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Cape Town - Chet Sainsbury, former race director of the Old Mutual Two Oceans Marathon (OMTOM), died earlier today after a long cancer battle. He was 73 years old.
When he retired as OMTOM race director, Mr Sainsbury took over the reins as race director of the Landmarks Half Marathon. Shortly afterwards, his immeasurable contribution to the running community earned him the Civic Honours by the Protea Sub-Council of the City of Cape Town, in recognition of his work to promote the area through these two events.
Mr Sainsbury enjoyed legendary status in the running community - despite a late start at the age of 35 - and he often joked about being greeted like a friend by complete strangers while on training runs or races.
He earned an incredible 32 medals at the Two Oceans Marathon (31 for the Ultra Marathon), with a personal best of 3:58.01. In addition to over 100 marathons, he also ran a number of other ultra events, including the Comrades Marathon (earning 14 medals) and the Puffer.
He also received special recognition while participating in the Two Oceans Marathon: The Honourable Order of Hout Bay Artillerymen would fire a cannon from the Chapman's Peak East Fort to mark the leading man and woman passing by on Race Day. But between 1981 and 2008 - the year he retired as race director - a third cannon shot was fired, when Mr Sainsbury came past.
“I used to tell the guys around me to expect a big bang, and this happened for a number of years until I retired as race director, when I asked them to stop firing the cannon for me,” he once explained in an interview.
Together with his wife, Annemarie, they were a collective force in the running world. She had been the secretary for Celtic Harriers at the time he became the OMTOM race director, and she finally retired as race secretary 21 years later!
The Sainsbury medal, a coveted OMTOM medal for achieving an Ultra time of between four and five hours, was introduced in honour of the couple in 2006. Ironically, Mr Sainsbury could never earn the medal named after him, and missed it by four minutes that same year.
A talented loose forward in his younger years, Mr Sainsbury served as the chairperson of the Villager Rugby Club. He also worked at Old Mutual for over 40 years before retiring in 2003, when he was the company's national sponsorship manager.
As an enthusiastic cyclist, he participated in 24 Cape Town Cycle Tours between 1980 and 2014. And in 2011 Mr Sainsbury became the only runner/cyclist to have completed 30 OMTOM Ultras and 21 Cape Town Cycle Tours.
Chet Sainsbury - also known as Mr Two Oceans - was a visionary. He introduced the kind of innovations and changes - some controversial - required to boost the stature of the Two Oceans Marathon from local run to global icon.
