Luke Jacobs, a Partnership Sales Manager with HYROX South Africa, decided to run the Two Oceans half marathon in Larissa Parekh’s race number. He finished as 7th lady. As you can see from the photos below he does not run in a sports bra.
Tegan Garvey, the daughter of former Springbok prop Adrian Garvey, gave her number to a “friend”. His name is unknown at this stage (if anyone can provide a positive ID please let me know) but he managed to secure her the 10th lady position.
Update: The mystery man is Nic Bradfield: https://www.facebook.com/share/p/18GMGcsL2Q/
Not only is this clearly against the very well-publicised rules, but it also has major implications for the organisers, medical staff and the two female athletes who had, what should have been the best day of their lives, ruined by a couple of entitled plonkers.
I was contacted by a spokesperson from Jeppe AC about their distraught athlete, the only amateur lady in the Top 10. Two Oceans is the largest half marathon in South Africa and it is extremely rare for a club athlete to finish in the Top 10. I have subsequently been in touch with the real 10th placed lady, Karin-Marie Dötze (a young mother and primary school teacher), about exactly what the impact is of these selfish acts by Insta bros.
Instead of rubbing shoulders with Gerda and her other heroes at the official prize giving at the Cape Sun on Sunday evening, Karin-Marie was dealing with the crushing disappointment of slipping into 12th position (ironically Dötze is the Catalan word for 12).
Both men have since been officially removed from the results and will face a formal disciplinary process which is likely to result in a two-year ban from the event for both the bib bandit and the enabler. Karin-Marie Dötze has belatedly been recognised as the 10th placed female.
Other Cheating Investigations
I can also confirm that 141 runners in the ultra and 252 runners in the half marathon started ahead of their assigned batch. A time penalty of 5 minutes per batch jumped has been applied to all these runners. They will be contacted by the race office and given the opportunity to provide an explanation to have the penalty time reversed. However, it is expected that the vast majority of penalty times will remain intact. Repeat batch jumpers face disqualification and a ban from the event.
In addition, about 20 runners are facing sanction for illegally running Sunday’s half marathon in their Saturday ultra marathon race number and a substantial number of tipoffs have been received about bib banditting during the weekend’s events.
Apologies
I was able to contact Luke Jacobs who issued the following apology, “Hi Stuart, I did not plan on participating this year. While supporting on Saturday I was given an unused entry by an international runner for the following day. I made an error in judgment and did not consider the consequences. I should not have taken part, and I sincerely apologise for any impact on the event and fellow participants. Regards” I have suggested that he apologises directly to the impacted female athletes as well.
Likewise Tegan Garvey was apologetic, “It is super unfortunate for what it had come to and please do accept my most sincere apologies. I am an avid runner who enjoys all half marathons. I was extremely grateful to get an entry and had been training exceptionally hard for the half. However, the day before my hip gave in completely, leaving me unable to even walk. I felt bad as to give up my race entry so my friend ran in my place. Please accept my apologies, I did not want anything to be ruined. I did not consider the severe implications of giving my entry to someone. Thank you for bringing this to my attention. It will certainly not happen again.”
I asked Tegan if she’d provide the name of her friend and the nature of their relationship but am still awaiting a response. No response was received from Larissa Parekh, who’d entered the race as a Canadian, at the time of publishing.
A second article will follow.
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It would be interesting to see how many N batchers started in M. There was absolutely no batch management between the 2. The fire personnel with their thick ropes were nowhere to be seen. And we effectively ended up mixing and I think it would be unfair for those runners to be punished.
I, luckily picked it that I was in the middle of Ms and stayed back.
M and N as well as T and U were excluded from the batch jumping penalties. We really don’t want to be draconian or punish honest mistakes, only the genuine cheats.
I was in block M and there were 3 fire fighter volunteers (that I saw) and they kept the divide between the groups as well as they could. There were however a lot of athletes skipping the rope when the fire fighters weren’t looking, but this really cant be blamed on the volunteers as its impossible to control that rope in such a big area. The problem comes down to entitled people who dont care for the rules or other people. I loved this year’s race and was way better organised than last year, well done!!!!
