Two Oceans success recalls glory days as the spirit of Sainsbury lives on

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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