Shining across a wide range of distances, local star athlete Stephen Mokoka stood out as the top South African performer on the road last year, as is made evident by the final SAAS Top 10 Road Running Rankings of the 2019 season.

Mokoka, who finished fifth in the marathon at the 2019 World Athletics Championships in Doha, was the fastest South African man over the 10km (28:12), 21.1km (59:51) and 42.2km (2:07:58) distances in the 2019 campaign.

His performance in the half-marathon (21.1km) event in Buenos Aires, Argentina shattered the long-standing national record of 1:00:07 held by Hendrick Ramaala, with Mokoka becoming the first SA athlete to crack the 60-minute barrier.

Among the country’s elite women another local star, Glenrose Xaba, was the standout performer over shorter distances on the road.

Xaba set a 10km personal best of 32:45 in Durban and clocked an impressive time of 1:09:46 in only her second attempt at the 21.1km distance, crossing the line in 1:09:46 in Buenos Aires as she climbed to third place in the all-time national rankings.

Gerda Steyn,  who is part of Nick Bester’s local Nedbank club and won the Comrades and Two Oceans ultra-marathons, also shone over 42.2km, taking 11th place at the New York Marathon in 2:27:48.

Displaying her versatility, Steyn became the fifth South African woman to run under 2:30:00 over the marathon distance.

Do you have more information about the story? Please send us an email to editorial@rekord.co.za or phone us on 083 625 4114.

For free breaking and community news, visit Rekord’s websites:

Rekord East

Rekord North

Rekord Centurion

Rekord Moot

For more news and interesting articles, like Rekord on Facebook, follow us on Twitter or Instagram