Hi Stuart, I was in the U batch and it was a mess. I have been issued a penalty and I honestly dont understand why.
Was that in the ultra or the half? In the ultra U to T time penalties have been reversed. If in the half please you will have an opportunity to dispute.
It’s the half. I’ll wait for the chance to dispute.
Thanks.
Hi Stuart,
I was in U and the same issue with the rope and the fire marshals holding the rope dropped we started mixing with S etc. My time still states a 5min penalty so being penalised unnecessarily.
How do we go about reversing this.
My race number is U66340
Regards Keaton Quarmby
I believe that emails to all those with time penalties will be going out early next week which will provide the opportunity to dispute. The U going to T has already been reversed. You can also email info@twooceansmarathon.org.za.
This is lie Mdu. I was in batch M and fire marshal were on point and the rope seemed to work and athletes observed the instructions from both the fire marshal and race marshal. Also let’s take into account that there is Mat to Mat process that would allowed 4 to 5 minutes in order to catch up batch N which I managed to do.
Where were they? Between M and N, which is what I am referring to. I saw them earlier when I got there ~4:45 but by the time the batches started moving they were not there.
There was no distance/ separator between the 2 batches and they mixed.
I was in N and could freely move between the 2.
Hope all concerned are banned from asa events for life, both the donor and the receiver. Time to stop this nonsense .for good, make examples of them.
I agree that the “donor” should also be banned – two years does not seem like a long enough period.
It’s all very well “apologising” – although, “super unfortunate” reeks of entitlement and a true lack of remorse – but you cannot make up to the women who lost out on the, possibly once-in-a-lifetime, prize giving celebrations.
So refreshing to see the robust approach taken by Two Oceans these days! We credit this current board with the change and sincerely hope it continues long after the guard changes
Around 5:41 am P batch was told by the announcer to merge with N batch, presumably because they had messed up the start times somewhere along the way, and both batches started at 5:42 am. (Not sure why there was no O batch)
Both letters “O” and “I” are not used as prefixes because they can be mistaken as the numbers “0” and “1”
O looks too similar to 0 for the automated systems – the same for why there isn’t an I group
Ban these two from participating in any race for two years thank you
Love the is man! Please find all of them, feel free to start with people who were in U who ran a 4:26 56km.
The person you referring to is “lime_cpt” aka Liam Letegan, another entitled running influencer who took another runners bib. Bib bandit running is totally against the spirit of running and has huge impact on other runners. He has been reported along with the Edgemead runner who’s bib was used 28856.
Name & Shame them all.
Jacobs and Garvey’s male substitute should face a much stiffer sanction than 2 years ban from this race. They should be banned from all ASA events. These days of fairness in Women’s Sports for a male to have displaced other females from the top 10 is thoughtless, misogynistic and unconscionable.
The enablers should also face an extended ban from all ASA events.
I think Tegan’s male substitute ran the race about 2/3 years ago and finished in top 10 as well. I remember him having his hand over the bib every time he passed one of the photographers on the course, so the pics online could not be traced to the female runner. Please investigate further. It may be repeat offender, even for the female runner giving him her bib.
I sincerely hope that the very masculine-looking Rebecca, Jessica, Aimee-Lee and Lynelle (the names I remember, there were MANY men running with suspiciously female names) and the lady with the V seeding who passed me before her batch had even started, all get to face the consequences for their actions.
Was this on the half-marathon Lauren? Would seem to be some evidence of this by searching the names on ActionPhotos.com, with some possible bandits:
#69800. Lynelle Blignaut. F40-49
#69473. Aimee-Leigh Pote. F Senior
#68021. Rebecca Erskine. F Senior
Photos for both above clearly male, but their race entry details recorded as female.
Thanks – have added these to the list.
TTOM need to take some of the blame for bib bandits, especially the half.
This is a massively over subscribed event. An entry is highly prized.
Life happens.
Yet the subs window closed on Feb 28th. About 40 days before race day. That’s a huge window.
Find a way to still sub at the expo and you’ll find the amount of bib bandits reducing dramatically.
