At 5:05 a.m. on Sunday, I was woken up by the sound of my friend’s voice on an exasperated phone call.
“There is no way it is cancelled.”
“This cannot be real.”
“Maybe they were hacked?”
Ten minutes later, we looked out from the balcony of her apartment near the race route to find a sea of disappointed marathon runners walking back to their cars, some tearing off race numbers in anger, others laughing at the absurdity of it all. Still in disbelief, we called down to one of the runners who had just returned from the starting line. “It’s been cancelled,” she said. “They told us to go home. Didn’t even tell us why.”
In that moment, amid the chaos and confusion, what stood out wasn’t the cancellation itself, but the vacuum that followed it. Word spread quickly that bad weather was to blame, but in the gap between the announcement and any official explanation, conclusions about the organisers’ professionalism and judgment filled the void, creating a reputational storm far greater than the one outside.
No one would disagree that safety must always come first, but what’s as important is a measured, thought-out “end-of-day” strategy, in case the worst comes to life. In that case, there are a couple of lessons we can learn from the Cape Town Marathon fiasco:
- Do not panic.
Panic inspires panic. It is as contagious as any virus, and the last thing marathon runners needed on that fateful Sunday morning was to feel as though the very people they were looking to for answers not only didn’t have them, but were just as lost as the crowd they were meant to guide. The same applies to any person or organisation in a crisis: “fake it ‘til you make it” isn’t just a motivational cliché, it’s a principle of effective leadership. Calm, confident communication steadies uncertainty- and in the case of the Cape Town Marathon, confidence collapsed because the organisers projected little in the manner of their decision.
- Say it all, and say it early.
Clarity is the antidote to speculation. When information trickles out slowly- in the case of the Cape Town Marathon, so slowly that thousands of people were already on their way to the start line, or already there- people fill the gaps with suspicion and frustration. Give the full explanation up front: what happened, why, and what comes next. Transparency from the outset manages emotion; had there been immediate transparency, runners across Cape Town wouldn’t have had the time to speculate, or to cast aspersions on the organisers. The Cape Town Marathon showed how uncertainty can turn a reasonable safety call into a perceived failure of leadership simply because it wasn’t explained in time.
- Put people first.
What it all boils down to is this: 24,000 people were ready to run a Marathon that was cancelled 90 minutes before it was set to start- and their disappointment was met, for far too long, with silence. In any crisis, empathy is strategy. Whether you’re managing a marathon, a company, or a government, people remember how you made them feel far more than why a decision was made. Communicating early is important, but communicating with care directly is what restores trust and what brings people back to try again. The Cape Town Marathon failed to communicate care, acknowledge frustration, or offer options quickly enough. Preparation must extend beyond logistics to the human element; to reassure people that they are seen, heard, and prioritised.
In the end, the story of the 2025 Cape Town Marathon is not one of unpredictable weather, but of communication. The storm outside was brief; the reputational one will last far longer. Nobody expects perfection, but they do expect and deserve honesty, steadiness, and empathy. The lesson for anyone leading through uncertainty is simple: say what you know, admit what you don’t, and lead everyone through the dark over the line.
– Erin Dodo
Account Executive