Emma Sainsbury’s Two Oceans race of love and courage

Four days short of her 20^th birthday, Cambridge University language student, Emma Sainsbury lined up at the start of the Totalsports Two Oceans Half Marathon. It was to be a journey of courage, pathos and discovery. And ultimately joy.

Former Two Oceans race director, Chet Sainsbury, is a name celebrated as the most influential person in the event’s history. His grand-daughter, Emma, travelled from her home in Milton Keynes in England to run the Two Oceans Half Marathon in his memory and in support of her father, Neil, who has been diagnosed with brain cancer.

It was to prove one of her life highlights.

Eight years after he lost his battle with skin cancer at the age of 73 years, Chet Sainsbury’s legacy is fondly remembered by many thousands involved in sport in South Africa and particularly by those who had anything to do with the Two Oceans Marathon over three decades.

Chet Sainsbury was widely regarded as one of the leading sports administrators in the country and it is unlikely that his 28-year tenure at the helm of the 56km Two Oceans Marathon will ever be surpassed.   

Chet ran his first Two Oceans 56km in 1978 in the colours of Celtic Harriers and by the time he stepped down as race director in 2006, the ultra-marathon had attracted almost 10 000 entries while the half marathon, introduced under his watch in 1998, was on a steep upward trend and had grown to 8000.

After directing the Peninsula Marathon for two years, the Sainsbury’s took over at the helm of the Two Oceans in 1980. Annemarie, who later became the event’s first full time professional administrator, and Chet as race director. They made a formidable team. 

Chet enjoyed a close relationship with the Two Oceans for more than half his life, running the first of his 32 Two Oceans Ultra-marathons in 1978 and the last in 2014 at 71, completing his only Two Oceans Half Marathon in 2012, when he ran with his youngest son, Mark in 1 hr 59 min 52 sec.   His fastest time of 3 hr 58 min 01 sec came in 1987.

A measure of the esteem in which the couple is held is that the “Sainsbury medal” was launched in 2006 for runners completing the 56km in under five hours.  And a range of less formal tributes can be found, such as ‘Chet’s Hill’ – the ‘kick-in-the-teeth’ last climb from the Kirstenbosch traffic lights, just over 3km from the finish.

But back to Emma. It was more than memories of ‘Grampa’ which led her to make an impulsive decision to enter the 2024 Totalsports Two Oceans Half Marathon. And this time the health scare was closer to home.

Last June, following one of his regular gym workouts, Emma’s father, Neil, suffered a sudden seizure.  “The next thing I knew I awoke in hospital,” recalled Neil, Chet’s oldest son, from his Milton Keynes home in England. “An MRI scan confirmed a tumor in front of my brain but apart from the seizure I felt completely normal – no other symptoms.”

Innovative treatment of Neil’s grade 4 ‘glioblastoma’ had early positive outcomes. Although recent results have been less encouraging, Neil, who was a top middle-distance athlete at Rondebosch Boys High and the University of Cape Town, remains positive.

“Onwards and upwards, as my dad always used to say,” said Neil two weeks prior to the race. “Although it’s obviously been a shock, I’ve been feeling really good, swimming and cycling regularly.”

Emma was also shaken. “I was very upset initially, but then it didn’t feel much different as my dad was so strong and seemed completely normal.

“But two days after Papa’s diagnosis I was wearing a 2011 Two Oceans Half Marathon T-shirt and signed up and paid for the Two Oceans Half Marathon without telling my parents! It was a very spontaneous decision and the day after I thought to myself, ‘what have I just done’?

“I always ran – a bit of cross country early on and then some 5km and longer runs when I was a teenager.  Never more than 10km though. But I took the plunge to race 21km before I thought to tell my parents, even though my training had been completely disrupted through injury!

“I said that they had better book some flights to Cape Town in April!” 

But ‘Papa’ was more than happy to oblige. “What could we do?” said Neil, clearly touched at his daughter’s commitment. “It’s quite expensive for a student to enter the race as an international runner.  So, we all booked to come for a holiday with family and friends in Cape Town and to support Emma’s run.”

