Cape Town Marathon: how the drama unfolded

As runners still rue the lost opportunity to earn their 2025 Sanlam Cape Town Marathon medal, the organisers have shared an hour-by-hour breakdown of how the cancellation unfolded.

Drawing on notes made by Sanlam Cape Town Marathon Safety Officer, Phil Prinsloo, during meetings in the Joint Operations Committee (JOC), it gives a clear idea of how things went wrong as the wind cranked up, and how the final decision was made.

• 00h15: First reports of high winds at the Race Village (including two start lines and the finish line) in Green Point, as well as at various points on the route.
• 02h00: More reports of high winds at Race Village and along the route.
• 02h15: Safety Walk inspection of Race Village observes damage at Start in Fritz Sonnenberg Road, with some infrastructure blown over. Damage also observed at Finish, with fencing blown over, and in Hospitality Area, where most gazebos and some furniture blown away. Wind meter readings taken of gusts up to 48km/h.
• 02h20: Race organising team begins removing branding on fencing, repairing infrastructure (where possible) and clearing up race venue, in spite of ongoing strong winds.
• 02h30: More damage in race venue observed: Stretch tent torn and blown away, Medical Tent brace dislodged. More gusts of 48km/h measured.
• 02h30: Race Village officially shut down by safety officials and enforced by security staff. Event staff and volunteers as well as vendors not able to access, pass through or set up in any part of the Race Village, or gain access to equipment or supplies stored in Race Village and scheduled to be dispatched out onto route.
• 03h00: Route Safety Team deployed to various sectors of route, report the following through regular feedback to the JOC:
  • Sea Point: Fencing and infrastructure at Start in Beach Road blown over or shifted into the road. Period of high wind conditions from 03h00 to 06h30.
  • Woodstock: Very high winds experienced, and by 04h30, all signage blown over, and traffic cones blown out of position
  • Observatory & Rondebosch: Very high winds experienced, with gusts of more than 60km/h observed between 03h30 and 04h30, affecting fencing in this area.

• 04h15: Report from Start of further infrastructure movement and unsafe situation.
• 04h40: Report from Race Village and Observatory that the wind situation has not changed since 02h00, with continuing gusts up to 46km/h. At this stage, nobody is able to predict if or when the wind will subside.
• 04h40: Structural engineer reports that he cannot do final certification that the following structures are safe: Start towers on Fritz Sonnenberg, scaffold bridge on Vlei Road, hospitality marquee and shade stretch tents in Race Village, medical tents on route, pedestrian bridge on Vlei Road, main medical marquee at finish.
• 04h45: Decision taken by Safety Committee to cancel the event, and JOC authorised the decision.
• 05h00: Communication of cancellation goes out to all runners via direct WhatsApp messaging and on social media, urging them not to travel to the start venues. The cancellation announcement is also shared with local radio stations.
• 05h10: Further reports of gusts up to 46km/h measured at Race Village and Observatory.
• 05h15:  Messaging displayed on all VMS boards leading to the city notifying inbound motorists of cancellation.
• 06h30: First press release from the race office about the cancellation sent to all media platforms and partners.

“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 achieving Majors status,” says Sanlam Cape Town Marathon CEO Clark Gardner. “Our team had worked for months on this event, planning for all scenarios, but a bigger force had the final say.”

And then the wind died down

In a cruel twist of fate, by the time the sun rose and the official start time of 6h15 rolled around, the wind in Green Point had dropped off considerably, prompting many runners to post on social media questioning the decision. But, as any Capetonian will know, not all parts of the city are created equal when it comes to wind.

“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,” says Gardner. “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.”

And while the JOC says it look at all other options, including a delayed start and amended route, the damage was already done. Fences were down, structures compromised and start areas rendered unsafe. In the end, the organisers made the tough call, but the right one. Because if they had pushed ahead an a runner had been injured, those crying “Why did you cancel?” on social media, would surely now be saying “Why didn’t you cancel?”.

What next for 2026?

Now, all eyes are on next year’s race, which will move to May 2026… a decision already announced months before this year’s cancellation.

“This was our third year in a row of experiencing various degrees of wind on the weekend of our event, and we are now ready to host our event in May, with the hope of less wind,” says Gardner.

The Marathon’s title sponsor Sanlam has also announced that it will be offering all 2025 athletes a sponsored entry for either May 2026 or 2027.

And what of the Cape Town Marathon’s bid to becoming the first African event to qualify as an Abbott World Marathon Majors (AWMM) race?  The marathon was close to passing the second phase of the candidacy process, and all eyes were on the 2026 event being one of the world’s Majors. As yet, no news.

“We met with the Major assessors a few hours after the cancellation decision and they complimented our team on the way we handled a really tough situation,” says Gardner. “I am still hopeful that it’s just a matter of time before we get to announce that we are a Major. In the meantime, we will pick ourselves up from this disappointment, and do our best to ensure that we put on the best race possible next May.”

While the debate about the decision rages on, there’s only one thing disappointed runners can really do. Lace up, stretch those calves and hit the road.

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