5 September 1954

The late Jackie Mekler ’ s prodigious racing was legendary – he had run five marathons and two ultras ( including one Comrades Marathon ) by the time he was 21 . On this day , less than a month after his second place in the 1954 Empire Games Marathon in Vancouver , Canada , he made an attempt on the World Records for 40 and 50 miles on the Delville track in Germiston . Both records had been set in 1952 by Britain ’ s Derek Reynolds . The race started at 5:15am in the dark , with the track illuminated by car headlights , and Mekler clocked 4:18:14 for 40 miles to break the record by 66 seconds , and he went on to complete 50 miles in 5:24:27 , a full 5:55 quicker than Reynolds . Along the way , he also broke the World Record for 50km with 3:25:29 . In this year , he ran seven marathons and two ultras , as well as a number of shorter races .

10 September 1977

From its beginning in 1965 , the Stellenbosch Marathon saw some of South Africa ’ s best athletes winning the title , among them De Villiers Lamprecht ( twice ), Willie Olivier and Dave Levick . On this day , Brian Chamberlain joined this group when he improved his personal best by more than three minutes to win in 2:18:30 , a record for the six-lap course through the streets of the university town . He finished 3:15 ahead of Andries Krogmann , who just a week earlier had won the SA Interprovincial Cross-country Title and was running his debut marathon . A mere two weeks later , Chamberlain won the SA Marathon , and in 1978 he retained his Stellenbosch title . He also won the Two Oceans Marathon in both 1977 and 1978 .

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Jackie Mekler

ISSUE 161 | www . modernathlete . co . za

Brian Chamberlain

1 September 1979

Sometimes an athlete has a superb year , when everything just seems to go right . Johnny Halberstadt had such a year in 1979 , and September was the high point . On this day , he started off by winning the SA Cross-country title in George , by a whopping 43 seconds , to claim his only national crown in this discipline , then eight days later he won the DAC Marathon , clocking 2:12:19 , the fastest time by a South African that year . Before the month was out , he also scored a repeat win in the City to City 50km in 2:51:16 ( for the “ up ” run from Joburg to Pretoria ). On top of this , in May he had been second in the Comrades and in October he was second in the SA Marathon ( after having won in 1978 ).

Johnny Halberstadt

10 September 1994

South African track distance running records in September are rare , but Elana Meyer achieved it on this day when she scored one of the most famous victories of her brilliant career , winning the 10,000m at the World Cup meeting in London . After leading from start to finish , she

beat Fernanda Ribeiro of Portugal by almost 12 seconds in a magnificent 30:52.51 – which would have been the world ’ s fastest for the year , were it not for the 30:50.34 by Wang Junxia , one of a group of highly controversial Chinese runners . Meyer ’ s time was then the eighthquickest ever run -- fourth if the times by the Chinese group of Ma ’ s Army , as they were called after their coach , are discounted . Today Meyer ’ s time ranks 111th on the world all-time list and is still the SA Record – the closest another South African has come is the 31:00:10 run by Dominique Scott-Efurd in March 2022 .

Elana Meyer

24 September 2003

The Spookhill 15km race in Somerset West is probably the most difficult race over this distance in the Western Cape , including the upper section of Parel Vallei Road , where an optical illusion makes it look like a switched off car is rolling uphill . The alternate theory is that the race is so tough , it will ‘ spook ’ ( haunt ) your legs for days afterwards ! On this day , the men ’ s race went to Neo Molema in 50:01 , while on the women ’ s side , one of South Africa ’ s best female ultra-runners , Farwa Mentoor , scored her fourth victory here in 1:00:46 . Mentoor also won in 1998 , 1999 and 2001 , and only Zintle Xiniwe has won the Spookhill more times , with five wins .

Farwa Mentoor

Images : Courtesy Jackie Mekler , Two Oceans Marathon , Aventuras Na Historia , Adriaan Wildschuut , Olympedia