The cancellation of the 2025 Sanlam Cape Town Marathon on Sunday, October 19, due to severe winds has been met with widespread disappointment, but the race organizer’s subsequent confirmation of a strict “No Refund Policy” has ignited a firestorm of criticism from the 24,000 affected runners.
Despite the marathon being cancelled for safety reasons entirely outside the participants’ control, infrastructure was compromised by severe gusts, and the route was deemed unsafe, the organizing body, the Sanlam Cape Town Marathon, announced that no entry fees will be refunded, and entries will not be carried over to 2026.
The decision, communicated shortly after the 4:45 am cancellation, cited the terms and conditions listed on the original entry form and website. “Unfortunately, 2025 entries will not be carried over to 2026,” the organizers stated in a reply on social media, emphasizing that their “no refunds policy stands” following the event’s cancellation.
For thousands of runners who invested months of training, travel, and preparation, the enforcement of this policy is seen as deeply unfair and even egregious. The fee, which covers the event’s substantial fixed costs (including permits, infrastructure, administration, and planning), is now lost to participants, even though they received none of the services—the race, the support, or the medal—they paid for.
While the race organizers and the Joint Operations Committee (JOC) are widely credited for making the responsible choice to prioritize safety, citing damaged marquee tents and dangerous wind gusts, their financial stance has overshadowed this goodwill.
Clark Gardner, CEO of the Sanlam Cape Town Marathon, expressed his devastation at the cancellation, saying, “We have worked for months on planning for all scenarios and conditions and we are so sorry for the situation.”
However, the organization’s swift pivot to enforcing a blanket no-refund/no-carryover policy despite the force majeure nature of the cancellation has led to accusations that they are unfairly benefiting from a necessary safety measure at the runners’ expense. The cancellation, made at the last minute as runners were arriving at the venue, leaves participants not only disappointed but financially penalized for an uncontrollable event.
Runners are now left with no recourse—no race, no entry for next year, and no money back, despite the clear consensus that the cancellation was mandatory.