Durban - Runners who entered the Hilton to Capture Site Half Marathon, which had been scheduled to take place last Sunday in Pietermaritzburg, will receive a refund this week after the annual race was postponed.
This was said by KwaZulu-Natal Athletics (KZN) in a statement on its Facebook page.
The half marathon has been the centre of a dispute over the past few weeks as KZNA had initially called it the Mandela Day Marathon.
However, the Mandela Day Marathon, which started in 2012, had only been hosted by the uMgungundlovu District Municipality with the blessing of the Nelson Mandela Foundation.
The municipality therefore said KZNA could not hold a marathon they did not have the rights to hold.
KZNA disagreed and said it had the mandate to hold athletics events in the province.
The matter went to the Pietermaritzburg High Court, which ruled in favour of the municipality. KZNA then changed the name of the event to the Hilton to Capture Site Half Marathon.
A statement issued by KZNA announced the postponement of the event, which was scheduled to take place on August 7, 2022, until further notice.
KZNA president Steve Mkasi said the decision to postpone the event was made after receiving advice from the Road Traffic Inspectorate (RTI) over the use of the R103.
Mkasi said due to the large number of accidents taking place on the N3, the RTI advised that the R103 was the only breather line, making it unavailable for road closures at the weekend.
“In line with runner safety, we have therefore decided to not risk having our athletes running on a road that is not officially closed. KZNA has therefore taken the decision to postpone the race until the situation improves,” he said.
KZNA appealed to the runners who entered the half marathon to bear with the organisers.
“All athletes will be refunded accordingly throughout the course of this upcoming week,” it said,
REFUNDS:
- Runners may opt for a refund by logging onto your Webtickets profile at www.webtickets.co.za. Go to your My Tickets Tab and next to your entry select “CHOOSE ACTION” and “REFUND TICKETS”.
- If you paid via credit card, your funds will automatically be returned to the card that you purchased with.
- If you paid via Pick n Pay, you will receive a new reference number to take instore to receive your cash refund at any Pick n Pay store nationwide.
Refunds will be processed within 7-10 working days.