The Running Mann

2nd November 20262nd November 2026

Beer Lover’s Marathon (Best Birthday Present Ever)

[Marathon #311 / Unique Marathon #189 / 17 May 2026]

Bruce Fordyce likes to say that if you want to be a great marathon runner the most important criterion is to “pick the right parents”. However, if you want to run a great number of marathons then the most important criterion is to “pick the right wife”. Fortunately, I chose well.

These days my wife and I try to do experiences rather than buy physical gifts. I was heading towards a milestone half century birthday and, in late 2025, Kathy suggested that we run the Beer Lovers’ Marathon in Liège, Belgium to celebrate. I did not take much convincing.

22nd October 202622nd October 2026

Impastor Syndrome (The Refilwe Dzonzie story)

I feel sorry for most influencers. Truly I do. They score a viral post, get a massive shot of dopamine and then spend the rest of their life chasing the next social media high. Social media is a drug – and addiction brings out the worst in people. It’s hard to be an influencer and keep your integrity.

That is what I find truly sad about the story of Refilwe Dzonzie. She was inspiring people. She could have continued to inspire people. And yet she sold her soul (and her credibility) for a fake marathon finish.

In a post that was subsequently deleted, Dzonzie claims a 4h36 marathon finish, repeatedly denied “cheating” when challenged but then later admitted to running only 28km of the route.

18th October 202619th October 2026

The Running Mann’s Guide to November 2026 Marathons

This article provides detailed information on all South Africa’s November 2026 marathons including race descriptions and recommendations. You can find the full 2026 marathon / ultra calendar here.

A summary of your choices is below:

12th October 202612th October 2026

Taking Accountability

Over the years I have called for accountability from race organisers, administrators, media and prominent people within the South African running community. It is time for me to practice what I preach and take my own accountability. I do so both sincerely and humbly.

With my style of writing and covering the topics that I do, I knew that there would be a time when I would need to write an apology. I just never thought it would be for making sexist remarks.

11th October 202611th October 2026

If the cap fits (Limpopo Leon’s illegal DQ rampage)

This morning Abram Mogashoa finished second at the Seshoga Marathon 10k event. He should have won R1,500 but on crossing the finish line he was told by Limpopo Athletics referee Leon Bannau that he was disqualified for wearing an “illegal cap”. When he protested, Bannau told him that you can only run in an “official club cap”.

This is complete nonsense. Leon is making up his own rules. Ironically Mogashoa runs for the Run Alex club in Joburg and was wearing the official cap from the Run Alex 10k. Mogashoa has never had an issue running with this cap in any other province.

5th October 20266th October 2026

Gun Run 2026: An Arsenhole of Cheats

For some reason Cape Town has become the centre of the running influencer and cheating culture. Whether this is correlation or causation is currently unclear. I received so many tipoffs about different instances of entitled cheating after this year’s Gun Run that I decided it deserved its own article.

I have already covered the serial cheating of Beaton’s boy, Brad Smart, which you can read about here: Brad Smart’s dumb moves (another entitled serial bandit and batch jumper)

Batch Jumping

This is the easiest type of cheating to detect. If you batch jump, you will get caught. Runners are assigned to a batch based on the predicted time they submitted when entering. Participants are allowed to move back in the batches if they’d like to run with a friend but moving forward is a big no-no.

1st October 202613th October 2026

Brad Smart’s dumb moves (another entitled serial bandit and batch jumper)

I’ve written a fair amount about children of private school privilege and their belief that the rules don’t apply to them, most notably during the Two Oceans half marathon BrahGate scandal.

As a quick recap, two Bishops’ old boys illegally ran the race in banditted bibs that they had obtained from female entrants. They ran times fast enough to crack the Top 10 for women thus creating chaos, controversy and stealing a special moment from the actual Top 10 female athletes.

Two’s company and three’s a crowd. Another prominent Bishops’ old boy, Morgan Newman (a former Stormers rugby player and current Good Hope FM DJ), was found not only to have run in a woman’s race number but also to have doctored the race bib by ‘arts and crafting’ his name in the same font and colour to hide his deceit.

30th September 202630th September 2026

(Digging deep at) The Big Hole Marathon

[Marathon #293 / Unique Marathon #180 / 22 November 2025]

It had been a while since I’d travelled to Kimberley but the addition of the Diamonds & Dorings Kimberley Big Hole Marathon to the race calendar necessitated a return to the flatlands of the Northern Cape. The Northern Cape is by far the least populated province in South Africa and marathons in the region are similarly sparse. This is perhaps best highlighted with the stat that only 96 people used a Northern Cape marathon as their Comrades qualifier in 2025.

Just 96 entrants used a Northern Cape marathon as their Comrades qualifier in 2025.

29th September 202627th October 2026

Cedric the Skelm (WPA turns blind eye to senior official’s World Relays travel scam)

Cedric van Wyk is a long-serving, senior Western Province Athletics (WPA) and Athletics South Africa (ASA) technical official who appears to be scamming athletes and administrators, including other WPA officials. Van Wyk advertised an all-inclusive World Athletics (WA) endorsed trip from Cape Town to Botswana for the World Relay Championships. The trip was bogus and never materialised. However, a WPA Disciplinary Committee found that his alleged fraud was a “private contractual dispute”. Van Wyk is therefore free to continue running scams in the Western Cape as long as he is careful not to use WPA logos and letterheads. World Athletics logos, on the other hand, are fair game.

Cedric van Wyk, the senior WPA official at the centre of an alleged travel scam scandal.

27th September 202629th September 2026

What happened to Allen Barnes the WPA Finance Officer bust for fraud?

Back in January 2020 there was the strange story about the Western Province Athletics Finance Officer, Allen Barnes, who disappeared: After leaving his home at 3:30am, he failed to arrive at the Stragglers Beachcomber race where he was due to be officiating. When his car was found abandoned at Cape Town International airport the next day, many suspected foul play.

Allen Barnes, the WPA Finance Officer who went missing in action in 2020.

However, quickly thereafter rumours surfaced that he had been stealing money from WPA and, knowing that the gambit was up, decided to flee to Gauteng instead of facing the consequences. This version gained more credence when it was revealed that instead of going to Strandfontein for the Stragglers race, he had instead diverted to Grandwest Casino, ostensibly to try and win back all money he had stolen.