How Adriaan Wildschutt Won the NYC Half Marathon in 59:30 with Only One Career 20-Mile Run — The Track Speed, Half Marathon Build, and McGregor Mindset Behind It
THE RUNNING EFFECT PODCAST
Dominic Schlueter
4.9 • 821 Ratings
🗓️ 24 March 2026
⏱️ 33 minutes
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Summary
Adriaan Wildschutt just became the first South African in history to win the NYC Half Marathon, and it looks like he’s in the middle of a memorable career.
Adriaan holds five South African national records. He ran a sizzling 59:13 half marathon debut. He was 13th at the World Cross Country Championships, which was the best finish a South African man has ever had at that event. This guy is notbuilding toward something. He's already in the middle of it.
Adriaan’s NYC Half Marathon victory on March 15 was both historic and revelatory. If the running world didn’t know him before, they do now. At the Valencia Half Marathon in October 2025, he debuted with a 59:13. And at the World Athletics Championships in August 2025, he secured a 10th-place finish in the 10,000m in Tokyo.
To cap it off, he holds the South African national records in the 10,000m (outdoor): 26:50.64, the 5,000m (outdoor): 12:56.76, the 3,000m (outdoor): 7:32.99, the Half Marathon: 59:13, and the 5,000m (indoor): 12:56.67.
Historic, revelatory, and long overdue for the recognition, If the running world didn't know Adriaan Wildschutt before Sunday, they do now.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Adrian Wood scoot, hopefully I pronounce that right, half marathon legend, 5913. |
| 0:06.1 | What do they feel like to run so fast in the streets in New York City? |
| 0:10.0 | Yeah, it felt good, man. |
| 0:12.7 | The course was pretty good and the weather. |
| 0:14.6 | It was pretty cold, but mostly it was good and was just happy to be able to run fast and compete for the win. That field was star-studded. |
| 0:24.4 | You had Grant Fisher, his debut. There was a lot of energy, I think, and excitement around him |
| 0:29.8 | debuting. But it seems people on this earth forget about that small Hoka team based out of |
| 0:36.1 | Flagstaff, Arizona. They turn up. They show up for the half and for the fool. How do they feel to represent Hoka and come out with a W over a really, really good field? This was not a watered down field at all. Yeah. Now, it's obviously such a prevalence to represent Hoka, and they look after us pretty well and we have a good team in Flegs stuff. |
| 0:55.7 | And we've been training really well. |
| 0:57.3 | I was in South Africa, but we're still able to constantly be in contact with the coaches and stuff. |
| 1:03.4 | But yeah, like I was, like you mentioned, it was a pretty deep field. |
| 1:07.0 | You had, you know, a guy that won the race twice and was going to try and do it three times. And then you're the world cross-country bronze medalist and, you had, you know, a guy that won the race twice and was going to try and do it three |
| 1:12.1 | times. And then you had the world cross-country bronze medalist in In Benio and then Grandfuss and |
| 1:16.8 | many others. So even for myself, walking into the race, it was more about just focusing on feeling |
| 1:23.3 | great because I really wanted to run a hard last 5k if I would to even compete for top three. |
| 1:28.8 | That's what I would have been able to do. |
| 1:31.9 | 5913 is 431 average per mile. |
| 1:36.1 | It's a race pace that most people can't even fathom running for a mile, half a mile, |
| 1:40.8 | let alone 13.1 miles. |
| 1:42.3 | What does it feel like, Adrian, running 4.30 pace through the streets in New York. |
| 1:46.0 | Yeah, honestly, I think the winning time in New York was 59.30. My PB is 59.13. |
| 1:53.0 | But yeah, it's about 431 place, like you said. I think it was, you know, I think I wasn't even focused so much on the time itself because |
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