The first 5km World Championships were held in Riga , Hungary in October , as part of the revamped World Road Running Championships , with our South African athletes performing well on the day . Here is a South African all-time list for this distance ( all men under 14:00 and women under 16:30 ). While the 5km is not

ALL-TIME 5KM : TOP 11 MEN ( SUB-14:00 )

1 13:24 Ryan Mphahlele Herzogenaurach , 29 Apr 23 2 13:30 Shadrack Hoff Carlsbad , 13 Apr 03 3 13:36 Maxime Chaumeton Riga , 1 Oct 23 4 13:44 Johannes Mabitle Gardena , 7 Jun 98 5 13:47 Tsunaki Kalamore Gardena , 7 Jun 98 6 13:55 Mbuleli Mathanga Durban , 21 May 23 7 13:57 Jeromy Andreas Johannesburg , 11 Jun 17 8 13:58 Enoch Skosana Pretoria , 23 Oct 99 9 13:58 Sibusiso Nzima Bedfordview , 11 Jan 09 10 13:58 Pakiso Mthembu Durban , 21 May 23 11 13:59 Mbongeni Ngxazozo Johannesburg , 28 Aug 16

officially raced that often in South Africa , this will likely now change as the world places more focus on the distance at World Champs level .

In the men ’ s list below , Shadrack Hoff , who held the SA Record for just under 20 years until Ryan Mphahlele broke it in April this year , has four more times under 14 minutes . Maxime Chaumeton , the first SA runner home in Riga , is now third on the list . Amongst the women , the list is headed by Elana Meyer ’ s SA Record of 15:10 , which has been standing for 29 years . Meyer has another two times under 16:30 , while second-placed Colleen de Reuck has three more , and third-placed Dominique Scott-Efurd has five more . Tayla Kavanagh and Kyla Jacobs became just the fifth and sixth SA women to dip under 16 minutes with their performances in Riga .

ALL-TIME 5KM : TOP 15 WOMEN ( SUB-16:30 )

1 15:10 Elana Meyer Providence , 16 Oct 94 2 15:19A Colleen de Reuck Clarksville , 9 Sep 95 3 15:36 Dominique Scott Norman , 3 Sep 16 4 15:45 Gerda Steyn Kingsley , 28 Aug 20 5 15:50 Tayla Kavanagh Riga , 1 Oct 23 6 15:51 Kyla Jacobs Riga , 1 Oct 23 7 16:00 Carina Viljoen Carlsbad , 22 May 22 8 16:01 Glenrose Xaba Gdynia , 17 Oct 20 9 16:04 Carlien Cornelissen New Milford , 23 May 03 10 16:04 Lebo Phalula Bedfordview , 11 Jan 09 11 16:11 Cacisile Sosibo Durban , 15 Oct 23 12 16:12 René Kalmer Albany , 31 May 14 13 16:13 Lebogang Phalula Johannesburg , 28 Aug 16

Maxime Chaumeton in World Champs action in Riga

Kyla Jacobs and Tayla Kavanagh starting the 5km in Riga

14 16:25 Irvette van Blerk Arezzo , 27 May 12 15 16:26 Theresa du Toit New Milford , 19 May 00

The first 16 editions of the New York City Marathon , from 1970 to 1985 , were held in either September or October , but on this day in 1986 , it was run in November for the first time , and the world ’ s greatest marathon runner at the time , Grete Waitz , scored her fifth win in a row in the women ’ s division , and eighth win overall , in New York . The Norwegian won in 2:28:06 , beating Aussie Lisa Martin ( 2:29:12 ) by more than a minute . The men ’ s race went to Gianni Poli of Italy in 2:11:06 . Two years later Waitz won again in New York in an almost identical time of 2:28:07 for an unprecedented nine wins in the race .

Those nine wins came with three in a row from 1978 to 1980 , followed by five wins from 1982 to 1986 , and then one more in 1988 . In her remarkable marathoning career , she also won the London Marathon twice ( 1983 and 1986 ) as well as the 1988 Stockholm Marathon , and on the world stage , she took the gold medal in the 1983 World Championships in Helsinki , then claimed the silver medal at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles . Waitz also earned five gold medals at World Cross Country Championships , taking the women ’ s title from 1978 to 1981 and again in 1983 ( plus bronze medals in 1982 and 1984 ). Sadly , Waitz passed away in 2011 , aged 57 , after a long battle with cancer .

Grete Waitz wins the 1986 New York Marathon

South African Road List Leaders for 2023 ( As at 23 October 2023 ) This section lists the best South African official performances this year in each of the most popular official road distances .

MEN

WOMEN

KEY | a – Aided course , e . g . point-to-point , and therefore not record-legal • i – Time recorded officially during a longer race

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