The organizers of the Run Your City Series have confirmed that the Joburg 10K CITYRUN will take the form of a virtual race on Friday 24 September.
But, the Durban 10K CITYRUN and Cape Town 12K CITYRUN are still scheduled to take place as actual events on Sunday 31 October and Sunday 21 November, respectively.
“Staging a world-class event requires months of planning and preparation,” says Michael Meyer, Managing Director of Stillwater Sports and founder of the Run Your City Series. “The current state of the pandemic and uncertainties surrounded by new waves of virus mutations negatively impacts the planning process and ultimately jeopardizes the quality of the event. Taking the size of the Joburg 10K CITYRUN into consideration, one of the main requirements would be to stagger the start of the race. Although it sounds simple enough, it would have had a knock-on effect. Not only would runners be standing around for hours waiting for their start, but an event that usually lasts a maximum of three hours (from start to finish) would easily drag on for six hours, if not longer. Keep in mind that the city would have to shut down for this duration. Closing the city for so long would be unfair both towards runners and residents.”
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“Instead of cancelling the Joburg 10K CITYRUN, which is the first event on the existing Run Your City Series calendar for 2021, we are excited to offer runners a fun alternative by going virtual and letting the Heritage Day celebration continue,” says Meyer. “As it is a virtual race, participants from all over South Africa will be able to unite (virtually) in a spirit of camaraderie, pride and celebration. The entry fee will include an official performance event t-shirt, a participation medal, a race number, and access to the event app, to mention just a few offerings.”
