When Chris Harmse won his first South African hammer throw crown in 1996, sprint sensation Clarence Munyai hadn't even been born, let alone taken his first step.
Harmse, nearly 45, claimed his 23rd consecutive title at the national championships at Tuks on Friday, meaning he's now been the SA champ for more than half his life.
Soon after Harmse's competition started on Friday afternoon, Munyai, 20, whipped down the 200m in 19.69sec to become the 10th fastest man of all time.
Munyai is part of SA's speed revolution, and perhaps it was fitting that the old king who sparked it all, Simon Magakwe, roared once more to claim his seventh 100m title.
There's no shortage of SA sprinters, but it's a different story in the throws events.
Harmse, owner of the 80.63m African record from 2005, threw 70.62 on Friday to fend off the 69.01 challenge from Tshepang Makhethe, who will take part at the Commonwealth Games in Australia next month.Harmse refuses to compete on a Sunday because of his religious belief, a decision which probably denied him Olympic and world championship medals over the years, but he returns to the SA showpiece each year to keep a promise he made to himself when he won his first title.
An amazing talent
After finishing third in 1995, despite being the favourite, he was determined to exact revenge on the defending champion, Bulgarian import Roumen Koprivtchin.
But Koprivtchin didn't pitch up. "I was angry," recalled Harmse. "I said 'how can he withdraw? I was preparing to beat him'.
"That's why I'm still competing, I remember how it felt. I want these guys to claim it."
Harmse, 84kg when he started hammer throw, describes Makhethe as an amazing talent, but says he needs to bulk up.
"You want to be as light as possible. Your power-to-weight ratio must be nice, but if I drop below 112kg I can feel the hammer pulling me; it wants to pull me off the ground.
"And that's one of the problems that Tshepang's got.
"He builds up nice speed and then I know what happens ... he has to labour because that body can't keep that hammer in position.
"He has to go into the gym and I cry for him if I think what he has to do. It's hours and hours and hours, it's constant lifting and jumping and throwing."..