Some of South Africa’s best distance runners put in impressive performances both at home and abroad on Sunday morning, led by another outstanding effort from road running star Stephen Mokoka.
Taking fifth place at the Osaka Marathon in Japan, Mokoka clocked 2:06:41, crossing the line just eight seconds outside the long-standing national 42km record of 2:06:33 held by Gert Thys from 1999.
Personal best
The 38-year-old shaved almost a minute off his best of 2:07:40 in Shanghai in 2015, when he climbed to second in the national marathon rankings.
Showing consistency and longevity, Mokoka dipped in 2:11:00 for 14 consecutive years over the classic distance.
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Meanwhile, in Gqeberha, Comrades Marathon champion Tete Dijana once again showed his class, giving the 50km world record a shake in the Nedbank Unified Breaking Barriers long distance race.
Dijana became the first South African athlete to run 2:40:00 over the distance, crossing the line in 2:39:03 and smashing the national record of 2:40:13 set by Mokoka in the same race last year.
He was just 20 seconds off the unofficial world record of 2:38:43 clocked by American athlete CJ Albertson in San Francisco in October, which has not yet been ratified by international athletics authorities but has yet to be scratched.
“This is surprising. I had my own race plan in the first round, and in the second round I kept pushing,” said Dijana.
“I was tired at the end so I’m glad I was able to fight.”
Women’s record
In the women’s race, Ethiopian athlete Emane Seifu Hayile broke the world record of 3:04:24, beating Irvette van Zyl in 3:00:2.
When American athlete Desiree Linden clocked 2:59:54 in April 2013, that result was achieved in a mixed gender race and was not counted for record purposes.