On its second consecutive evaluation, the cancelled 2025 Sanlam Cape Town Marathon has missed out in its bid to become an Abbott World Marathon Major.
According to www.worldmarathonmajor, the event was set to undergo its second consecutive evaluation which could have decided its ambition to become one of the world’s major events.
Following the cancellation, AbbottWMM leadership expressed support for the Cape Town team, stating on their website: “We will be working with the Cape Town team soon to obtain more information and discuss the next course of action.”
The Chief Executive Officer of Abbott World Marathon Major, Dawna Stone added: “We were excited to see all the progress the team in Cape Town had made this year after passing their evaluation in 2024. Our hearts go out to the organisers, volunteers, and participants who wanted to make this a historic day, and we appreciate what a difficult decision this must have been.”
Fruitless toil
After all the effort put together over several months by sponsors, organisers, and thousands of runners in preparations for this year’s event, their effort went up in smoke when Mother Nature had other plans.
The marathon was cancelled just an hour and a half before the scheduled start after severe overnight winds continued into the early hours of Sunday morning, wreaking havoc at the event venue in Green Point. Marquee tents were destroyed, branding ripped from fences and scaffolding and race infrastructure badly damaged — forcing organisers to call off the event.
About 24,000 runners, who had also spent months preparing, were left deeply disappointed.
Heads put together to decide on cancellation
According to information received, the decision to cancel the marathon was taken jointly by the race organising team and the Joint Operations Committee (JOC) — which includes representatives from the City of Cape Town’s Disaster Risk Management, Safety and Security portfolios, medical services, and the South African Police Service (SAPS). The announcement was made to runners and stakeholders at around 5:00 a.m., ahead of the scheduled 6:15 a.m. start.
Event CEO Clark Gardner said the team was devastated by the outcome.
“Cancelling such a huge event is not an easy decision to make. We have worked for months on planning for all scenarios and conditions, but ultimately a bigger force had the final say. We are so sorry for the situation. We wish to thank our participants, sponsors, and stakeholders for their ongoing support and understanding,” said Gardner.
Cape Town Mayor, Geordin Hill-Lewis echoed Gardner’s sentiments: “All the runners must be disappointed, as are we all. But I’m grateful to the event organisers for taking a decision with runners’ safety in mind after heavy winds blew down some race infrastructure this morning. The City is committed to hosting events of the highest global standards, and that includes sometimes making difficult calls like this.”
