Hilton Kearns Archives - The Running Mann

19th April 202519th April 2025

Is Two Oceans soft on Cheating?

A runner from Old Edwardian Athletics Club who would prefer to remain anonymous sent me an email with detailed and irrefutable proof showing that a serial offender, Anthony Naguriah, had cheated in previous Two Oceans ultra marathons and would be running (and presumably cheating) again in 2025. The same runner has also been publicly exposed as cheating in qualifier marathons and at Comrades. Naguriah’s modus operandi is to start slow, disappear off the grid for a large portion of the race (missing several timing mats) and then popping up towards the finish again*.

* And true to form, at this year’s Two Oceans Naguriah was recorded on the first two mats (up to 14km) running at 7:11/km pace, he then disappears of the grid for the next five timing mats and reappears on the UCT fields for a 6:37:56 ‘finish’.

19th April 202521st April 2025

Instagram Influencer caught cheating at Two Oceans

I received a tipoff about an Instagram influencer who cheated her way into the A batch at the Two Oceans half marathon. The source, who prefers to remain anonymous, said, “I find this behaviour so entitled and exasperating in races nowadays and feel it’s part of a broader discussion on influencers in running, taking up spaces they haven’t legitimately earned in sweat and tears.”

The Insta influencer in question is Kelly van der Walt who uses the handle @thehealthyprocess and has a following of just under 30,000. She has achieved a large following documenting her weight loss journey and is a Institute for Integrative Nutrition Multidimensional Health Coach which “refers to a holistic approach to health and wellness that considers various aspects of a person’s life, not just physical health, but also emotional, mental, spiritual, and social well-being.”

17th April 202517th April 2025

Two Oceans 2025: Questions for the Board

Below are the comprehensive set of questions that I sent to the Two Oceans Board. The Chair gave the organisation a self-scored mark of 95% (noting that there were “5% of things we could have done better”). I think that this set of questions provides a better examination of the Board’s performance in 2025. Any independent invigilators out there willing to give them a passing grade?

Good morning Two Oceans Board members,

I think you would struggle to find an experienced Two Oceans runner who disagreed with the sentiment that 2025 was the worst organised event in the race’s history. I have been involved in 25 Two Oceans (20 as a runner and 5 as a volunteer) and it was definitely by far the worst I have experienced.

Below is a list of questions based on issues I personally experienced and those raised by fellow runners.

For ease of use, I have categorised them for you.

14th April 202515th April 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).

10th April 202510th April 2025

Where did all the medals go? (Board greed threatens future of Two Oceans)

Reports were that no one who finished in the last 30 minutes of the Two Oceans half marathon received a medal – that means that they were at least 2410 medals short. Two Oceans’ published entry cap on the 2025 half was 17000. Their permit with the City of Cape Town allowed them to have 17,000 runners. However, there were 17,677 official finishers plus an additional 400 runners who started the race but did not finish before the 3h30 final cutoff.

30th March 202530th March 2025

What a Mess! (A Two Oceans Communication Breakdown)

Lest I be accused of trolling, I rarely comment on the social media posts of South Africa’s big races. Who needs casual trolling anyway when you can unleash your inner ogre with a 4,000-word rant on your blog? However, I could not resist breaking out from ‘read only’ mode when the below post from Two Oceans Marathon appeared on my Facebook feed.

The phrase that caught my attention was, “The stakes are high: R250,000 for the male and female champions, with an additional R250,000 for anyone who shatters the course record…”.

28th March 202528th March 2025

Blue Number Bummer (Two Oceans downgrades their loyalty program)

A Two Oceans Blue Number is quite literally a badge of honour. In terms of street credibility for the recreational South Africa distance runner, it is second only to Comrades’ Green Number. Many a Two Oceans ultra marathon novice lines up at the start in Newlands for a maiden voyage, hoping to one day be standing there in a Blue Number. I certainly did when I stood at the start of my first Oceans in 2002.

5th May 20246th May 2024

Two Oceans caught out in their own digimag lie

The starting gun fired thirteen times before dawn on Saturday the 13^th of April as wave after wave of Two Oceans ultra marathon runners set off on another voyage around the Cape Peninsula. Three weeks later and one smoking gun remains.