If all goes to plan, in 2027 we will see Afzal Dhansay become the second athlete in the history of the Totalsports Two Oceans Marathon( TTOM) to earn a third permanent number, when he completes his 10th Trail Run. He is already the holder of Blue Blue Number 3729 in the Ultra and Light Blue Number 836 in the Half Marathon, and has eight Trail Run medals in the bag, so two more Trail Runs in 2026 and 2027 and he will join Norrie Williamson as the only two athletes with three Blue Numbers. Afzal’ s remarkable TTOM career began in 1997, and he has not missed a single year since then, other than the two years with no races due to the COVID pandemic. He began with four Ultra from 1997 to 2000, followed by three Halves and then another six Ultras, as he earned his Blue Number in 2009. From 2010 to 2013 he added another four Half medals, and then he began to‘ double up’ as he ran both the Half Marathon and the Trail Run‘ combo’ each year from 2014 to 2019, earning his Light Blue Number along the way in 2016. Post- COVID, he has added another four Halves as well as another two Trail Runs( with combos in 2022 and 2025), bringing his total number of medals to 10 in the Ultra, 17 in the Half and eight in the Trail Run.
In 2026, he will once again be doing the combo effort in the Trail Run as well as the Half, as he continues his voyage to 10 Trail Runs and a third Blue Number, but as he explains below, there is another target that will follow straight after that one.
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Q: you’ ve got a remarkable record at Two Oceans: 35 medals in 29 years. What has kept you coming back to the event so many years?
AD: Two Oceans has always been a flagship event for me. I started my running career in 1995, did my first half marathon that year, and I waited till the end of 1996 before I did my first full marathon. However, in 1996, I went to watch the Two Oceans, and I promised myself that I would be at the start in 1997. In those years, there was no Half Marathon at Two Oceans, and no trail run, so I entered the Ultra, and I’ ve been hooked ever since. It’ s a remarkable race, with fantastic atmosphere and wonderful energy, and I’ ve
Coming home for an eighth Trail Run medal in 2025
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been there every year since 1997, barring 2020 and 2021, of course.
Q: You’ re now on 10 medals in the Ultra, 17 Half medals, and eight in the Trail Runs, so just two more trail runs and you get your third Blue Number. Is that the big motivation, and the big goal, at the moment?
AD: Yes, that’ s my goal. And obviously with the half marathon also, three races from now, in two years’ time in 2028, I’ m looking at getting my double Blue in the 21K. The half marathon is my absolute favourite racing distance, so I’ m certainly looking at continuing there. The nice
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Images: Action Photo SA & courtesy Afzal Dhansay |
32 Totalsports Two Oceans Marathon 2026 |