TOP 10 STATS
Fastest Father & Son Pairs in the Mile
This month ’ s stats compilation is a little different , a list of top father-son combinations who have run sub-4-minute miles ( or , at least , one of the two did ), ordered by their combined average . South Africans Danie and Johan Cronje – the latter is the current SA Record-holder – are eighth on the list . They are followed by the current 1500m World Champion , Jake Wightman , and his father . The fastest time on the list , 3:48.60 , belongs to 2008 Olympic champion Asbel Kiprop ( who was then still a junior ).
1 3:50.66 John Gregorek 3:51.34 & Johnny Gregorek 3:49.98i ( USA ) Johan Cronje
2 |
3:52.71 |
Kip Keino 3:53.1 & Martin Keino 3:52.22 ( Kenya ) |
3 |
3:52.73 |
Matt Centrowitz 3:54.94 & Matthew Centrowitz 3:50.53 ( USA ) |
4 |
3:53.63 |
Abdi Bile 3:49.40 & Ahmed Bile 3:57.84i ( Somalia & USA ) |
5 |
3:53.97 |
David Kebenei 3:59.35 & Asbel Kiprop 3:48.60 ( Kenya ) |
6 |
3:54.77 |
Eamon Coghlan 3:49.78i & John Coghlan 3:59.52i ( Republic of Ireland ) |
7 |
3:54.81 |
Graham Williamson 3:50.64 & Jamie Williamson 3:58.97 ( Great Britain ) |
8 |
3:55.60 |
Danie Cronje 4:00.5 & Johan Cronje 3:50.70 ( South Africa ) |
9 |
3:56.10 |
Geoff Wightman 4:01.9 & Jake Wightman 3:50.30 ( Great Britain ) |
10
3 : 57 . 18 Dick Quax 3 : 56 . 23 & Theo Quax 3 : 58 . 13i ( New Zealand )
10 miles smashed Jan Barnard ’ s 10-year-old record by almost two minutes , and in the hour run , Van Antwerp ’ s distance of 12 miles 37 yards ( 19.346km ) improved on Div Lamprecht ’ s record set that January in Cape Town . Five weeks later , Van Antwerp beat Kiwi Neville Scott for the SA 6-mile title in Potchefstroom .
3 March 1967
De Villiers Lamprecht is best remembered as the first South African to run a sub-4-minute mile , on 13 November 1964 . He also set a national marathon record in 1966 when he clocked 2:20:43 , and both performances came in Stellenbosch . What is less well known is that the bespectacled Matie was also the first SA athlete to duck under 14 minutes for 5000 metres . This came – no surprise here – at Stellenbosch on this day , when Lamprecht ran 13:53.3 . Less than a month later he won both the 3 miles and 6 miles at the SA Championships , which was the last time the championships were contested over imperial distances . In 1970 , he won the 5000-metre title .
De Villiers Lambrecht
Sonja van Zyl
20 March 1976
In the early seventies , women ’ s marathoning in South Africa was still in its infancy – the first national championship for women would only be held in 1981 . Three of the early pioneers were Suzanne Gaylard , Ulla Paul and Marie-Jean Duyvejonck . In 1975 , Paul became the first female winner of the Peninsula Marathon , and on this day , in the 13th running of the event , Duyvejonck took the title in 3:37:22 . Four weeks later , Duyvejonck also became the second female winner of the Two Oceans ( after Paul ’ s win in 1975 ), and she would repeat both wins in 1977 .
times consecutively . Joubert ’ s tally of six wins was later equalled by the late Riana van Niekerk , but she never won more than two in a row .
Frith van der Merwe
14 March 2008
Nine years after he had set the SA Record for 10,000m of 27:29.94 – which still stands today – Hendrick Ramaala scored an easy victory at the 2008 National Championships on the Coetzenburg track in Stellenbosch , beating the man who would eventually succeed him as South Africa ’ s best distance runner , Stephen Mokoka . Ramaala ran 28:53.04 , with Mokoka clocking 29:16.84 , and Samuel Tsosane taking the bronze medal in 29:23.18 . It was Ramaala ’ s fifth and last title over this distance .
Hendrick Ramaala
10 March 1973
It was on this day in Port Elizabeth , that Sonja van Zyl ( later Sonja Laxton ) came up with a phenomenal performance to smash her own national record for 3000m . She clocked 9:28.0 to take a whopping 15.5 seconds off the mark she had set just three weeks earlier on the same track . To this day it is the biggest improvement ever of a national record for 3000m . Six weeks later , Van Zyl would win the inaugural SA title over 3000m in 9:57.2 in Potchefstroom , and the next year , she brought the record down by another 12.4 seconds . In the next six years , she would take the record down to 9:06.5 , and in 1980 improved to 8:58.90 .
Marie-Jean Duyvejonck
26 March 1994
Frith van der Merwe used the fourth running of the Om die Dam ultramarathon to smash the course record with her 3:21:31 , at that time the fifth-fastest ever by a South African woman over 50km . She broke Helene Joubert ’ s quickest on the course by more than eight minutes , but Joubert then came back and won the race five
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 .
11