Celtic Harriers Archives - The Running Mann

22nd September 202523rd September 2025

Liars, Cheats & A Tale of Two Chairs: What to Expect at the Two Oceans Marathon NPC AGM

After what was undoubtedly the worst organised Two Oceans in the event’s 55-year history, and the shambles that followed, it’s great to see (and be part of) a much needed turnaround. However, we are still not quite out of the woods and this year’s AGM will be an important checkpoint to hopefully cement in a return to runner centricity and good governance.

Investigations Still Needed

There is likely to be a lot of discussion over the various issues experienced at the trail, ultra and half marathon as well as allegations of incompetence, corruption and extreme opportunism against specific board members and staff. The primary focus of the interim board, of which I was a member, has been on ensuring that the 2026 race goes ahead.

Personally, I have pushed for accountability and that formal, transparent investigations are conducted into those implicated. Some headway has been made but, because of the timing, this will be a problem for the post-AGM board to deal with.

Some of the accountability issues that still need formal investigation are:

14th April 202524th September 2025

How Cavanagh ‘Karened’ her way to the top of Two Oceans

Sometimes you see a person in a senior position and wonder how they got there. This article takes a look into Toni Cavanagh’s rise to Chairperson of the Two Oceans Marathon and the implications for the event.

Cavanagh’s Two Oceans career began in 2015 with a 3:01:46 finish in the half marathon and she followed this up with a further three half marathons in 2016, 2017 and 2018. She recorded her best time, 2:45:31, in 2017. Although she entered the half marathon from 2022 to 2024, Cavanagh did not make it to the start line. Also of interest is that from 2018 onwards she was not a licensed athlete and entered with a temporary license.

After losing an impressive 17kg, Cavanagh featured in the July 2017 edition of Runner’s World article (photo Runner’s World).

18th March 202219th March 2022

Peninsula Marathon (Naval gazing in the Cape)

[MARATHON #245 / Unique Marathon #144 / 20 February 2022]

Running marathons is hard but organising them is much harder – and post-Covid events have additional challenges like reduced field sizes, staggered starts and a plethora of government regulations to comply with.

However, the Peninsula Marathon takes compliance one step further. Most marathons give you an actual map or road names and local landmarks to ensure that you make it safely to the start but Peninsula ensures that there was no danger of breaching Covid regulations on the maximum size of outdoor gatherings by only providing a suburb name (rather than a specific location within said suburb) as the race’s starting point. Continue reading “Peninsula Marathon (Naval gazing in the Cape)”