by RIËL HAUMAN
STATS & FACTS
by RIËL HAUMAN
Stats & Facts
Hey , June !
The world of running produces scintillating times and interesting statistics , including these standout performances in June from the annals of SA running .
3 June 1911
The South African Track & Field Championships have been held in June four times ( all before World War I ). On two of these occasions Chris Gitsham , who was to finish second in the Olympic Marathon in 2012 , won the 10-mile race . This was the first , with the meeting being held in Durban . Gitsham won in 55:10 and three years later , when the meeting was also held in June ( in Port Elizabeth ), repeated the victory . In Durban he won the 4 miles as well , but that race was run in May ( the meeting was held over two days , on Wednesday 31 May and Saturday 3 June ).
10
South African Road List Leaders for 2023
This section lists the best South African official performances this year in each of the most popular official road distances .
ISSUE 159 | www . modernathlete . co . za
MEN
10km 27:35 Precious Mashele Gqeberha , 2 April
15km 46:30 Anthony Timoteus Cape Town , 14 January
21.1km 1:00:29 Thabang Mosiako Gqeberha , 3 June
25km
1:24:50 1:20:16a
Sphamandla Nkosi Sanele Sibisi
Chatsworth , 23 April Pinetown , 29 January
30km 1:41:23 William Kaptein Parow , 26 March
42.2km 2:06:42 Stephen Mokoka Osaka , 25 February
50km 2:39:04 Tete Dijana Gqeberha , 26 February
WOMEN
10km 32:25 Glenrose Xaba Gqeberha , 2 April
15km 52:56 Cacisile Sosibo Boksburg , 7 May
21.1km 1:08:37 Glenrose Xaba Gqeberha , 3 June
25km
1:50:36 1:44:14a
Nokuthula Ntshangase Fikile Mbuthuma
Chatsworth , 23 April Pinetown , 29 January
30km 2:09:40 Elmé Middlemost Parow , 26 March
42.2km 2:29:19 Dominique Scott-Efurd London , 23 April
50km 3:07:48i Gerda Steyn Cape Town , 15 April
KEY
Chris Gitsham
( As at 9 June 2023 )
a – Aided course , e . g . point-to-point , and therefore not record-legal • i – Time recorded officially during a longer race
12 June 1954
In the first three decades of the Comrades Marathon , the race was held on Empire Day , 24 May . Then it was twice held in July , and in 1954 it was run in June for the first time . On this day , Wally Hayward scored the last of his five victories in 6:12:55 . It was an ‘ up run ’ and he smashed the record 6:32:26 set by Hardy Ballington in 1938 by more than 19½ minutes , and he beat Trevor Allen , who had won the previous ‘ up run ,’ by more than 32 minutes ! Less than a month short of his 46th birthday , Hayward was the oldest man in the race and became the oldest winner in the history of the race – a distinction he would keep until Vladimir Kotov , at 46 and four months , won in 2004 . Hayward ’ s course record would stand until 1960 , when Jackie Mekler ran the first sub-6-hour time .
Wally Hayward
24 June 1972
Johnny Halberstadt is one of the most versatile athletes ever produced in South Africa , boasting a best mile time of 3:59.9 and a marathon of 2:11:46 . On this day at the Rose Festival meeting in Gresham , Oregon , he took aim at Fanie van Zijl ’ s SA Record of 13:48.4 for 5000 metres , set almost three months earlier . A furious sprint to hold off Americans Jeff Galloway and Sid Sink resulted in a new national mark of 13:44.0 , with Galloway finishing just two-tenths of a second behind the South African . Halberstadt ’ s performance came just three weeks after he had won the NCAA title for 10,000m in the colours of Oklahoma State University , setting another SA Record of 28:50.4 .
Images : Tobias Ginsberg & Courtesy Olympedia , Wally Hayward Collection , Two Oceans Marathon , Brand Milano , Villanova University , Dewald Steyn