Zola's reminder of the times

Paula Radcliffe will be a happy woman if she breaks the Commonwealth record in the women's 5,000m race at the Norwich Union British Grand Prix at Crystal Palace tonight. There was a time, though, when a "British" runner broke the women's 5,000m world record at the Palace. And no doubt Zola Pieterse will be reflecting on that high point in her roller-coaster running career when she sets off from London's Piccadilly Circus in the British Open 10km road race this morning.

That the former Zola Budd happens to be back in town on the very day of a world-class 5,000m race at Crystal Palace is just another of the ironies which have surrounded the South African since she was granted a British passport in record time in 1984.

The same could be said of the fact that she is running through the streets of central London today as a member of "The Countryside Team", to raise money for those who have been affected by foot and mouth disease.

Whenever she set foot in the countryside during the four years she spent running in a British vest of convenience her cross-country races were more often than not disrupted by anti-apartheid protests.

Much has changed since those days, not least political life in her homeland, to which she returned in 1988. The former teenage prodigy is now a mother of three and aged 35, officially a veteran in athletics terms. Three weeks ago she won the South African veterans' half-marathon title, clocking 79min 40sec. It earned her a place in the provisional South African squad for the World Half- marathon Championships, which take place in Bristol on 7 October.

Mrs Pieterse has run for South Africa many times since her return from Britain – notably at the Barcelona Olympics in 1992 – but she has yet to do so on British soil. That looming prospect makes even more of an anomaly the fact that she is still recognised as the holder of the British mile record. The 4min 17.57sec she recorded in Zurich in August 1985 eclipsed the 4:19.41 Kirsty Wade ran in Oslo the previous month. Sixteen years on, Wade's time remains second best on the all-time list.

"Of the things that were bad about the time I was running that is actually one of the things that bothers me least," Wade said on Friday morning after cooking poached eggs for the guests at Suainaval, the bed-and-breakfast establishment she runs overlooking Uig Sands on the Isle of Lewis. "Running against people who were subsequently found to have been using drugs was much worse. Yes, Zola ran for Britain out of convenience. But she was in a difficult position. It would have been sad if we hadn't seen her run at her best."

The very best of Budd came at Crystal Palace on 26 August 1985. Running barefoot, she smashed Ingrid Kristiansen's world record with a time of 14min 48.07sec. Her target in London today is more modest. "If I finish in the top 10 I'll be happy," the one-time Briton said.