them their edge on the roads . Joshua Cheptegei , Kibiwott Kandie , Sifan Hassan , Helen Obiri come to mind . But , recently , we have seen a whole host of runners smashing fast times on the road who have not come through that route , so what has changed ?
The introduction of the so-called ‘ super shoes ’ cannot be ignored . The fact that the elasticity of carbon plates provides extra spring and the maximalist cushioning helps promote faster recovery has made a huge difference . I know some people in the sport get annoyed at the mention of these shoes , and their influence , but there is so much scientific evidence out there that the shoes have had a profound impact on performances , so it is no longer even a debate . It is also far more lucrative for athletes to run on the road these days , and let us not forget , most of the top athletes are doing this for a living . In other words , they will go where the money is .
Four Steps to Success
So how do we address the gap between SA ’ s top athletes and the best in the world ? And by the way , this is a question that a whole host of nations are pondering , given the incredible dominance of East Africa in world athletics and running . I believe there are a number of factors to be considered . We do not have a busy middle distance track season anymore , so that option is out the window . Cross country is part of the training of some of our best athletes , like Mokoka , Mathanga and Mashele , but I think the following are the key points .
1 Training Groups : These work , no argument about it . We have seen the Zoo Lake Group , the Sponge Group , Phantane in Durban , the Potch Track Club , and Endurocad ( particularly for women ) in the Western Cape all producing successes . And these aren ’ t the only ones , they ’ re just the more famous ones – in particular , the
Images : Rogan Ward , Anthony Grote , Josh Reid & courtesy adidas
Tayla Kavanagh winning the Totalsports Women ’ s Race in Durban , her secondfastest race of the year
Priceless moment as Maxime Chaumeton realises what he has achieved at the Absa RUN YOUR CITY DURBAN 10K
27