TOM Archives - The Running Mann

11th December 202411th December 2024

Lies, Damn Lies & Two Oceans Press Releases (Has the Chair embellished her running and professional CV?)

Earlier this year, the Two Oceans Marathon (TOM) issued a media release, “New Chair and Vice Chair to head up TOM NPC as appointment of board is finalised”. Shortly afterwards I received a tip off from a credible source who prefers to remain anonymous that the announcement contained several inaccuracies on the qualifications and running pedigree of new Chairperson Toni Cavanagh.

21st October 202421st October 2024

The Rise of the Cape Town Marathon

In 2023 the Sanlam Cape Town Marathon became the first standard marathon in South Africa to crack the 10,000 finisher mark. The previous record was held by the Soweto Marathon with 9,274 finishers in 2019. Yesterday, Cape Town Marathon cemented its place on the top of the finisher’s table with 16,351 finishers – a massive jump of over 3,000 additional runners.

A comparison between the big four marathon events in South Africa makes for some interesting analysis. Cape Town Marathon has consistently been the most runner centric and best organised of the big four and this shows in their finisher numbers.

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.

30th April 20241st May 2024

Two Oceans 2024: Copycat cutoff chaos

Two Oceans are known to copy whatever Comrades does. Comrades’ prestigious Green Number Club was followed by Two Oceans’ Blue Number Club. When Comrades added an hour to their finish time, Two Oceans extended the same favour. When Comrades introduced qualification marathons, Two Oceans added the same criteria to take part. When Comrades introduced the Bill Rowan Medal between silver and bronze, Two Oceans quickly followed with the Sainsbury. I really didn’t think Two Oceans would copy Comrades’ cutoff debacle but here we are.

This article provides an in-depth independent investigation of organisational deficiencies, statistical analysis of previous results data and first-hand accounts of what happened at the Two Oceans marathon cutoff and top of Constantia Nek. It aims to drop a series of logic bombs amidst Two Oceans’ sea of debatable decisions and questionable explanations.

Executive Summary:

The 2024 marathon cutoff was 10 minutes stricter than for the 2022 and 2023 event (and 13 minutes stricter than pre-Covid events).
The change in cutoff conditions was not communicated effectively to participants.
Data from previous Two Oceans events was not used to determine the stricter cutoff times.
Data analysis shows that 55 participants who earned a medal in 2023 would have been cutoff with 2024 times. With entry number increases, this equates to +/-70 runners robbed of a medal in 2024.
Data analysis shows that Blue medallists typically run far faster than the 8:11/km allowed over the final 14km in 2024.
Female runners, who typically pace ultras better and finish faster, were negatively impacted dramatically more by the stricter marathon cutoff than were men.