Cape Town, South Africa — Conservationist and endurance runner Karoline Hanks has completed an extraordinary 194km challenge across Cape Town, raising over R86 000 from donors to support the rehabilitation and eventual release of Sage, a rare olive ridley turtle rescued from a 30kg ghost fishing net at De Hoop Nature Reserve.
Hanks completed the challenge over 21 and 22 August 2026, running the equivalent of three Peninsula Ultra Fun Runs between Cape Point and Green Point. She had initially planned to cover 192km with 7,410m of elevation and raise R80,000 for the Two Oceans Aquarium Foundation’s Turtle Conservation Centre.
She exceeded both the planned distance and the fundraising target.
The campaign has now reached 108% of its goal, meaning donor support can fund much of Sage’s rehabilitation, including nutrition, veterinary care, life-support systems and enrichment. It will also contribute towards an acoustic tracking tag, allowing researchers to follow Sage’s movements after she returns to the ocean.
For Hanks, the kilometres were always intended to achieve something beyond the finish line.
From a 30kg Fishing Net to a Second Chance
Sage’s journey began on 26 December 2025, when she was found stranded in the De Hoop Marine Protected Area.
The olive ridley turtle had become entangled in a discarded fishing net weighing approximately 30kg. The net had cut deeply into her shoulders and left her in need of specialist care.
After initially being returned to the water by a well-meaning member of the public, Sage stranded again. Marine ranger Corné Lamprecht was able to retrieve her, and a rescue network helped transport her to Cape Town.
Staff at the Turtle Conservation Centre soon realised they were caring for an unusual patient.
Olive ridley turtles are rare visitors to South African waters and are listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List. They do not nest in South Africa, although individuals occasionally enter local waters to feed.
Sage arrived with wounds from the entanglement and later showed difficulty diving because of abnormal buoyancy. Her rehabilitation has required veterinary care, monitoring and carefully designed activities that encourage natural behaviour.
The ultimate goal is to return her to the wild when she is ready.
Donors Fund More Than Medical Care
Hanks set the R80,000 target around what Sage actually needed rather than choosing an amount based on the running challenge.
The money raised will contribute towards four major areas of her rehabilitation: nutrition, medical care, enrichment and life support.
Sage receives fresh food while veterinary assessments can include blood tests, radiographs, CT scans, fluids and other interventions when required. Her rehabilitation also includes activities designed to encourage diving, foraging and other behaviours she will need once she is back in the ocean.
Maintaining the warm, clean seawater systems in which rehabilitating turtles live is another significant part of the cost.
The fundraising has also made another important step possible.
An acoustic tag can be fitted before Sage’s release, allowing her movements to be detected through South Africa’s marine tracking network.
The information can help researchers understand where rehabilitated turtles travel, which habitats they use and how they fare after returning to the wild.
This means the impact of donor support could continue long after Sage leaves the Turtle Conservation Centre.
Three PUFfeRs in Two Days
To raise the funds, Hanks chose a challenge designed to match the scale of the cause.
The traditional Peninsula Ultra Fun Run, better known as the PUFfeR, covers roughly 64km between Cape Point and Cape Town.
Hanks decided to do the equivalent three times.
Over two days, she travelled back and forth between Cape Point Nature Reserve and Green Point, ultimately recording approximately 194km rather than the planned 192km.
The challenge took her through long stretches of mountain terrain, darkness, fatigue and thousands of metres of climbing.
Yet she also used the run to make the environmental threat behind Sage’s story impossible to ignore.
During part of the final stretch, Hanks carried the same 30kg ghost fishing net that had entangled Sage.
The image brought the campaign back to its starting point.
For Hanks, the turtle had been forced to struggle beneath that weight without choosing the challenge. Carrying the net herself became a way of showing what discarded fishing equipment can mean for an animal caught beneath the surface.
This Was Not Her First Run for a Turtle
Hanks has spent years combining endurance challenges with environmental fundraising.
In 2021, she became the first person to complete Cape Town’s 13 Peaks Challenge back-to-back, covering approximately 212km in just over 71 hours.
That challenge raised funds for Bob, a green turtle that spent years undergoing rehabilitation at the Two Oceans Aquarium.
The money helped fund a sophisticated tracking device fitted to Bob before his 2023 release. The tag subsequently allowed conservationists and members of the public to follow his movements after he returned to the ocean.
In 2025, Hanks turned her attention closer to home through Project Noordhoeked, the conservation initiative she manages. She completed an “Everesting” challenge on Chapman’s Peak, repeatedly climbing the mountain until she had accumulated the equivalent of Mount Everest’s 8,849m elevation.
Her latest challenge returned to turtles, but this time the focus was also on ghost fishing gear and the danger it poses to marine wildlife.
R80,000 Goal Becomes R86,000 of Impact
The original fundraising goal has now been achieved and exceeded, with five days still remaining on the campaign.
Fifty-eight people have contributed R86 000, taking the fundraiser to 108%.
Those donations have transformed Hanks’s physical challenge into practical conservation support.
They will help pay for food and veterinary treatment while Sage remains in care. They can support the systems keeping her rehabilitation environment healthy and fund the enrichment that prepares her to live independently again.
They can also help researchers continue learning from Sage after her release through acoustic tracking.
Most importantly, the funds give a turtle that survived entanglement in human-made waste a stronger chance of returning to the ocean.
The Two Oceans Aquarium Foundation says Sage is making encouraging progress and remains on the road towards eventual release.
For the donors who backed Hanks kilometre by kilometre, that future release will be the real finish line.
Hanks has completed her 194km.
Now the hope is that Sage’s next long journey will be one she makes freely, back in the ocean where she belongs.
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