As a Blue Number Club runner with a long affiliation with the Two Oceans Marathon, you may remember the wail-like call of the fish horn at the start of the race until the mid-2010s. The sound is distinctly unmusical, and produces what can loosely be described as a flat, strident and harsh‘ noise.’ This is hardly surprising, given that the origin of the fish horn is a story that belongs to Cape Town’ s fish vendors, who would blow it to signal a haul of fresh fish at the harbour, and to let communities around Cape Town’ s seascapes and in certain Southern Suburbs know that fish was available to buy. So how and why did it come to pass that the fish horn was blown at the start of the 1977 Two Oceans race, and became a staple of the race start for many years that followed? A FISHY( FALSE) START
In 1975, then race chairman, Brian Beddingfield, sought to introduce a distinctly Cape‘ flavour’ to the marathon proceedings. With this in mind, he had invited a well-versed fish-horn blower, Cassiem, to duly blow the horn at the start of race, just before the starter’ s gun. But, as walking race historian and legendary TOM commentator Harold Berman recalls, in all the excitement and activity in the build-up to the start, Brian had accidentally forgotten to tell a patiently waiting Cassiem when to actually blow the horn.
Much to Brian’ s dismay, nearly the exact thing happened again the following year. The starter’ s gun was fired and an exasperated Cassiem walked up to Brian, asking when he would have to blow the horn.“ A duly apologetic Brian was mortified, and Cassiem never returned to the race!” recalls Harold.
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Determined to see his vision come to fruition, Brian found a fish horn in an antique shop in Cape Town and diligently practised‘ playing’ it while driving to work – his neighbours at home having told him it wasn’ t the most melodic of tunes! And thus the 1977 start of the race was heralded with the distinctive call of the fish horn, and Harold recalls that Brian would go on to blow the horn at the start until around 2010, after which a recording that he made was used. Brian had the fish horn mounted in a case and presented to the Two Oceans Marathon Museum, where it is still housed today. Unfortunately, the recording was seemingly lost after the 50th anniversary of the race in 2019, and has not graced the start since.
ENTER THE CANNON ERA
To add more glamour to the start, but more importantly, to enable runners at the back to hear the starting shot and set their watches accordingly( in the era prior to batch starts), a cannon shot was introduced in 2014 to signal the start of the race. As race numbers swelled, the starter’ s pistol was found to be too soft, with its sound not travelling all the way to the back of the large field of runners gathered at the start line.
This saw Martin Venter of the Cannon Association of South Africa invited to do the honours, as he was in personal possession of a muzzle-loaded cannon, and since 2014, he has been transporting the cannon from his home in Malmesbury to be at the start in Newlands before the 4am road closures. To ensure everyone’ s safety, the cannon is fired in a cleared area – it is, after all, a weapon, and a powerful black powder explosive is used. In more recent years, the cannon has been mounted
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on the upper deck of an open-topped doubledecker tourism Red Bus, parked near the start line, with the prescribed safety range in front of it so as to be out of harm’ s way when fired.
“ When I arrive, I go through all the safety procedures, make sure the cannon is clean and ready to be loaded and fired,” says Martin.“ All the people in the direct vicinity of the cannon are briefed on safety and maintaining a safe distance, and the VIP firing the cannon also gets briefed, and is given ear and eye protection. He or she fires the cannon under my direct supervision,” says Martin.
On the first occasion of the cannon being used in 2014, Ian Nielsen, then Deputy Mayor of Cape Town, was the VIP guest of honour doing the firing honours. Since then, the cannon has been fired by notable dignitaries such as Geordin Hill-Lewis, Patricia de Lille, JP Smith and Eddie Andrews. And in 2026, the cannon shot will once again be preceded by the fish horn, making a triumphant return to the Totalsports Two Oceans Marathon start!
Alderman JP Smith of the City of Cape Town fires the cannon to start the 2023 Totalsports Two Oceans Half Marathon
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Images: Two Oceans Marathon & courtesy Martin Venter, Signal Gun Wines |
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28 Totalsports Two Oceans Marathon 2026 |