On Sunday, organizers of the Cape Town, South Africa, marathon decided that high winds meant they needed to cancel the race — just 90 minutes before it was to start. Runners weren’t happy. But from a crisis communications point of view, the organizers went the last mile.

Starting just after midnight local time on Oct. 19, high winds destroyed signage and damaged tents near the race village and caused other harm along the route, according to the organizers. The race, with 24,000 entrants, was to begin at 6:15 a.m.

“On routes, all fencing and road furniture had been blown over, so we could not guarantee the safety of our runners, our volunteers and our staff,” South Africa’s Eyewitness News quoted Clark Gardner, CEO of what is officially the Sanlam Cape Town Marathon (Sanlam being a South African financial-services company).

WhatsApp Messages

The organizers made their decision to cancel at 4:45 a.m. and communicated it at 5 a.m. through a variety of means, including “direct WhatsApp messages to all participants and a dedicated running club captains’ group, as well as statements on social-media platforms and statements sent to local radio stations, event media partners and key stakeholders,” according to their first press release on the matter.

That release had quotes from Gardner, Cape Town’s mayor and a colonel of the South African Police Services expressing disappointment at having to cancel.

“We have worked for months on planning for all scenarios and conditions, but ultimately a bigger force had the final say, and we are so sorry for the situation,” Gardner said.

“All the runners must be disappointed, as are we all,” Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis said. “But I’m grateful to the event organisers for taking a decision with runners’ safety in mind after heavy winds blew down some race infrastructure this morning.”

A second release on Sunday announced that, while entrants won’t be refunded, Sanlam said they would be offered a sponsored entry for 2026 or 2027. The organizers followed up with Facebook video clips of entrants expressing their disappointment at the cancellation but noting that safety comes first.

Marathon Majors

The situation was made more stressful because Cape Town is vying to be added to the elite Abbott World Marathan Majors, which currently includes races in seven cities, such as London, Tokyo and New York. That organization put out a release stating, “AbbottWMM leadership will be working with the Cape Town team soon to obtain more information and discuss the next course of action.”

Perhaps it helped to show the city could handle the trauma of a cancellation. And we believe it generally did a good job. Some may argue it could have made the decision earlier, but weather is hard to predict.

The communications were sincere, with an emphasis on safety. It does seem the organizers had planned for the event of a cancellation. And they strove for transparency. Evidence of that transparency: On Oct. 20, they issued a new press release with a timeline of their decision-making process, starting with “00h15 – First reports of high winds at the Race Village.”

Photo Credit: Cape Town Marathon via Facebook

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