Organisers explain timeline of decision to cancel Cape Town Marathon

Following the unprecedented cancellation of the 2025 Cape Town Marathon last weekend, due to gusts of wind destroying vital infrastructure, the organisation has released more information on how the decision to call off the event came about.

According to the report, the first signs of strong winds at the race villages at the two starting points and the finishing area in Green Point were reported shortly after midnight.

Race infrastructure that had been blown over was first observed after 2am. This included fencing, furniture and gazebos.

At 2:20am, the race organising team attempted to repair the damage before the race village was shut down at 2:30am.

Reports from 3am indicate that the route was also impaired. Signage had been blown over in Woodstock, and fencing and infrastructure had been damaged in Sea Point. In Observatory and Rondebosch – which faced the harshest winds – fencing had been affected.

At 4:40am, the structural engineer reported that he could not perform a final certification on 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 en route, the pedestrian bridge on Vlei Road and the main medical marquee at the finish.

Five minutes later, the decision was taken by the Safety Committee to cancel the event. The Joint Operations Committee (JOC) authorised the decision.

From there, communication on the cancellation of the Cape Town Marathon was sent to runners.

“The decision to cancel the race required a unanimous decision by all members of the JOC, taking into account all the reports received and the observations, concerns and opinions of a team of highly qualified and experienced people,” a statement from the Cape Town Marathon read.

Phil Prinsloo of Eyethu Events, who noted the order of events on the day, said: “Although the event safety plan endeavoured to balance the likelihood and severity of risks with the amount of energy, effort, time and money required to mitigate these risks, it is important to note that the decision to cancel the race was all about the safety and security of the participants.

“Neither the Sanlam Cape Town Marathon, nor its Abbott World Marathon Majors goals, influenced the decision-making process.”

Athlete experience

Many athletes were already close to the start line in Green Point when the cancellation communication was sent, while others were preparing to leave.

Ashton van Staden, who was about to book an Uber to head to the venue, told Daily Maverick that he initially thought the message was a prank.

“I woke up at 4:20am, made myself a cup of tea, had a banana and put on my kit,” he explained, having prepared for his first marathon.

“And then I was stretching for a few minutes just to get my body loose.

“… At about five o’clock, I received a WhatsApp message indicating that we should not proceed to go to the start because the race had been cancelled.

“My initial thought on receiving the [message] was, it’s a prank or maybe there’s too many people attending the event.

“I was so shocked. I didn’t think the wind was that bad.

“I was shocked, surprised and a little bit disappointed afterwards. But I didn’t feel disappointed in the moment, because I was still processing the shock.

“I just went back to bed.”

Wesley Morrison, who ran his first marathon, the Cape Town Marathon in 2024, told Daily Maverick he was close to tears when he heard the news, having been warming up close to the start line.

“I was there,” Morrison said. “I was close to the starting pins and my friend phoned me  – because he was on his way to cheer – and he said that the race was cancelled.

“I thought it was a joke, but then when I went into my phone, I saw a WhatsApp message from Cape Town Marathon, breaking the bad news of the race being cancelled.

“It was devastating… It brought me to tears because, like many others, there was a lot of hard work put into preparation for this marathon.

“It was heartbreaking. It was disheartening. I mean, it still hurts.”

Many wondered if the race had been cancelled prematurely, as the wind had settled down at the start area around 6am, 15 minutes before the projected race start.

But Cape Town Marathon CEO Clark Gardner said this had been impossible.

“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,” Gardner said.

“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 [the] route at this time, and the vital fencing used to manage contraflow traffic in some areas was a safety risk.

“One fence hitting a wheelchair athlete or runner would have potentially caused a serious injury.”

Reader input

Morrison said he was “too heartbroken” to do any sort of running after receiving the message that the race had been cancelled and headed home.

Many others stayed, however, running their own version of the Cape Town Marathon.

Daily Maverick reader Barry Tyson – who was due to run the marathon – explained that he and several thousand other runners decided to run on the Sea Point promenade anyway, in an effort to work off the race-ready and carbo-loaded bodies.

“Another consequence was that as the thousands of frustrated runners took to the streets after the cancellation announcement (in perfect weather conditions), it was pandemonium,” Tyson wrote to Daily Maverick. “People were running five or six abreast, spilling into the road in Sea Point, Clifton and Camps Bay. And all the way to Hout Bay. 

“To make matters worse, there was a mass of runners who had turned at Bakoven and were running back.  The road was not even closed – and with the swearing cyclists and hooting cars, it was extremely dangerous – that someone was not seriously hurt (I saw a few falls and runner collisions) or killed is incredible.

“And it was not windy or hot (the city’s Disaster Risk Management officials claimed they could not have delayed the decision to cancel the race because it would have been too hot for runners if they had).

“Instead, we had thousands of runners out there without a single water point — and I didn’t see one traffic policeman amongst all that chaos.

“It would have been a much safer and a better experience for everyone to have allowed runners to run along the original closed-off route. Advise runners that the race is officially cancelled — athletes must take off their numbers and run the route untimed, no medals and at their own risk. That way, visitors may consider coming back in years to come.”

Fokofpolisiekar frontman Francois van Coke was one of those who signed up for the marathon, and after finding out it had been cancelled, ran the 42.2km anyway.

He completed his race in the suburbs, with a bigger cause spurring him on. Van Coke was running to raise funds for a new playground and jungle gym for the kids at ATKV Abbasorg Educare Centre in Cloetesville, with a handover expected to take place on 6 November. DM