The Athletics Federation of Nigeria has officially welcomed sprint sensation Favour Ofili back into its fold, signaling a fresh chapter in the relationship between the athlete and the federation.

AFN President Tonobok Okowa expressed delight over Ofili’s return, emphasizing the need for unity and encouragement around one of Nigeria’s brightest track talents.

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According to Okowa, the focus now should be on providing the right environment for the 100m and 200m star to thrive, stressing that what she needs most from stakeholders is “love, support, encouragement and more love.”

The federation’s stance comes at a crucial time for Nigerian athletics, as it looks to rebuild trust and strengthen its athlete relations ahead of major international competitions.

Ofili’s return is expected to boost Nigeria’s sprint prospects, with the AFN hopeful that renewed backing from officials, fans, and the athletics community will help her reach her full potential on the global stage.

The Nigerian sprint star Favour Ofili was denied approval to switch allegiance to Türkiye after a ruling by World Athletics.

The decision followed a review of her application alongside ten others submitted by the Türkiye Athletics Federation, all linked to a government-backed recruitment drive ahead of the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games.

Why it was rejected:
World Athletics ruled that the transfer was part of a wider strategy to recruit foreign athletes with lucrative contracts, which:

* Undermines the integrity of national competitions
* Discourages countries from developing homegrown talent
* Risks replacing local athletes with imported competitors

Despite considering her personal situation, including her participation at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, the panel concluded that approving the move would compromise these core principles.

Ofili remains eligible to compete for Nigeria but cannot represent Türkiye in international events.

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Chet Sainsbury would have celebrated his 84th birthday on the weekend (Sunday 12 April) and might have had a lump in his celestial throat had he looked down on proceedings at the 2026 Totalsports Two Oceans Marathon, powered by BYD.

The legendary sports administrator would have been delighted that his widow Annemarie, who was the first professional administrator to serve at the Two Oceans, had been invited to present the Ultra-marathon winners’ trophies to Arthur Jantjies and Gerda Steyn at the prize-giving ceremony on Saturday.

He would also have given a nod of approval to the organisational standards achieved by the Two Oceans staging partner, Stillwater Sports, in just six months.

Inviting Annemarie Sainsbury to present the trophy was one of several references to past Two Oceans memories and traditions, highlighted this year Stillwater working in conjunction with the Two Oceans Board.

The return of the Two Oceans Marathon tradition of sounding the fish horn to signal the start of the race was one example. And remembering the legendary era of Two Oceans organisational excellence under Team Sainsbury was another.

Runners who had completed ten, twenty, thirty and even forty Two Oceans ‘Voyages’ over the years enjoyed the opportunity to relive memories at the Blue Number Club dinner before the weekend. Many of those included tales of the Sainsbury days, triggered by the recognition of signs that the Oceans was returning to the days of organisational excellence which had characterised its earlier years.

Chet Sainsbury had moved seamlessly into leadership once he had ended his rugby career as a fiery loose forward for Villagers, soon becoming chairperson of the rugby club.

It was as well for athletics and road running that Sainsbury chose to represent Villagers, which club shared their Brookside grounds and facilities with Celtic Harriers, founding club for the Two Oceans Marathon.

Chet and Annemarie happened to be at the Villagers grounds at Brookside and watched Natalian Derek Preiss lead a field of 185 finishers across the line in the 1975 Two Oceans. That triggered his interest in the sport and he soon took over the reins of Celtic’s other big road race – the Peninsula Marathon.

Harold Berman, another legend of the Two Oceans who had been involved in every race since it’s inauguration in 1970 until illness kept him from this year’s event, was club secretary at Celtics at the time.

“Chet Sainsbury had excelled as Race Director of the Peninsula Marathon for two years,” Berman recalled recently. “When I heard that Chris Roux was standing down (as Two Oceans Race Director) I went to Chet and told him that he would have to take over Two Oceans.

“The administration of the Two Oceans started out in the Sainsbury’s lounge – all the papers and files were there before being moved to a pre-fabricated mobile building at Brookside.”

Chet’s wife, Annamarie, had been involved from the start as race secretary before she was appointed as Race Administrator, the first full-time Two Oceans official, and she served Two Oceans for 21 years. They made a formidable team. 

A highly principled and hard-working man, Chet was not one to bend to popular demand.  He did not easily tolerate fools and ensured teams under his leadership achieved excellence in all their endeavours, resulting in road running races which were seldom surpassed in organisational excellence.

Chet hand-picked a few people to strengthen the Two Oceans in key areas. Marketing, media and sponsorships required attention and Stefanie Schultzen’s remarkable skill set in those areas took the Two Oceans to new heights during her tenure.

In 2005 she delivered the powerful tag-line, ‘The World’s Most Beautiful Marathon’ and introduced the International Friendship Run in 2007, one of the event’s most successful initiatives. Later, the popular #RunAsOne and ‘Designed to Run’ campaigns, the latter as part of Cape Town’s World Design Capital season in 2014, were part of the Schultzen-Sainsbury legacy.

“In addition to the professional team, Chet led a group of outstanding volunteers on the Two Oceans committee,” Berman continued. “They respected him completely and would do almost anything for him.  Once he decided to stand down, most of them also withdrew from the committee.”

Chet’s best qualities came to the fore in a crisis, and his leadership rescued the Two Oceans from disaster on more than one occasion, having to overcome gale force winds (which destroyed the substantial start and finish infrastructure), floods which threatened the integrity of the course and unseasonably hot weather at various times. No race was ever cancelled.

Each time Chet’s calm and firm direction turned around the situation which had threatened calamity.

