by RIËL HAUMAN
STATS & FACTS
by RIËL HAUMAN
Stats & Facts
17 August 1920
Bevil Rudd occupies a unique place in South African athletics , being the only athlete to win 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 , he finished third in the 800m , clocking 1:54.0 . On 20 August , he 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 .
31 August 1963
The first SA Cross Country Championships for women was held on the last day of August 1963 and Anne McKenzie , who earlier that year had won her first national track title over 880 yards , also came out on top on a difficult course in Pretoria . The distance was two miles and the Southern Transvaal athlete clocked 14:01 to win from two 12-yearolds , Heather Blake ( 14:21 ) and Josephine Koen ( 14:51 ). McKenzie would also win in 1964 , 1966 and 1967 .
10
Anne McKenzie
3 August 1975
At one stage , South Africa ’ s longest running club marathon ( not counting the SA Championships ) was the Durban Athletic Club ( DAC ) Marathon , which was first held in 1927 . On this day in 1975 , just a few months
ISSUE 160 | www . modernathlete . co . za
Pick of the August Highlights
The world of running produces scintillating times and interesting statistics , including these standout performances in August from the annals of SA running .
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 . Sadly , the DAC Marathon was discontinued after its 68th running in 2001 .
Derek Preiss
26 August 1985
In early 1984 , the then 17-year-old Zola Budd had run an unofficial World Record for 5000m , clocking 15:01.83 in Stellenbosch , but Norway ’ s Ingrid Kristiansen then set an official world mark of 14:58.89 in Oslo . On this day , in a special invitation race at the international meet between England , Poland , Hungary and Czechoslovakia , Budd beat Kristiansen easily with an official new World Record of 14:48.07 , with the Norwegian second in 14:57.43 . Almost a year later , Kristiansen would take the record back with a 14:37.33 .
Zola Budd
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 10,000m in Barcelona . From about 10 laps to go , Meyer had thrown down the gauntlet to her rivals with laps of 72 and 73.5 seconds , trying everything to get away from Tulu , who just stayed on the South African ’ s heels and then 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 .
Elana Meyer and Derartu Tulu
8 August 1999
With four SA titles on the track and cross-country already behind his name , the versatile Shadrack Hoff won his first half marathon crown on this day in Durban . Hoff outkicked Abner Chipu in 1:02:04 to win by nine seconds , with defending champion Gert Thys third in 1:02:23 . Three months later Hoff , the SA Record-holder in the 5000m , would take the third of his five SA 10km titles .
Shadrack Hoff
11 August 2007
In the SA 10km Championships in Stellenbosch , 20-year-old Tshamano Setone scored a rather surprising victory in 28:47 , which would remain the fastest time for a South African that year . It was just two seconds slower than the PB he set the previous year , also in Stellenbosch , when he finished second and won the SA Junior title . In the women ’ s race , René Kalmer won her second title in 32:28 , also the quickest SA time for the year and a PB . Kalmer also won the SA titles over 1500m and 5000m on the track in 2007 .
Tshamano Setone
Manfred Seidler , Rogan Ward , Gavin Ryan , Getty Images & courtesy Wikimedia / National Library of France , South African Sports Achievements ( Facebook ), Two Oceans Marathon , Zola Budd-Pieterse Collection , ASA , Olympedia . com