South African half-marathon and 10km champion Stephen Mokoka was edged into second spot by Britain's Mo Farah in Sunday's Great South Run in Portsmouth, England.
Farah, Britain's leading cross country and 10 000m athlete, stepped up to the 10 mile (16.09km) distance and spent much of the race dicing with the South African, but held on to take line honours in 46 minutes, 25 seconds.
Mokoka, who has had an impressive season and was the country's top finisher at the World Half-Marathon Championships in Birmingham earlier this month, finished only one second behind in 46:26.
South Africans Rene Kalmer and marathoner Tanith Maxwell finished fourth and 13th respectively in the women's race which was won by Ines Monteiro.
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| 'It was like running backwards and I had to dig very deep' |
The Portuguese athlete, who set a personal best 10 000 metre time of 31:25.67 seconds in Berlin in August and improved her best 15km time last month, was again on form and opened a massive 450-metre lead over the quality field to take the tape in 52:32.
Ana Felix was second in 53:58 with 2004 Great South winner Benita Willis of Australia third in 54:41. Kalmer was a further 30 seconds behind, finishing in 55:11, one place ahead of former world marathon champion Catherine Ndereba.
A fast start by Maxwell took her through 5km in 17:22, but she was unable to maintain the pace and had to settle for a time of 58:58.
"The wind was unbelievable. It was like running backwards and I had to dig very deep," Maxwell said.
"My last kilometres were (at a pace of) over four minutes. Of course I'm disappointed with the weather, but it was a great experience and I'm looking forward to more racing over here."
South Africans have a good record in the event which attracts 21 000 runners and was won by Gert Thys in 2000 and Hendrick Ramaala in his New York Marathon build up in 2004. - Sapa
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