World 50km record broken in South Africa

South Africa’s Stephen Mokoko – with a marathon best of 2:07:40 – has been running marathons for more than a decade but he made history in his very first 50km race, the Nedbank #Runified 50km in Gqeberha (RSA) on 6 March.

He followed the pacemaker through halfway in 1:21:02 and then broke away after 30km. Running alone, he maintained his pace on the 10km loop course by almost four minutes to win in 2:40:13. The inaugural world 50km record of 2:42:07 had been set by Ethiopia’s Ketema Negasa at the same event last year.

The women’s mark of 3:04:24, set by Irvette Van Zyl also in the same race last year, remained unbeaten with Ethiopia’s Amelework Fikadu taking victory in 3:04:58.