(These two chops are not excused, if you’re going to be a sneak, be sneaky)
I agree with this. The window was very long and medical subs should be possible until much closer to the event. Charge for the admin. No-one will complain
This is sad. A lot already said, but I would also like to add my voice to the request for substitutions closer to the race. We’d appreciate the board seriously giving attention to this.
The same thing happened on Saturday, when I saw a lady ka N-Seeding 1km from the start, as I was batched E seeding.
Can you re- consider issuing ultra marathon runners an opportunity to run also Half marathon. It’s not fair. You need to create a separate recovery run or a new 77km marathon for once and for all. They take space for those who wish to run 2 oceans 21km . They are greedy.. you can consider them only in the last substutiion period.
Hi Bongiwe, assuming that the ballots are over subscribed again (which is likely) I definitely support only allowing runners to enter one. Those that want to run both can buy a charity entry or substitute.
I’m with you on this one 💯 it is unfair
Is there a way to compare pictures taken of runners in previous years to the current year? Even just a manual confirmation. Create a database of the participant photos and verify that they’re the same person?
I am astounded about the amount of batch jumpers there were (in the half) I just thought I was running too slowly. We had a massive issue as the firefighter closed Batch Q early (at 6am) so there was mayhem trying to get into our pen. At one point she slammed the barricade so hard into the shoulder of a runner, who was 60. I felt the traffic was far worse (I’ve done 9 so I know the traffic situation well) and closing the pens lead to the chaos and panicked athletes sneaking into the wrong batches, just to be able to start.
Could we also please address the situation with one of the promoters that was an mc on the byd stage that according to him and the run he “ added “ onto his strava. he has ran the 56km ultra in 8hours+ claiming to have completed it firstly without needing to meet qualifying procedures and secondly messing in people’s faces that missed cutoff(7hours) by a few seconds he is publicly claiming to have received his medal and claiming to that he participated in the race. as he claims “ it works differently for us that promotes the races “. does work differently mean get privileges and not needing to put in any effort?
I’ve had several people contact me about this. Will investigate. There is one set of rules and they apply to everyone.
The second dude(tte) ran in a shirt with greek letters and the blue and white national colours of greece.
We can’t ignore the role the system plays here.
When entries are opened this broadly, it’s inevitable that some people won’t run and bibs get passed on. That’s been happening for years.
Calling out individuals without acknowledging that context, and expecting public apologies, feels off.
This could’ve been handled in a way that builds the sport, not divides it.
A suggestion from a friend when I told him about this is similar to Blue numbers being visually different, have a clear difference between male and female numbers. While it won’t stop general banditing, it would at least limit gender jumping as part of this.
Well done Sir, loved this article! Total entitlement and hope they face the full consequences of their actions. CTM will probably have more of the same types of incidents. As runners we should report such incidents to protect our sport.
I’m pleased that this cheating has been exposed, and I hope that the perpetrators will be dealt with appropriately. A couple of thoughts:
1. I think it would be a wonderful gesture if the Two Oceans Marathon organisers could find a way to reward the ninth- and tenth-placed ladies in some way that is befitting – something that makes up for missing out on the official prize-giving ceremony.
2. It is the job of race referees to pick up these transgressions and deal with them immediately, ensuring that cheaters are disqualified either during or immediately after the event. This should especially be the case for the top contenders. In the past, referees were highly visible at races, but I have noticed in recent times that they are far less visible, if present at all. Organising clubs have to pay for race referees, but it seems to me that they are not doing what they are paid to do.
3. I believe that both provincial bodies and running clubs should be doing a lot more to discourage this type of cheating at road races. It doesn’t just happen at the flagship events; it’s rife throughout the sport.
Seems the alphabet signs on the side of the road did not cerrespond with the batches. I entered through gate next to the letter S, as I was on seeding batch S. While waiting, I noticed that almost every bib next to me was T and I asked one of the marshals who directed me to batch S, in front of where I was.
As for the two ladies, they must remember to bring their bra’s next time, as seemingly they can get away with their beards etc
I also think it’s not fair giving two entries to one person when some of us also wanna take part.
