There is indeed a silver lining to the Two Oceans scandal that went viral – both locally and internationally – earlier this month.
This year’s Totalsports Two Oceans Half Marathon powered by BYD was tarnished when two ‘ladies’ in the Top 10 online app results proved in fact to be MEN.
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Bombshell discovery
As first reported by The South African website, the bombshell discovery was uncovered by well-known South African runner and blogger, Stuart Mann, who also happens to be a Two Oceans Marathon board member and chair of its Disciplinary Sub-Committee (SC).
Mann exposed the scandal on his popular blog ‘The Running Mann‘.
In a nutshell, two male runners, subsequently identified as Luke Jacobs and Nic Bradfield, elected to run the race with numbers given to them by female friends.
Jacobs finished seventh, with Bradfield in 10th place.
A look at the online app results post-race (as below), showed that Larissa Parekh (Jacobs) and Tegan Garvey (Bradfield) had finished in the Top 10, knocking Alexa Townsend and Karin-Mari Dotze down to 11th and 12th, respectively.
Both ‘men’ have since been officially removed from the results and will face a formal disciplinary process which is likely to result in a two-year ban from the event for both the bib bandit and the enabler.
Don’t believe everything you see on the app. Alexa Townsend moved from 11th to ninth place while Karin-Mari Dötze moved from 12th to 10th in the final Top 10 standings (correct as per the TV screenshot on the left)
Instead of rubbing shoulders with women’s Ultra winner Gerda Steyn and her other heroes at the official awards function at the Southern Sun Cape Sun, Dotze was dealing with the crushing disappointment of, what she believed was, 12th position.
Dotze’s run was particularly impressive in that she was entered as a club runner (for Jeppe AC).
Sponsored athlete
But that’s about to all change …
Mann on Thursday confirmed that Dotze has signed with Nedbank Running Club and become a sponsored athlete.
Mann wrote: ‘Although Jeppe AC are sad to see Karin-Mari switch the black and white dynamite of Jeppe for the Green of Nedbank, Kim Pain from Jeppe was philosophical when she broke the good news to me this morning.’
“I just wanted to let you know that Karin-Mari has received sponsorship from Nick Bester and the Nedbank team. We at Jeppe are sad to lose her but we know that it is what is best for her. We are so proud of her and wish her well with her sponsorship at Nedbank to which we will follow her closely.”
Mann got on the phone to Nick Bester, both to thank him and ask about his latest signing.
Explaining his move Bester said, “I think at this stage of my career, I’m continuing for one reason and that is to help athletes achieve and to reach their goals. I can see when an athlete has got potential, especially in their attitude, the build of their body, the way they speak.”
In terms of what a signing to the Nedbank team brings, Bester explained, “We’ve got great people supporting us like Nedbank, Dischem, Biogen, Thirsti Water, Bavaria and of course Nike technical apparel and footwear and Nike Vision.”
He also emphasised, “Women’s running in South Africa needs a boost. There are far too few women that perform well – so we have to invest in women.”
Actively involved
Bester was actively involved at this year’s Two Oceans and heralded the return to form of the planet’s second largest ultra marathon and South Africa’s largest half marathon.
He explained, “Nedbank put a huge effort this year into helping Two Oceans get back on their feet. A massive Nedbank team component of 54 athletes flew down for this year’s event.”
Bester continued, “We put a massive effort in from the Netbank running clubs to help Stillwater Sports and the new board build Two Oceans back to the heydays when I was running back in the 80s and 90s.”
On the importance of the Two Oceans weekend Bester said, “Two Oceans is one of the main races that people watch on TV. And that creates and draws sponsors which helps the athletes to make a living out of the race.”
Regarding his first impression after meeting Karin-Mari, Bester said: “I like the way Karin-Mari is speaking, she’s motivated, she’s positive and she is definitely a benefit to the team. Nedbank Running Club would love to see how we can help Karin-Mari become one of the top athletes in South Africa.”
‘So grateful’
Mann would have loved to have been in a position to have published his article earlier in the day, but had to wait until the end of the school day to get a comment from primary school teacher Karin-Mari herself.
“I am a little bit speechless. This all happened really quickly. I am so grateful for this opportunity.”
She is looking forward to the new opportunity, but regrets leaving Jeppe AC.
“I spoke to Kim [Pain] about this, because I was really happy at Jeppe, and they were so good and supportive for me, but I want to take my running to a next level. This opportunity is an answered prayer. I really prayed for an opportunity and now I have it right in front of me. I am really excited for this new journey. I am going to take it with both hands and give it my all. I am really grateful that Nick Bester from Nedbank reached out. This is such a big blessing for me.”
UPDATE: The South African website has learned that, as at the time of publishing, neither Luke Jacobs nor Nic Bradfield have reached out to Karin-Mari Dotze to apologise for their actions.
In addition, a third runner, former Stormers centre Morgan Newman, also completed the race using a ‘borrowed’ female race number belonging to Lindsay Jacobs. Newman doctored the name on the bib to read ‘Morgan’ – as below.
