Gutted runners reflect on decision to cancel race

DISAPPOINTMENT, frustration and disbelief best described the mood at the starting line of this year’s Sanlam Cape Town Marathon - cancelled due to unsafe conditions caused by the wind. 

The race was cancelled at 4.45 am, an hour and a half before the scheduled 6.15 am start time, after emergency meetings between the race organising team and the Joint Operations Committee (JOC),  consisting  of representatives from the City’s Disaster Risk Management and Safety and Security portfolios, as well as medical services and the South African Police Services.

After the news of the cancellation first broke, runners had mixed emotions as they understood the safety reasons for it, but they couldn’t help feeling the sting of disappointment.

One runner, Rowan Abrahams, said: “Obviously, there’s a lot of disappointment around the cancellation of the event this morning. Personally, I had put in around 600 kms worth of training over the last 18 weeks.

“Changed my diet and sacrificed nights out in preparation for today. Only to have the proverbial rug pulled out from under me this morning as we were leaving for Green Point,” he said.

“The organisers cited adverse weather conditions as a reason for cancellation. Right now, it feels like a very hollow reason, as I said before, a lot of time and effort was put into training, and so I woke up this morning ready to run through a brick wall, but perhaps it’s for the best that everyone’s safety is treated as a priority.”

Cultural Affairs and Sports MEC Ricardo Mackenzie said that he personally felt deeply disappointed, as it was going to be his first marathon. He had gone through a whole year of training to get to the point where he could comfortably run the race.

“Of course, one respects the decision of the organisers. We respect the decision of a joint operations committee for the safety of runners and people along the route, but you still can't help feeling disappointed.

“On a personal note, I booked into an Airbnb in Cape Town because I wanted to be closer. I was walking to the Green Point Track when we got the news that the race was cancelled.

“I think the financial aspect, one can recover,” said Mackenzie. “People planned, people budgeted... for those people, you know, they put money aside. So those are the sort of things that are easier to recover, but emotionally you feel disappointed.”

Durban-based running club, Izitebele Social Run founder  Andile Sibaya, 38, said that of those who participate in their social running club, approximately 400 planned to run the marathon.

“Our shakeout run (a very short, easy-paced jog, typically 10 to 20 minutes done before a race) had almost 400 runners,” Shabalala said.

Speaking of their reaction to the day's events, he added that “it can be frustrating”.

“Because, besides getting here, we’ve had guys who have been waking up at 4am for long runs, training and all of that, but we do understand that safety is paramount. There will be another marathon.

“We will still run again. I would rather, as an organiser, come back with all of my group intact than have a race organiser say, ‘let’s take a chance’, and then we lose one of us.

“In that sense, we understand it is a tough decision that had to be made, and we have to accept that the authorities had the best interest of us, the runners in front (of mind)."

Cape Times