Cape Town marathon cancelled on the morning of the event (because it was windy the night before)

The prize money for one. Does anybody know what the prize money structure was for this marathon? I'm sure they paid appearance fees (after all, the athletes were in attendance) but the prize money would not be paid.

Marathons are for-profit ventures when they run as expected. When they are canceled, they are more profitable.

Highly unlikely that they paid appearance fees. The appearance fees will be paid next year to those who return and actually run.

Gobsmacked. They have published a timeline but no responsibility for the structures despite the fencing along route and batch starts blowing over.

This in the summary:

So, in otherwords, despite not only knowing that Cape Town experiences this wind and possibility of strong gusts, despite previous years of wind, the barricades are not weighted down to prevent blowing over.

They continue to blame an Act of God, claiming that the start/finish infrastructure (not the barricades apparently) were signed off to 60km/h winds, and that twice they measured (with what?) exactly 48km/h after this happenned. Gusts are not the prevailing wind speed. The gusts were up to 100km/h especially in the slightly elevated freeway section (5km-7km), 8km to 11km flat and again 26km to 29km...those areas in particular are exposed and funnelling. Real time friend report from the latter area said "the wind was howling gale force" at 11am onwards.

The "Act of God" disclaimer and the BS in their press release absolve them from criticism - note 'they' (Cape Town Marathon) did not cancel, it was the JOC (Joint Ops Team) and Safety Committee...ah, the old safety committee gets the blame again because they can't get criticised- and more importantly it absolves them from refunds. What money you say? The race is fully sponsored, most of the infrastructure etc, salaries, aid etc...so yes, there is a pile somewhere. It is not a fun run operating off the smell of an oily rag.

Would be interested in blogger 'Running Mann's take

mmmh, yes, despite the JOC, Safety Committee, Race Organisation, Cape Town City Council all led by white guys.

I am so looking forward to living in Cape Town again the entire 2026, cycling, running, catching the vibe, walking and running with my brother's dog even after sunset...away from the places in the world where neighbours don't even talk, where you need appointments to visit friends etc, despite no high fences and gates...Go figure.

How are they more profitable? Their expenses don’t go down at all, they’ve already paid for everything.

They wouldn't be doing it to make profit, but there would be a lot of costs on day and post run and many service providers that would be only charging at most a cancellation amount. No road clean up, etc etc

I'm sorry, you are right. I'm afraid the only thing worse than my post are some of my attempts at humour through sarcasm while concurrently trying to make a philosophical point. Indeed, what happened in terms of organisation, risk management and taking accountability is unacceptable.. I do, however, still believe sometimes there's a fine line between good and bad "tough" guys, which can get overlooked when pointing out negative aspects associated I certain cultural trends. I also think the problem is deeper than simply a culture of overly sensitive or weakminded individuals. It's easier to point to what one sees in people instead of asking what happened that some balance was needed between being soft (as opposed to weak, which is pejorative) vs being hard (vs tough, which sounds misleadingly more virtuous by default). The emphasis of being safe rather than sorry was long overdue (given the blunders of history) but indeed now sometimes brings out the toxic elements of the change involved. Mods can delete if my attempt at profound nonsense and dark humour is that bad (given the seriousness of the situation, I would be pissed too). P.S, Unless there is a prize for the worst post at the annual award thingy (I want to decline but I've never contributed the best or worst of anything so I have mixed feelings about your nomination). P.P.S. But seriously, my apologies for bad timing, content and ability. I think I'll resist the urge to try this again soon, and thanks for pointing it out.

Fairly stupid and irrelevant post here. Have you read anything at all about the cancellation? Or do you just go off of Letsrun posts and TikTok-level headline knowledge of a situation?

All of the race communications and medica reports clearly state that the issue was trashed infrastructure at the start and finish the day/night before, not the wind during the race.

You can make a different argument that they could have found a way to put on the race anyway (and I would agree), but at least know what tf you're talking about.