Tete Dijana set the road alight on Sunday morning, breaking the South African 50km record, as Ethiopia’s Emane Seifu Hayile won the women's race in 3:00:30, setting a world record at the Nedbank Runified Breaking Barriers race in Gqeberha.

Dijana, who won last year's Comrades Marathon, broke away in the latter stages of the race to win in 2:39:03, shattering the national mark of 2:40:13 which was set by Stephen Mokoka at last year's race.

He completed the ultra-distance contest just 20 seconds outside the unofficial world record of 2:39:43 held by CJ Albertson of the United States, though this mark still needs to be ratified which makes Mokoka the reigning record holder.

Onalenna Khonkhobe took second place at the Breaking Barriers race in 2:39:41, also dipping under Mokoka's national record.

Though Mokoka did not take part, he delivered an impressive performance of his own on Sunday morning, taking fifth place at the Osaka Marathon in Japan in a 42km personal best of 2:06:41.

He finished just eight seconds outside the 24 year-old South African record (2:06:33) held by Gert Thys.

Stella Marais was the first SA woman home in Gqeberha, taking sixth position in 3:12:51 despite pushing hard in the early stages of the race after lining up as a pace setter.

* All records are subject to standard ratification procedures.