By the time Chet Sainsbury stepped down from Oceans Directorship after the 2007 event, the 56km race had attracted almost 10 000 entries, while the half marathon, introduced in 1998, had grown to close on 8000. He had set new standards in road running administration and taken the sport to new levels.

Chet continued to take part in the Ultra-marathon and in 2013 he answered a call to stand in for a year as Acting Director, a role which extended to 2015, before Carol Vosloo was appointed in 2016.

Chet ran the first of his 32 Two Oceans Ultra-marathons at 35 in 1978 and the last in 2014 at 71, with his fastest time of 3 hr 58 min 01 sec achieved in 1987.

The launch of the “Sainsbury medal” in 2006 for runners running the 56km faster than 5 hours, reflects the esteem in which both Chet and Annemarie have been held by Two Oceans. 

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24-year-old Kenyan athlete, Felix Kibet Masai, led a Kenyan clean-sweep of the medals in the men’s competition in the Totalsports Two Oceans Half Marathon, powered by BYD, from the University of Cape Town this morning (Sunday 12 April) , while Lavinia Haitope of Namibia took honours in the women’s race after a long-anticipated return to the Two Oceans 21km.

More than 14 000 runners enjoyed ideal running conditions to complete the challenging course, which included testing climbs up Edinburgh Drive and Southern Cross Drive, in the climax to a weekend of top-quality distance running in the Mother City.

Masai fell just a second short of the existing course record of 1:03:16, set by Namibian Namakoe Nkhasi in 2017, while Haitope’s winning time of 1:14:36 was just less than two minutes outside Ethiopian Biru Meseret Mengistu’s 2013 course record.

When the Kenyans come to town, there’s little to stop the top distance running nation on the planet and the three high-quality training partners, Masai, Shadrack Ngumbau Musyoka and Joshua Cheptegei Mengich proved a cut-above their opposition, filling the top three positions.

With former race winners, Cape Town-based Zimbabwean, Fortunate Chidzivo, and British athlete, Emma Pallant-Browne, finishing second and third behind Haitope in the women’s race, South African athletes were cut out of the six podium medals for the first time in the race’s history, pointing to the increasing international competitiveness of the Two Oceans Half Marathon.

Masai is part of a group of Kenyans that have based themselves in The Mother City to prepare for the Absa RUN YOUR CITY CAPE TOWN 10K on 10 May and was running in the colours of local club, Go Tyme Bank Running Club.

“The thinking is that with some of our athletes living and training with the Kenyans for month, they can get some exposure to the type of training and intensity that the guys who are running under 28 minutes for 10km do,” said Tyme Bank coach, Chris Bruwer.

While the Kenyans brought welcome pace to the race, Pretoria athlete, George Kusche, surprised by front running in the early stages. A sub-four minute miler some years back, Kusche placed 12^th in last year’s Comrades Marathon and is currently in training for this year’s 90km mega-race in June.

Nonetheless, Kusche showed surprising speed over shorter distances to take the nine-strong lead pack through 5km in 15:35 and was up with the Kenyan trio through halfway on Southern Cross Drive in 31:27.

But a surge from Masai, at the peak of his powers having raced to a 27:24 10km personal best in Lille, France, just last week and boasting a half marathon best of 1:00:51, relegated Kusche to the role of ‘chaser’ as the Kenyan trio raced clear on the longest climb of the race.

The three reached the highest point in 40 minutes with Kusche 15 seconds back in fourth as the athletes turned for home.

Musyoka, who won the Standard Chartered Bank Half Marathon in Nairobi late last year and raced to his life-time half marathon best of 1:00:16 in Malaga, Spain, last month, took the trio through 15km in 45:56 before making his move for supremacy.

But it was Masai who forged a gap on the descent past Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens and held the lead as he turned back onto the M3 towards the university campus.

Musyoka fought back up Chet’s Hill but Masai was not about to surrender and he flew to the finish to win his Two Oceans debut by 24 seconds.

Mengich increased his pace and draw level with Musyoka as they raced onto the UCT sports field, 150m from the finish, but lost out to his compatriot by a second in a sprint for the runners-up berth.

Kusch finished ahead of the more favoured South Africans, including Bennet Seloyi, Thabang Mosiako and Stephen Mokoka, to take fourth in an impressive 1:04:11 with Phantane athlete, Cwenga Nose, improving his last year’s time by 12 seconds but dropped two positions to take fifth in 1:04:43.

Pallant-Browne set the early pace in the women’s race, taking the field through 5km in 17:58. Haitope was at her shoulder just a second off the pace with Chidzivo five seconds back in third, running with Lesotho’s Nthabiseng Letokoto.

Chidzivo took over at the helm as runners past the lively BYD activation point at Ladies Mile Extension Roundabout, but Haitope raced clear as athletes began their climb up Southern Cross Drive and had built an unassailable lead by the top of the climb.

She raced home without missing a beat to break the tape in 1:14:36, a significant improvement on her previous fastest on the course set in 2013 in the first of her three successive Two Oceans Half Marathon appearances and almost two minutes clear of Chidzivo.

Three times world duathlon champion, Pallant-Browne, held on for third in 1:18:09.

Following several difficult Two Oceans Marathon years, where partnership, logistical and governance issues clouded participants’ experience, 2026 saw a return to the organizational competence which characterised the event in the earlier years.

According to Two Oceans NPC Chairperson, Chris Goldschmidt, the focus this year was on getting the basics in place while introducing new partnerships to take the event forward. This was clearly achieved and celebrated this afternoon at a final race function to hand over trophies and prizes to age group and other category winners.

The next twelve months could see the Totalsports Two Oceans Marathon move into new territory, both literarily and metaphorically as it seeks to re-calibrate itself as one of the world’s most successful and popular running events and as one of the City of Cape Town’s best-loved mega-projects.

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