Emma was concerned about her lack of training for her half-marathon debut. “A calf injury put my training on hold for over two months,” she reflected before her departure. “I haven’t done the training, but with my dad’s skilful coaching I’m hopeful I will make it. 

“I know the last miles will be testing – but I’ll just keep remembering Grampa’s saying he often asked of us when things got tough, ‘Are you a man or a mouse?’”

Emma worked hard on a fundraising campaign while continuing her studies in Spanish and Arabic. “I used my Two Oceans Half Marathon to raise money for cancer research in the UK,” said Emma. “The charity I’m supporting is Cancer UK and I’ve specifically chosen brain cancer as the field of research.”

Neil has worked for 25 years as a chartered town planner and qualified urban designer in Milton Keyes, but sadly his illness prevented him from travelling to South Africa at the last minute.

“When papa said he couldn’t travel to Cape Town, my first instinct was to withdraw,” admitted Emma after the run, which she completed in 1:57:08 – over two minutes inside her grandfather and uncle’s times twelve years ago. “But I’d raised so much money for cancer research, so I knew I deep down I would go.

“But he had been looking forward to it so much and had helped me with my training.  So, to walk to the start without him there was quite hard.

“In the end it was so nice that Lucie (her younger sister) could come to Cape Town with me and that in spite of arriving with tonsilitis, I was still able to run. And it was great that Gran (Annemarie Sainsbury) was at the finish to greet me with my uncle Paul.

“It was a lot more fun than I had expected,” Emma related. “I’d been really nervous, having heard about all the hills and everything. We don’t have that sort of terrain in the UK! But it was amazing – I’d do it again, really.

“I had raced some 5kms runs at home, but nothing on the scale of Two Oceans with so many people at the start – the atmosphere was incredible.”

Not surprisingly, the first person Emma phoned after she crossed the finish line at the UCT Green Mile was her father, to say how much she had loved the race.          

                                                                                                                                    

“And did you see my time?” she asked him. “I got sub-2 (she ran 1:57:08) and I think I could have gone a lot faster! He said he was very proud of me.”

Emma enjoyed the pre-dawn atmosphere at the start as she lined up with two of her cousins. “It was so cool in the dark – everyone was together in unison in preparation of the challenge to come.

“My favourite part of the race came just after cresting Wynberg Hill when we were running down towards Constantia.  The sun was starting to rise and light up the mountains. I thought ‘wow’ and wanted to stop to take a picture!

“We were on the freeway and there were no spectators at that point. There was this wonderful silence as we all ran together.  I felt a bit emotional, wanting dad and mom to be there as well.”

Any pain Emma may have felt through running 21km on a challenging course was relieved through the beauty of the race, the emotion of the moment and a minor incident early in her run.

“I accidently ran into a pole in first 200m as I was looking at my watch rather than the road ahead,” Emma related. “For the rest of the race my finger hurt, but it took away from any pain I might have felt through the race itself!”

Emma continued to draw strength from the powerful emotions stemming the memory of her grandfather and support for her dad.

“I really enjoyed the hills. And ‘Chet’s Hill’ was especially good. Everyone around me seemed to be struggling and I thought, ‘no, this hill is made for me’ and I ran the climb strongly.

“My last quarter was my fastest and I had good energy at the end, running into the finish at UCT.”

Emma returned home the day after the race, filled with rich memories and emotions and buoyed at the feeling of success after having worked hard towards her goal. Her initial target of £1000 (about R24 000) was soon reached and further goals also overtaken.  A week after the race Emma has raised over £3260 (about R75 000).

“Those views and the atmosphere of the race were very special,” recalled Emma. “I wish I lived In Cape Town!  One day I’d love to do the ultra.”

Only a week remains to contribute to Emma’s run in support of brain cancer research. Visit the link to her site on https://fundraise.cancerresearchuk.org/page/emmas-two-oceans-half-marathon.