Also, for those complaining about the substitution process and it needing to be improved etc…. Do you know we are extremely fortunate to even have this option for races.
Internationally most countries and major races have a strict “No-Sub” Rule, often citing logistical, medical and timing chip accuracy to stop this process. Cpt Marathon this year is a prefect example of a race stopping subs for those same reasons.
For people to blame systems and organisers for the idiotic decisions by runners is ridiculous.
QR code scan before entering batches is a quick way to stop bib bandits. Theres enough time before the start of race. This way it identifies the correct person with corresponding number and face.
We had a lady start in batch C that had a G seeding. She definitely knew what she was doing and seemed quite chuffed with herself when she took her place next to us. The organisers did an amazing job and can only do so much to ensure this doesn’t happen. Unfortunately there are always a few idiots that can’t follow the rules.
The classic C looks like G trick from Comrades!
Unrelated to this but the seeding pens were closed early, too early in my opinion. Pen E was closed at 6:07 (with the official start at 6:15 and start for this group at 6:24) just as we were trying to get in. We were told to “go to the back” but managed to get into F.
A fight nearly broke out as they tried to close F immediately after (about 6:08) but fortunately this was avoided.
On our morning race message it suggested we arrive with enough time to make it into our batch – my view is that 17 minutes is enough time and if not then I would expect that organisers to indicate the time by which one should be in the required batch relative to race time or batch start time.
I definitely think this year was extremely well organised and everything seemed to have been running like clockwork. Unfortunately you always find runners taking chances. I started in batch F and on km 2 spotted an N batch runner. As far a the substitution process goes, I think that it worked extremely well having had to find a substitution myself because I didn’t get an entry initially. Obviously I didn’t really want to pay the extra fee but it’s totally understandable. Another point I find people have issue with is the fact that some runner were able to do both the 21 and 56, which is such an amazing achievement. I believe they have the same right to enter and run even if they did the ultra the day before. Most of those runner do compete where as the unused spots are most likely newer runners not using their numbers.
I believe that races like Oceans 1/2 should be make club membership and requirement. It adds a level of governance and compliance that won’t eliminate this hapening, but it will improve the situation.
Additionally, clubs put back into the running communty, if you want to be part of Oceans, be part of the formal community.
Hi Stuart I agree that the gender cheats should be punished. It is not fair on the women who trained for the event. However the point that substitutions should be more flexible is well made and is one you made yourself in your blog after last year’s debacle. It’s obvious that allowing later substitutions will reduce the number of (not eliminate) people running under the names of others. The fact that marathon majors don’t allow subs at all is irrelevant. This is a mass participation event for runners of all shapes, ages and abilities.
Later substitutions is something I pushed for this year (the ultra was moved out by a couple of weeks) but there were some restrictions and limitations (the least of which was being on probation with the city). With a full year to plan (we started very late and from scratch this year after Cavanagh finally left the building) there is a lot more we can do. I will keep pushing for later substitutions. I’d ideally like people to be able to sub or the half at the expo with an additional fee going straight to charity, that way if someone still bandits they are essentially stealing from charity.
Nice one!
perfect 👌
Late subs for 21km will be appreciated
Noticed a guy running in a girls name, luckily I have a photographic memory (or unlucky for him…). Number was R61451 – please look into it.
Thanks, have added to the list.
I would like to express my thoughts on the lottery entry system. I entered and was unfortunately not be selected on entry however some runners I know entered for both Ultra and Half marathon and was accepted for both events. How does the system select entries? I am aware of two first time entry Half marathon runners who were unsuccessful due to the lottery entry system. I personally received an email two weeks before Oceans to enter and didn’t train at all for Ultra due to my initial unsuccessful application how was it possible to reconsider at such a late stage? Just my thoughts thanks
Here are your answers: https://runningmann.co.za/2025/09/28/two-oceans-ballot-entry-process/
Personally, I support only allowing runners to enter one event on the ballot process. If they want to run both they can buy a charity entry or find a sub.
