Humorous Anecdotes, Observations & Accounts of Marathon Running & Agile Adventures.
Having previously covered the controversies surrounding Toni Cavanagh, the discredited former chairperson of the Two Oceans Marathon, further undeniable evidence has now come to light. It has been confirmed that Cavanagh has been actively involved in selling counterfeit footwear.
This revelation comes from a former business associate of Cavanagh who provided the below proposal from Cavanagh, “Explaining how to professionally dupe my clients. I decided not to go near this with a ten foot pole.”
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.
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:
Continue reading “Liars, Cheats & A Tale of Two Chairs: What to Expect at the Two Oceans Marathon NPC AGM”
An eight-month mystery surrounding Toni Cavanagh’s missing marathons has finally been solved. This comes after the revelation from none other than Toni Cavanagh herself, under oath in a signed affidavit, that her 6 missing marathons, 30+ missing half marathons and the ultra distance road and trail events claimed on her CV are “based on the compilation of my own races run and accomplishments, which include events, personal training, endurance runs and self-led challenges.”
Two Oceans severely contravened their permit conditions with the City of Cape Town (CoCT) at this year’s half marathon by taking in almost 21,000 entries when their permit only allowed 17,000. They had previously done the same at the 2019 ultra marathon and relations with CoCT have been strained ever since. The permit limits are there for reasons of safety and violating them raises issues of negligence and incompetence.
What happens when safety rules are flouted? Here’s an example from Belinda Steyn. Steyn, Financial Director of The Christie Group (who manage a large number of Spar and SuperSpar stores across Mpumalanga) was badly injured during the race. A month later and the injury is still seriously impacting her personal and professional life. She is waiting to find out whether she will need to undergo shoulder replacement surgery.
The below letter was sent to Two Oceans over a month ago on 6 April and she has still had no response, once again bringing into question whether the board has taken any accountability for the litany of 2025 issues or are just paying lip service to the runners.
Continue reading “TOM 2025 Reader Letters: Casualties of Overcrowding”
Doing what I do and writing what I write about, I receive sporadic legal letters. Fortunately, I have a fantastic attorney in Mark Leathers who dispatches the attempted ‘shake downs’ with the disdain that they deserve.
I connected with Mark during the Comrades crisis following the 2024 event when he offered his services to me on a pro bono basis in the fight against the attempted capture of the Comrades Marathon. He was elected to the CMA Board at the November 2024 AGM and his fellow Board members subsequently elected him their Vice Chairperson. Having Mark in my corner lets me sleep peacefully at night.
Continue reading “Two Oceans goes the legal route (Cavanagh’s last stand)”
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’.
Continue reading “Is Two Oceans soft on Cheating?”
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.
Continue reading “Two Oceans 2025: Questions for the Board”
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.
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.
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…”.
