‘Sanlam Cape Town marathon made difficult call that was about safety’ – meteorologist

Organisers of the Sanlam Cape Town Marathon made the difficult decision to cancel the highly anticipated event, citing weather-related safety concerns, particularly strong winds, that posed a risk to runners.

The cancellation dealt a blow to the marathon's ambitions of joining the prestigious Abbott World Marathon Majors, a global series that includes elite races in cities like New York, London, and Tokyo.

Despite the setback, Sanlam announced on Sunday that all 2025 entrants would receive a sponsored entry for either the 2026 or 2027 event. Organisers affirmed their commitment to the marathon's future, stating it still deserves a place among the world’s premier distance races.

Meteorologist Annette Botha from Vox Weather commented on the decision, highlighting strong winds as the primary factor behind the cancellation and emphasising the importance of prioritising safety under such extreme weather conditions.

"I looked at the South African weather stations around the Peninsula where Table Bay peaked just before 12 at about 80km/h; that's gusts. There's a difference between a sustained wind speed and gusts. Wind gusts are when you get these 'rukwinde' and they just come, and obviously, it's not a sustained wind speed and can happen in just a few seconds.

"So, that's basically near-gale-force winds; it's quite strong winds, in our terms, it's damaging winds for sure. In the City Bowl, the gusts peaked at only about 60 km/h and at Cape Point, also around 60 km/h. With the sustained wind speeds, they were fresh throughout the night. So, it's basically overnight that we had these bursts of strong winds that caused the damage.

"It's so sad that we can see on the [weather] model that just after 5 am, it started dying down and we were left with only fresh winds and a little bit of gusts here and there.

"But, of course, the damage beforehand, you can't just deploy thousands of runners while the crews are still repairing... some of the [weather] models were not in agreement whether the gusts will stay or go.

"The one model that I trust was showing the dying down of wind gusts, but then picking up a bit later again, and that's what we saw with Slangkop near Cape Point. It picked up later in the morning, where it started gusting again, more than 50 km/h. So, they had to make a difficult call that's all about safety."

To listen to Botha speak to Lester Kiewit on CapeTalk's Breakfast Show, use the audio below: