Adriaan Wildschutt overcomes wind and slow pace to break SA 10km mark

US-based distance king Adriaan Wildschutt defied a strong Gqeberha wind and slow pacing to break the South African 10km record at the Absa Run Your City race on Sunday.

Wildschutt — who ended 10th in the 10,000m at the 2024 Paris Olympics in a 26 min 50.64 sec national record — transitioned seamlessly to tar as he won the race in 27:30, taking down the 27:35 mark held by Precious Mashele.

But he had to work hard for it alone at the front.

“I knew the last 3/4km it was going to be a real fight, but I also wanted to win so bad. I knew I had a guy with me so I made a big surge at 3km and then again at 6km and I knew it was going to cost me a lot in the last 3km,” said the 26-year-old, who also owns the South African track 5,000m and 3,000 records.

“But if I didn’t make those moves I wouldn’t have broken the record so I knew the last 3km was going to be a huge challenge to keep on pushing against the wind ... just keep squeezing and pushing and trying to see if I can get away from the wind a little bit, squeezing the last 2km.

“The closer I got the more I realised I might be right there and I was just making a big push the last 500m, so I’m just happy that I was able to pull it off.”

But the record didn’t seem on at the halfway mark where Wildschutt clocked 13:54, which he estimated should have meant a 27:50 race.

“Making that up in the second half when you’re already tired and against the wind I knew it was going to take a big effort. If I didn’t make the move from 3km out I knew I was going to pay.”

Wildschutt, whose previous 10km best was 29:09 from 2017, had hoped to get to the halfway point in a faster time.

“I wanted to have 13:30, 13:35 in the first half, and we were way off and I kept on talking to the pacers and I knew it was hard, the wind was there.

“I can’t blame them really — they didn’t have to do it, they were doing me a favour, I can’t be mad at that — but I wanted to be a little quicker ... and so I just made a big surge from 3km to go and I just keep on going. I was ‘OK, I’m going to make a push for it, if I make it, I make it’.

“At least I made the effort,” added Wildschutt, who started out running for money in road races as a schoolboy in Ceres.

Glenrose Xaba was the first South African woman home, finishing third in 31:56 behind Kenyan Jane Chacha (31:45) and Selam Gebre of Ethiopia (31:50).