Modern Athlete Magazine Issue 131, June 2020 June 2020 | Page 16

THE RUNNING MANN
day parking donations and the five charities that the
race has supported with contributions of more than
R500,000 over the last few years.
A fascinating statistic is that 91% of the entrants
chose to defer their entries to 2021, with just 7%
requesting a refund and 2% donating their entries to
charity. It looks like the short-term pain will reap longterm
gain for the Wally Hayward Marathon.
Wally Hayward Marathon
paid their committed sponsorship money in full and
did not request a race cancellation refund, instead
pledging their support to the organisers so that
participants could be offered a full refund. Jordaan
explained, “Although we have a ‘No Refund’ policy,
we felt that during this time of uncertainty we will not
enforce that. We ultimately decided to be sensitive
towards our participants, many of whom lost their
income, or a big part of it. Our title sponsor, MiWay
Insurance, has walked this path with us, and also felt
that we should offer a refund to the participants.”
Although most of the traditional media attention as
well as social media commentary (and anti-social
comments) have focussed purely on each event’s
decision whether to pay back the money or not,
Jordaan also drew attention to the far-reaching
economic impact that the cancellation of a race has
on vendors “like the sound people and the MC, crowd
barriers, race photographers, route cleaning, security,
Coke and water, ice suppliers, medics, tables and
chairs, food vendors and timing partners.” This further
extends through to local schools that lose out on race
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: The Running Mann has run over 240 marathons and ultras, including 10 Comrades
Marathons, and his current mission is to run every marathon in South Africa. He recently fulfilled a lifetime
goal of securing a shoe sponsorship from The Sweatshop Broadacres and Asics South Africa (and a
running kit sponsorship from Runderwear), thus allowing him to run more races and share their stories. You
can follow his adventures on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram, and on his popular blog.
Looking Ahead… Refund
Policies of Future Races
The three largest standard marathons in South Africa – Cape Town, Soweto and
Kaapsehoop – are all scheduled for the last quarter of the year.
• At the first sign of COVID-19 cancellations, the Sanlam Cape Town Marathon
made it clear that all entrants would receive a full refund in the event of a
race cancellation.
• The Uniwisp Kaapsehoop Marathon confirmed via e-mail that the race would
offer a full refund if cancelled, and that the situation would be assessed at
the end of August.
• Whereas the Soweto Marathon normally would have opened its entries
early in the year, due to the COVID-19 pandemic this was put on hold, and
just before going to print with this edition of the magazine, it was officially
announced that the race had been cancelled for 2020. Prior to that, no reply
had been received to enquiries on the event’s refund policy.
However, it is not fair to compare the refund policies of these events with those
in the first half of the year. A far longer lead time to evaluate and mitigate the
COVID-19 cancellation risk, as well as the ability to defer expenditure and
negotiate cancellation clauses with suppliers, reduces their financial exposure
significantly. What is clear, though, during these times of uncertainty, is that there
is an ethical responsibility for every event to explicitly state their refund policy.
Furthermore, it is highly unlikely that anyone will enter a race in the second half of
2020 without the promise of a guaranteed refund.
Runner Centric Approaches
Based on size, scale and sponsor support, it is impossible to compare the “pay
back the money” decision of races like Loskop and Wally Hayward with the “shirt
happens” stance of Comrades and Two Oceans. Having taken a look at the facts,
figures and financials of each event independently, all the refund decisions appear
correct in the context of that race.
It seems that a great deal of the commotion, controversy and conspiracy theories
that abound on social media derive from an underlying fear that the running
community is being taken for a ride. Of course, no runner wants to be taken
advantage of, and although every race professes to put the runner at the centre
of their decision-making process, this quite often does not come across in
communications.
Race relations are always tenuous in South Africa, but if there is one thing to
be learned from COVID-19 cancellations, it is that transparent, frequent and
thoughtful communications will keep the majority of your customers happy.
Cape Town Marathon Kaapsehoop Marathon Cape Town Marathon
Images: Jetline Action Photo & courtesy Cape Town Marathon, Kaapsehoop Marathon & Wally Hayward Marathon
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ISSUE 131 JUNE 2020 / www.modernathlete.co.za