Cape Town - Disgruntled Two Oceans Marathon runners have expressed their disappointment at race organisers, saying they were wrongfully prevented from completing the race, which had consequences for their Comrades Marathon qualifying times.
About 14000 athletes participated in the 56km route from Newlands, through Muizenberg, St James, Kalk Bay, Chapman’s Peak and Constantia before finishing at UCT on Saturday.
However, some runners were stopped in their tracks with several hours remaining until the cut-off time.
Two Oceans Marathon organisers last night apologised, saying it was an “unfortunate oversight” on their part.
Organisers indicated that the correct time was pushed via their digimag which reflects the latest information regarding race details. The cut-off time was also stated on the official Two Oceans Marathon website.
Nthabiseng Simelane, who travelled from Pretoria, said everything went well until they reached the 42.2km mark.
“According to my time, I was 4 hours and 56 minutes and I still had around two hours to complete the race. When we got there they locked the gate and we fought with them,” she said.
After 20 minutes, Simelane said, officials opened the gates and allowed the competitors to resume.
“Mentally I was devastated. I couldn't do it. I ran for a kilometre from there but I turned around.
“The whole thing spoiled the mood and I went into the bus. Those guys delayed us; they stopped us.
“Running is all about mentality. This was my first race, I was looking forward to it. I trained enough. For them to do that... I'm not coming back next year.”
Simelane said there was miscommunication and confusion among the marathon officials.
Participating in her second Two Oceans Marathon, Rashika Singh, from Pietermaritzburg, said the interruption had prevented her from qualifying for the Comrades Marathon.
“Imagine the mental stress, let alone the physical stress of running without marshalls at the dangerous points on the road and hoping to finish across the line, I just carried on to finish the race.”
The moment when runners begged officials to stop what they were doing and allow them to continue was also caught on camera, which has since gone viral on social media.
Pierre Kleinsmith, who finished in a time of 6 hours and 55 minutes, is one of the runners seen on camera reminding officials of the correct cutoff times.
“It’s not something you can sommer just ‘get wrong’.
“Such behaviour is very much tolerated and even encouraged in Cape Town, and an apology is owed to all those who travelled far to do this race,” he said.
Kleinsmith has participated in 18 Two Oceans Marathons and is heading for his 20th Comrades Marathon.
The Khayelitsha Running Club said some of its runners were affected by the bundle of cut-offs.
“The matter must be investigated and an apology must be issued to both participants and clubs. Also, that must be accompanied by a clear remedy plan to avoid this happening again.
“Runners spend money just to prepare for this. A lot of time and sacrifices are made for months, only for this to be ruined by incompetent organisers,” the club said.
The marathon organisers apologised for the frustration and confusion caused.
“The cut-off time of 10.46 was listed in the final communication to all runners through the official digimag, which has the latest information regarding race details. This is sent to all participants directly via SMS days before the race.”
This cut-off time was also stated on the official Two Oceans Marathon website, the organisers said. But, in one area of the website, the time had not been updated, and a time of 10.50 was stated.
“This was an unfortunate oversight, for which Two Oceans Marathon apologises. On the morning of the race, the Joint Operations Centre (JOC)* instructed the 10.46 cut-off. This cut-off time is determined by the time that the last batch starts. While the marshalls on the 42km mark rightfully implemented the cut-off, runners started demanding to be let through, citing the 10.50 cut-off time.
“Unfortunately, the technical official on-site at the time did not enforce the instruction from the JOC and allowed some of these runners to pass, whilst other runners proceeded to jump the fence and continued running. The official who allowed the runners to pass had no authority to do so and acted outside his mandate of authority.”