Think this irks me as much as it irks you, so I just took a quick look at the top few “women”s race photos. A few more braless brahs making it into the women’s top 100.
81201
90512
72893
70418
70804
81201 – used by Tyler Cunniffe (Mavericks AC) (http://strava.com/activities/18074312402/overview)
70418 – used by Herschelle Jantjies (Ultra Fitt, George) (https://www.strava.com/activities/18081350073/overview)
The others didn’t have very easy-to-identify clothing.
I think an official post from the two oceans account about the amount of disciplinary action taken will help prevent repeats of this. If people see action being taken on the official two oceans channel, I’m sure they’re more likely to think twice about selling their entries / giving them away illegally.
Do these topless runners have no shame
https://strava.app.link/fzACuFVwo2b
Alex Blom ran as Nusrath Khan (90329)
More braless brahs
90478
67047
64106
81784 (and a batch jumper for good measure)
pholosok@gmail.com
If the start mat crossing time is before that batch start time a massive time penalty should be added, say 30mins to the Ultra and 15mins to the Half. Make it a proper punishment, 5mins doesn’t cut it. There will still be a few that jump batches to start with a partner who refuses to go back a batch or two, but those people won’t then care about their official times and neither will we. The batch start timing better be on point though, organisers need to sharpen up in this area. For the bib swappers, banning those ID numbers from Two Oceans for life is a big discouragement for starters. Multiple communications need to emphasise the consequences. Many people are genuinely ignorant, and then there are also those who know but doubt it will be enforced. Lastly, as a running community, we should be mass reporting the bib bandits times on Strava ( if they’re stupid enough to make their activities publicly viewable like those above). That’ll hurt them the most- no kudos bruuuu!
I’m not defending banditing , running on someone else’s bib is wrong and it needs to be dealt with. But the way you’ve handled this is adding to an already toxic running culture.
You had options. You could have let them face whatever punishment was appropriate (a 2 year ban as stated in the race rules), and then made the story about celebrating the women who actually earned their spots. Then moved on.
Honestly, all the public needed to hear was the incidents involving running bandits have been found, addressed and appropriate race bans issued.
Instead, you chose to name them publicly and turn it into a spectacle to generate clicks onto your site and engagment on your socials.
Naming and shaming people like this can seriously damage their reputations and lives, way beyond the scale of what they did. It doesn’t create accountability, it just feeds an online pile‑on. That’s a really irresponsible way to use your platform and honestly disgrasefull.
A lot of what you’ve written, and the tone in your comments, comes across more like a personal takedown than journalism. It’s nasty, and it adds to bullying culture.
I think what you’ve done here is wrong. You’ve chosen public humiliation over a constructive response. I hope you seriously reflect on that and consider removing their names instead of using them for clicks. Keeping this article up and their names on it leaves a lasting damage to reputation. That punishment does not fit the crime.
Sam, everyone is entitled to their opinion and has a different way of doing things. I am not one to merely offer “thoughts and prayers” after a school shooting. I am a big fan of “name and shame”. If you don’t want to be called out don’t cheat and break the rules. I have been writing the same way and covering these kinds of issues for several years now and typically those at fault are not sorry for what they’ve done but rather are only sorry for being caught. This article is calling out entitlement and the “rules don’t apply to me” mentality that is sadly pervasive amongst certain parts of society. The rules apply to everyone no matter how many followers you have, how many endorsements you’ve cracked or which school you went to. This incident had a major negative impact on the real 10th placed lady and I for one will not sit idly by and shrug my shoulders.
A moment of silence for all the previous 2Oceans runners who couldn’t even get an entry for the race. STOLEN by bib bandits. #ShameShameShame 🔔🔔🔔😔😔😔
Check out sanch_fit on Instagram. She’s very proud to have completed Sunday’s race as “Janet” and even has a good laugh about it in the comments.
70755
Why did the Race Referees not pick up on these obvious male runners in Female bibs and positions during the race,surely they should have noticed them in top positions?
These guys ran from lower batches so they crossed the line after the first 10 ladies but the online results and app reflect running time so the real top 10 were displaced there.