'A bigger force had the final say,' the race organisers said.
The organisers of this year’s Cape Town marathon have released a detailed timeline of the events leading up to the cancellation of Sunday’s race in the Mother City.
Around 24 000 runners were due to take part in one of the country’s most popular marathons, but strong winds, which put the safety of the runners, spectators and volunteers at risk, resulted in the Jjoint operations committee calling off the race around an hour before the start.
“Our team had worked for months on this event, planning for all scenarios, but a bigger force had the final say, and we once again apologise to all our marathon entrants and their supporters, as well as our sponsors and partners, that the race was not able to take place,” said Cape Town marathon CEO Clark Gardner in a lengthy statement.
He added the organisers, like everyone else, were still coming to terms with the disappointment.
Social media has been abuzz since Sunday with runners expressing their frustration and disappointment with the organisers’ decision to cancel the race.
Many feel the race start should have been delayed rather than cancelled.
“The wind did die down in Green Point around sunrise, but that certainly was not the case on the elevated highway section of the route, nor in Woodstock,” says Gardner in the press release.
“The roads in Woodstock and on Main Road were still experiencing high winds until 7am, blowing our fencing and water table furniture off the roads.
“We could not guarantee our crews’ safety in setting up the infrastructure on route at this time and the vital fencing used to manage contra-flow traffic in some areas was a safety risk. One fence hitting a wheelchair athlete or runner would have potentially caused a serious injury.”
Cape Town marathon general nanager Liz Kruger adds in the release: “The safety committee experienced first-hand the safety risks associated with the wind in the race village, watching tent poles crashing down around them and fences flying across the road. Later they saw fences flying across the road at the Beach Road start.
“This led them to make a joint decision to shut down the race village. Colonel Christo Engelbrecht of the South African Police Service told me that we simply cannot send people into those areas.”
The next Cape Town marathon will move to a new date in May next year. Also, sponsor Sanlam has committed to pay the entry fees of this year’s runners for the 2026 or 2027 races.
Timeline of events on Sunday:
00h15 – First reports of high winds at the race village (including two start lines and the finish line) in Green Point, as well as at various points on the route.
02h00 – More reports of high winds at race village and along the route.
02h15 – Safety walk inspection of race village observes damage at the start in Fritz Sonnenberg Road, with some infrastructure blown over. Damage also observed at the finish, with fencing blown over and in the hospitality area, where most gazebos and some furniture were blown away. Wind meter readings taken of gusts up to 48km/h.
02h20 – Race organising team begins removing branding on fencing, repairing infrastructure (where possible) and clearing up the race venue, in spite of ongoing strong winds.
02h30 – More damage in the race venue observed: Stretch tent torn and blown away, medical tent brace dislodged. More gusts of 48km/h measured.
02h30 – Race village officially shut by safety officials and enforced by security staff. Event staff and volunteers as well as vendors not able to access, pass through or set up in any part of the race village, or gain access to equipment or supplies stored in the race village and scheduled to be dispatched onto the route.
03h00 – Route safety team deployed to various sectors of the route, report the following through regular feedback to the JOC:
Sea Point: Fencing and infrastructure at the start in Beach Road blown over or shifted into the road. Period of high wind conditions from 03h00 to 06h30.
Woodstock: Very high winds experienced, and by 04h30, all signage blown over, and traffic cones blown out of position.
Observatory & Rondebosch: Very high winds experienced, with gusts of more than 60km/h observed between 03h30 and 04h30, affecting fencing in this area.
04h15 – Report from the start of further infrastructure movement and an unsafe situation.
04h40 – Report from the race village and Observatory that the wind situation has not changed since 02h00, with continuing gusts up to 46km/h. At this stage, nobody is able to predict if or when the wind will subside.
04h40 – Structural engineer reports that he cannot do final certification that the following structures are safe: start towers on Fritz Sonnenberg, scaffold bridge on Vlei Road, hospitality marquee and shade stretch tents in the race village, medical tents on route, pedestrian bridge on Vlei Road, main medical marquee at the finish.
04h45 – Decision taken by the safety committee to cancel the event and JOC authorised the decision.
05h00 – Communication of cancellation goes out to all runners via direct WhatsApp messaging and on social media urging them not to travel to the start venues. The cancellation announcement is also shared with local radio stations.
05h10 – Further reports of gusts up to 46km/h measured at the race village and Observatory.
05h15 – Messaging displayed on all VMS boards leading to the city notifying inbound motorists of cancellation.
06h30 – First press release from the race office about the cancellation sent to all media platforms and partners.
For the full statement on the cancellation of the race, click here.
