27 March 1937

Only four men ’ s marathon SA Records have been set in March . The earliest one , on this day in the SA Championships in Bloemfontein , was the result of a phenomenal run by Jackie Gibson , just four days before his 23rd birthday . It was the third meeting between Gibson and SA Record-holder and defending champion Johannes Coleman , who had won both of their previous clashes , and in fact had never lost to a fellow South African . The race was decided on a five-lap course , and after another tough battle , Gibson reached the finish in the Ramblers Stadium in 2:30:45 for a new continental record and the second-fastest time in the world that year ( only seven seconds behind the world leader ). This SA Record , run at more than 1300m of altitude , would stand for 17 years , until Jan Barnard broke it at sea level . Tragically , Gibson was killed in an airplane crash near Durban in 1944 , while serving in the South African Air Force .

Johannes Coleman ( left ) and Jackie Gibson

10 March 1965

On this day in Germiston , Cornelius “ Sonny ” van Antwerp ran one of the best races of his career when , despite the altitude , he became the first South African to dip below 50 minutes for 10 miles and cover more than 12 miles in an hour . Also , his time of 49:55.6 for

Sonny van Antwerp

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 .

20 March 1976

Marie-Jean Duyvejonck

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 .

25 March 1983

In February 1983 , Eranee van Zyl almost broke through the two-minute barrier for 800m with 2:00.65 at Coetzenburg . On this day , again on the famous Stellenbosch track , Van Zyl ran slightly faster at the SABC TV Meeting , but Ilze Venter ( later De Kock and Wicksell ) beat her and succeeded in getting the magical sub-2 time with her 1:59.39 . Van Zyl was second in 2:00.45 and Ria

Ilze Venter leads Eranee van Zyl

Hugo third in 2:02.16 . Exactly a month later , once more in Stellenbosch , Van Zyl got her revenge , winning in 1:59.70 to Venter ’ s 2:00.72 . Over the past four decades only two other SA women – Zelda Pretorius and Caster Semenya – have broken two minutes .

26 March 1994

In the fourth running of the Om Die Dam 50km ultramarathon , Frith van der Merwe smashed the course record with her 3:21:31 , at that time the fifth-fastest ever by a South African woman over the distance . She broke Helene Joubert ’ s course record by more than eight minutes , but Joubert then came back and won the race five 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 in 1999 – which was only finally beaten by Adrian Wildschutt in 2023 – Hendrick Ramaala scored an easy victory in the 10,000m at the 2008 National Championships on the Coetzenburg track in Stellenbosch . Ramaala clocked 28:53.04 to comfortably beat the man who would eventually succeed him as South Africa ’ s best distance runner , Stephen Mokoka ( 29:16.84 ), with Samuel Tsosane taking the bronze medal in 29:23.18 . It was Ramaala ’ s fifth and last title over this distance .

Hendrick Ramaala

Images : Roger Sedres / Cape Town Marathon & courtesy Wikimedia , Hoffie Hoffmeister / Athletics History , Two Oceans Marathon , Metropolitan Museum of Art