A stream of complaints is flowing in to organisers of the Comrades Marathon about the holding of the race on a Sunday - June 17 - for the first time this year.
About 100 churches on the race route will be affected by road closures. Several will have to cancel their church services or reschedule them, Comrades Marathon Association Manager Gary Boshoff has confirmed.
Thousands of churchgoers, some who feel their day has been "hijacked" by politicians, will be unable to get to and from churches to attend services.
Numerous Christian runners have also expressed unhappiness that the marathon will take place on a Sunday, and some have declined to participate.
No "big names" had so far pulled out because of this issue, Boshoff said.
Some Christian runners had said they were comfortable with running the Comrades and saw it as a " celebration of their Christianity", he said.
This was confirmed by the Comrades Marathon website, on which wide-ranging views are published.
The Comrades Marathon Association, together with Athletics South Africa and Athletics KZN, last year announced that the race would no longer be held on its traditional date, June 16, after complaints from youth groups which claimed the marathon detracted from Youth Day commemorations.
A statement said a wide range of stakeholders had considered the impact of the race on local communities, traffic and commercial enterprises, on the road-running fixtures list and other sporting and cultural events, when deciding the new date. It was thought the new dates decided on would cause minimal disruption to all concerned.
Boshoff said that extensive discussions with stakeholders, including businesses, had culminated in the decision to hold the marathon on Sundays in future. The date announced for 2008 was Sunday June 15, and for 2009 Sunday June 14.
"We can't please everyone," he said, adding that the Comrades Marathon Association had apologised to the public, runners and churches that felt aggrieved, and said the organisers had gone to churches to apologise and advise them on how best to cope with disruption to their services.
A further meeting is due on May 10.
Boshoff said marathons were held on Sundays in other parts of the country, but the Comrades was unique in that it took the whole day.
Bishop Rubin Phillip, Anglican Bishop of KwaZulu-Natal, said his church had not been consulted before the change of date. "In my view, it has not been a prudent decision, knowing that this is a day when Christians get together in worship. It cuts right across that. We hope that the organisers will return to the original date (June 16) in the future."
Phillip said he believed the Comrades had been "hijacked" by the politicians. "Perhaps what is needed is for the churches to come together to strategise over this and mobilise to have the date changed. I believe that that should happen," he said.
The General Secretary of the SA Council of Churches, Eddie Makue, emphasised that the SACC was "not angry" with the organisers, but was perturbed at not being consulted.
"Even if the SACC was not consulted, I feel that at least the churches affected ought to have been consulted."
He also indicated that the SACC would not support the holding of the Comrades on Sundays in future.
Makue said that the SACC was in favour of participation in events such as the Comrades, as recreation was a vital part of healthy living, but was perturbed in a general sense by sports events happening on Sundays.
Opinion was divided among church officials contacted by The Mercury, some of whom did not wish to be quoted as representatives of their organisations. Some felt strongly about the disruption of church services on Comrades day, while others were more tolerant.