Women in Sport: The lady who set up SA’s golden era of road running

Though she shifted her allegiance in the latter stages of her lengthy top-flight career, for many years Colleen de Reuck played a key role in a golden era for South African women’s road running.

After the country returned to the international stage in the early 1990s, De Reuck emerged as a beacon of the sport and her rivalry with compatriot Elana Meyer left indelible marks on the history books.

Over a 14-year period between 1987 and 2001, De Reuck and Meyer ripped the national road running records to shreds, and between them they still hold the top 10 all-time SA women’s performances over the 10km, 15km and 21.1km distances.

And while Meyer consistently held an edge over shorter distances, it was in the marathon event where De Reuck earned her best results.

Meyer is still the fastest SA woman over the classic 42.2km distance, having clocked 2:25:15 on the aided Boston Marathon course in 1994, but De Reuck retained the national record after she stormed to victory in 2:26:35 at the 1996 Berlin Marathon.

Born in Vryheid, De Reuck took up the sport in her youth when she joined her father on training runs, and her natural talent was soon spotted.

She went on to marry college sweetheart Darren de Reuck, who was her coach throughout her senior career, and they moved to the United States in 1993 where they settled in Boulder, Colorado.

Before her departure abroad, where she was attracted to the lucrative US road running circuit, De Reuck formed part of the South African team at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, finishing a respectable ninth overall in the women’s marathon.

While she was already a seasoned athlete at the age of 28, the country’s return from isolation breathed fresh life into her career and she consistently put up a fight against the world’s best over the next decade.

In 1995, De Reuck grabbed fourth place at the World Half-Marathon Championships in Belfort, and the next season she finished fifth at the World Cross Country Championships in Stellenbosch.

Later in the 1996 campaign, she ended 13th in the 10 000m race at the Atlanta Olympics, and in 1997 she went on to take eighth place over 25 laps of the track at the World Athletics Championships in Athens.

Returning to the road for her third successive appearance at the Olympics, De Reuck finished 31st in the marathon race at the 2000 Sydney Games.

It was the last major championship in which she would represent her country of birth.

Allegedly feeling snubbed by national selectors, De Reuck made use of her dual citizenship and opted to represent the United States.

Approaching the twilight of her elite career, and now donning the red, white and blue, she delivered one of her best performances at the 2002 World Cross Country Championships in Dublin, where she finished third in the women’s 8km race, leading the American squad
to the silver medal in the team competition.

Two years later she ended 39th in the marathon at the Athens Olympics in her fourth and final appearance at the quadrennial Games.

Showcasing her longevity, she clocked 2:32:37 at the Twin Cities Marathon in Minnesota in 2009, at the age of 45, and four years later she won the Indianapolis Marathon in 2:39:23, shortly before her 50th birthday.

“With age you do slow down,” De Reuck admitted on a recent visit to SA.

“But I just keep doing different things that excite me and ticking things off the bucket list.”

Expanding her participation to triathlons in 2015, she produced a superb performance to win the 50-54 age group on debut at the Ironman World Championships in Hawaii, and in 2016 she returned “home” to compete in South Africa’s two most prestigious ultra-distance races.

Utilising her vast experience, she finished fifth at the 56km Two Oceans race in Cape Town, and three months later she went on to finish seventh at the 89km Comrades Marathon in KwaZulu-Natal.

A former school teacher, De Reuck is still actively involved in athletics as a coach and she works as a personal trainer.

However, while she graced the world’s tracks and roads throughout an impressive career which spanned some 30 years, her time in the spotlight has come to an end.

She’s nonetheless happy these days to focus on family, which includes her two daughters.

“It’s just a basic life but it’s great,” she says.

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