Why the Sanlam Cape Town Marathon was cancelled: Insights and reactions

While the 42km Sanlam Cape Town Marathon was cancelled on Sunday, October 19, organisers and residents are due to meet next month to plan next year's running festival weekend. 

The marathon was cancelled just an hour and a half before the scheduled 6.10am start, due to adverse wind conditions.

Mouille Point Ratepayers' Association's (MPRA's) Jane Meyer said that they shared everyone's disappointment that the marathon had to be cancelled at the last minute.  

“So much time and effort had been put in by so many for the marathon to start at 6am on Sunday morning.All the hard work had been done but, unfortunately, the weather did not play along,” she said.

The association understood the difficult decisions made to ensure the safety of the thousands of participants, volunteers, and staff. 

“We wish them well for their events on Saturday, May 23, and Sunday, May 24, 2026, and have already scheduled a meeting in November with the organisers to discuss plans for next year,” she said.

Steve Massey, from the Green Point Ratepayers' and Residents' Association (GPRRA) events committee, said overall residents “were genuinely disappointed” that the race was cancelled. 

He said that there were many complaints about traffic congestion, which is an ongoing problem that the City needs to resolve.

Mr Massey said some residents posted video footage and were impressed by the 'gees' and general high spirits of the runners that actually turned up for the marathon on Sunday.

“Many who still ran the distance - albeit along the Promenade a few times. Obviously, there were runners that were disappointed, but most comments I saw were sympathetic to the reasons for the cancellation,” he said.  

Mr Massey noted that a lowlight of the running festival weekend was the usual “big event” traffic congestion.

He said that the association met last week and had decided to approach the City about the reintroduction of parking permits for residents in the roads around the stadium. 

“This should have a big impact on traffic congestion and illegal parking, as participants and supporters will be forced to use the MyCiti buses supplied or alternative transport for big events,” said Mr Massey. 

Race organisers have received many enquiries as to the decision-making process that led to the cancellation.

Some 24 000 entrants and their supporters were denied the opportunity to run the 2025 edition of the now iconic marathon.

Marathon CEO Clark Gardner said his team was still coming to terms with the disappointment.

“After a near-perfect day on Saturday for our Peace Run 10km and 5km events, and our three Cape Town Marathon trail races, we were all looking forward to the biggest edition of the marathon to date, with the strongest field ever assembled for a marathon on African soil, and passing stage two of our candidacy assessment to achieve majors status.

"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 Mr Gardner.

On Monday, October 20, race organisers issued a statement explaining the cancellation, citing notes from the event's safety officer, Phil Prinsloo.

Entrants and the media asked what adverse weather conditions, given that the weather improved markedly during the course of the morning.

The event’s joint operations committee (JOC) included representatives from the race organisers, the City of Cape Town’s Disaster Risk Management and Safety and Security portfolios, as well as medical services and the South African Police Services (SAPS).

According to Mr Prinsloo's notes, the first reports of high winds came in at 12.15am that the Race Village, including two start lines and the finish line, in Green Point, as well as at various points on the route, had been affected.

Until 4.30am, high winds were reported, and infrastructure, fencing had blown off, and in the hospitality area, gazebos and some furniture had blown away, along the route up until Observatory.

In Observatory and Rondebosch, very high winds, with gusts of more than 60km/h were observed between 3.30am and 4.30am, affecting fencing in this area.

Mr Prinsloo said: "Nobody was able to predict if or when the wind will subside".

At this time the structural engineer reported that he could not give final certification that the following structures were safe: the start towers on Fritz Sonnenberg, the scaffold bridge on Vlei Road, the hospitality marquee and shade stretch tents in Race Village, the medical tents on route, the pedestrian bridge on Vlei Road, and the main medical marquee at the finish.

At 4.45am, the safety committee decided to cancel the event, and the JOC authorised the decision. Communication went out to the runners by 5am via direct WhatsApp messages and on social media, urging them not to travel to the start venues.

Mr Prinsloo said that neither the Sanlam Cape Town Marathon nor its Abbott World Marathon Majors goals influenced the decision-making process.

“The Sanlam Cape Town Marathon was managed in accordance with the Safety at Sports and Recreational Events Act (SASREA) of 2010.

“The Act stipulates that the responsibility for ensuring safety and security lies with the event’s controlling body, organiser or venue owner, through its event safety plan, which must consider all reasonably practicable duties, actions and operational procedures to mitigate the hazards and related risks that might arise," he said. 

Mr Gardner said while the wind died down in Green Point around sunrise, it was not the case on the elevated highway section of the route, nor in Woodstock.

“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,” said Mr Gardner.

For more information visit www.capetownmarathon.com