There was disappointment after the cancellation of the Cape Town Marathon owing to safety concerns amid high winds on 19 October 2025. (Photo: Ashley Vlotman / Gallo Images) 
Thousands of runners were left disappointed after the cancellation of the 42.2km Cape Town Marathon this weekend, after wind damaged important safety equipment, including a medical tent at the finish line.
Speaking to the media a few hours after the race was cancelled, Cape Town Marathon CEO Clark Gardner voiced his disappointment at the race being called off.
“We are all devastated at the Cape Town Marathon,” Gardner said. “Our team, the volunteers, our sponsors, we’re all extremely devastated and we know the participants are.
“We really are sorry.”
The safety of the prospective 24,000 runners would have been compromised had the race gone ahead, according to Gardner, who along with the Joint Operations Committee made the decision to message runners that the event would be cancelled.
“What we always prioritise is safety first,” he explained.
“Just after midnight [on Saturday] we were fighting the winds. It devastated our race village, there was a dropped bar in a medics tent and a few other things that happened.
“En route [it was] even worse… our road furniture was crossing the lines and not allowing for a contraflow.”
According to Gardner, there were hourly checks between midnight and 4am to assess before the final decision was made at 4.45am to cancel the event.
“You have to have a medical room to start a race, you can’t not have a medical tent,” he said.
“Wind is really destructive and it results in decisions like this. It was a tough decision. If it was ours alone it would be more difficult but we had a whole team of experts who made this decision.
“They were all in agreement that this was the right decision at 5am.”
Travelling runners
Thousands travelled from outside the province and the country to run the Cape Town Marathon – which is striving to become an Abbott World Marathon Major. The exact number of participants who made the journey to the Mother City is only known to the Cape Town Marathon, which would not share any information when asked by Daily Maverick.
“It’s confidential participant information,” a WhatsApp message reply read after inquiring to the event’s head of marketing.
/file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/TL_2473554.jpg "Workers after the cancellation of the Cape Town Marathon on 19 October 2025. (Photo: Ashley Vlotman / Gallo Images)")
In contrast, the oldest and largest ultramarathon in the world, the Comrades, published which countries, provinces and running clubs participants had travelled from to take part in the iconic race in KwaZulu-Natal.
Cape Town Marathon’s ambitions to become one of the Abbott World Marathon Majors – alongside Tokyo, Boston, London, Berlin, Chicago, New York City and Sydney – has also taken a big knock following the cancellation of the race.
“This is a dent,” Gardner said. “As all South Africans, we’re very good at getting back up and dusting ourselves off.
“I know we’ll be back. We’ll be better for it, we’re learning from it as we’re going through this crisis management time as well.
“If we want to be the best in the world, we must understand all scenarios and manage it well.”
The 2026 Cape Town Marathon was moved to May next year to protect against the strong wind which forced this year’s event to be cancelled, with the fifth month of the year traditionally being one of the least windy in the Mother City.
Despite the cancellation, thousands of runners still decided to run off their carbo-loaded systems. Some ran the entire route while some completed a small part of it. It was done with no road closures, with cars and bicycles allowed on the tarred road following the cancellation of the official race.
/file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/ED_552671.jpg "Runners on Chapman’s Peak during the 2025 Two Oceans Marathon on 5 April 2025. (Photo: Gallo Images / Brenton Geach)")
Sanlam steps in
There is some relief for disappointed runners with title sponsor Sanlam announcing that it will be offering every 2025 entrant a sponsored entry for either next year’s or 2027’s Cape Town Marathon.
This offer will be extended to all 2025 marathon entrants, regardless of whether the race succeeds in its bid to become Africa’s first Abbott World Marathon Major.
“When faced with adversity, Africans unite. We find a way to create opportunity out of adversity, in spite of all obstacles and challenges,” said the Sanlam Group CEO Paul Hanratty.
“We remain confident that the Sanlam Cape Town Marathon is on course to become an Abbott World Marathon Majors race. Following the disappointment felt by the marathon runners today, we feel that we need to support all of those who were not able to take part in the race.”
The organisers initially announced that there would be no refunds or transferring of tickets to the next race, in accordance with marathon policy. DM