The Comrades Marathon Association (CMA) Board has announced its decision to cancel the Comrades Marathon scheduled for June 13 2021. Dundee’s Orange Grove Dairy was announced late last year as a major sponsor in the form of nutritional refreshments for the runners.
CMA Chairperson, Cheryl Winn said ‘the decision to cancel will come as an enormous disappointment to tens of thousands of runners; and has also been a tough call for CMA organisers to make, in what is the world-renowned Race’s Centenary year. ‘
“This decision comes in the wake of engagements with KwaZulu-Natal Athletics, Athletics South Africa, the National Coronavirus Command Council, members of the medical fraternity and governmental departments; and was both a moral and practical imperative given the ongoing uncertainty and unprecedented circumstances of the Coronavirus pandemic, the onset of a second wave and a significantly more infectious variant of Covid-19, as well as the ongoing National State of Disaster and its associated restrictions.
“The CMA Board is determined that the health, safety and welfare of Comrades runners, officials, volunteers and the general public remains paramount even after having held out hope that the nation’s most unifying road running event would have been able to be hosted in June.
The impending third wave of Covid-19 which is widely anticipated around April to June this year, has ended any such hopes and makes the hosting of any mass event in the near future highly unlikely.
“However, the good news is that the Comrades Centenary Celebrations are imminent. With the very first Comrades Marathon having been held on Tuesday, May 25, the CMA will launch its Centenary Celebrations on Monday, May 24 2021.
