Modern Athlete Magazine Issue 156 Issue 156 - Feb 2023 | Page 11

Johnny Kriel second in 2:34:21 and Roger Cameron third in 2:34:45 . Janet Bailey won the women ’ s race in 3:37:36 . Exactly a month later , Chamberlain would win his second consecutive Two Oceans .

Brian Chamberlain

28 February 1981

The Cango Marathon in Oudtshoorn is one of South Africa ’ s oldest marathons , and is run on a point-to-point , downhill course from the Cango Caves to the town . On this day , the race was held for the sixth time and UCT athlete Stephen Granger , then 26 , won in 2:32:09 from Ig de Villiers , with Louis Massyn ( holder of 47 Comrades and Two Oceans medals ) third . Alida van der Nest , the women ’ s defending champion , ran much faster than the previous year and won again in 3:44:05 . Today , Granger is an eminent reporter on all things running , with a special interest in trail , and is still regularly runs up mountains .

Stephen Granger ( today )

24 February 1990

The SA Marathon Championships , first run in 1908 , have been held in February only on rare occasions . The second time this occurred was on this day in

South African Road List Leaders for 2023 ( As at 30 January 2023 ) This section lists the best South African performance to date this year for each of the most popular road distances .

MEN

Port Elizabeth . The remarkable Frith van der Merwe won her second national title in a row , and achieved her second SA Record in a row with her 2:27:36 , the fourth-fastest time in the world for that year . She beat Sonja Laxton by more than 13 minutes , and improved her own national mark by one second short of three minutes . The men ’ s title was taken by David Tsebe in 2:09:50 , then the fastest time ever on a standard ( record-legal ) course by a South African ( and still the second-fastest ever on a standard course on SA soil ). It put him eighth on the world list for the year . Later in the year , Tsebe would also win the SA Half Marathon and finish second in the SA 15km , and in 1992 he would win the Berlin Marathon in 2:08:07 .

David Tsebe ( running behind his brother Rami )

27 February 1999

The Buffs Marathon is one of South Africa ’ s most traditional – and oldest – marathons . First held in 1974 , it is run on a downhill course from Macleantown to East London , and on this day , the 26th running of the race produced another superb Frith van der Merwe performance when the three-time Comrades champion won by more than 10 minutes in 2:51:01 , up till then the quickest time in the race and her fastest

Frith van der Merwe

10km 29:49 Lloyd Bosman George , 27 January marathon of the year . Second in 3:01:44 was Sharon Eldridge , who would go on to win the race three times herself . The men ’ s competition was much closer , with Oelof Vorster winning in 2:22:38 from Lulama Msyiwa ( 2:24:09 ). Almost exactly a year later , on 26 February 2000 , Vorster also won the Cango Marathon .

10 February 2007

On this day , in her hometown of Bloemfontein , Zola Pieterse ( née Budd ) ran a rare marathon and won the 27th edition of the Kloppers adidas Marathon in 3:10:30 . The next year , Pieterse would dip under three hours for the first time when she ran 2:59:53 in New York . Of course , Pieterse was better known for her exploits in track and cross country . She first attained international prominence when she broke two World Junior Records in 1983 , and the next year she slashed the senior World Record for 5000m to 15:01.83 , in Stellenbosch , then broke 12 World Junior Records over 1500m , 1 mile , 2000m , 3000m and 5000m ! Running for Great Britain , she went on to win two World Cross Country Championship titles .

Zola Budd when she burst onto the world athletics scene

Chaumeton Shows His Class

Corsa Internazionale di San Silvestro Boclassic , Bolzano , Italy , 31 December

The best performance by a South African in recent weeks was Maxime Chaumeton ’ s solid third place in a strong field in the Boclassic 10km . Chaumeton is the second-fastest South African ever on a record-eligible course , having clocked 27:58 in the Absa RUN YOUR CITY Durban 10K last July , which was also the fastest time by a South African in 2022 . In Italy , he ran 28:19 on a slightly more challenging circuit course in the town centre , comprising a 1250m loop completed eight times , and he finished five seconds behind winner Oscar Chelimo of Uganda . silver medal in the 1908 Olympic Marathon , clocking 2:56:06 to also become the first South African to run under three hours .

15km 46:30 Anthony Timoteus Constantia , 14 January

21.1km 1:06:41 Desmond Mokgobu Bedfordview , 15 January

WOMEN

KEY a – Aided course , e . g . point-to-point , and therefore not record-legal

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 .

Maxime Chaumeton in action in Italy

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