CAPE TOWN – The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) successfully delivered live coverage of the 2026 Totalsports Two Oceans Marathon, held over the weekend of 11-12 April.
The national broadcaster aired both the 56km ultra marathon and the 21km half marathon live on SABC 3, marking a new chapter following the end of SuperSport’s contract with Athletics South Africa (ASA) on 31 March.
Head of SABC Sport, Keletso Totlhanyo, highlighted the importance of collaboration with sponsors to ensure the sustainability of such broadcasts.
“So what we’d like to encourage all the sponsors of Two Oceans Marathon in the next year to make sure that they also sponsor the broadcast so that it can be possible for the following years we can continue broadcasting,” said Totlhanyo.
“What’s important for us is really for more sponsors to come on board and help us to be able to sell our airtime so that in that way we are able to pay for the rights”.
Despite facing logistical challenges, Totlhanyo expressed immense pride in the final product delivered to viewers.
“We not comparing myself with anybody, but I am certain, and the good thing about it is that I’ve always been involved in athletic broadcasts on the SABC and I’ve never doubted, not even one minute, have I ever doubted that the SABC does a great job,” she said.
“We did extremely well under the constraints that we had. We had a lot of challenges.
“We were unable to bring certain equipment because of SCM processes. But what was on air, nobody could notice – we were the only one that knew what was missing.”
Totlhanyo added that the broadcast exceeded expectations across all stakeholders.
“But it looked fantastic – the runners were happy and we are happy,” she said.
“The organisers were happy that the broadcast went extremely well.”
She also pointed to a key milestone in this year’s coverage.
“We were grateful for the weather as well – there were no hiccups on the route and we were able to broadcast for the first time without a helicopter. In the past we always had a helicopter, but for the first time all went well without a helicopter,” explained Totlhanyo.
“We are grateful for the advancement of technology that we are able to do a road running event without helicopters and it went extremely well and I’m happy.
“As a director, as a Head of a SABC Sport, but by other head being a director, I was sitting in the venue and I was very proud when I was seeing the pictures on air.”
The use of innovative camera work further enhanced the viewing experience.
“Yesterday at some stage we had four splits, we could see all the different areas of the marathon and that’s what we are known for as the SABC,” she adds.
Reflecting on SABC’s legacy in sports broadcasting, Totlhanyo continued:
“One of the inventions that we had in the past with Comrades Marathon, we used to have a commentator in the sky where we used to call it eye in the sky. So anybody who doubted SABC, it’s their own problem because we know what we can, we know what we are capable of.
“And I trust the crew at the SABC – everybody who works on these events, whether it’s football or whatever, we are experts in what we are doing. We pride ourselves to make sure that we bring good quality to all South Africans.”
