The spread of the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic has resulted in mass cancellation of running events across not only Singapore, but the whole world. In fact, big names in the marathon running circuit such as Tokyo Marathon, London Marathon and Boston Marathon have either been cancelled or postponed. 

Sundown Marathon is the biggest local race to be cancelled

Singapore has not been spared by Covid-19, with several races here having fallen victim to the virus, and the biggest local name so far being the cancellation of the Sundown Marathon which was originally scheduled to take place on May 23.

No doubt runners are feeling hard-done by the forced resetting of their training plans, and the cancellation of a race which they have trained and prepared so hard for, over the past few months.

Livelihood and revenue of organisers are affected

But in the midst of all this, do also spare a thought for the race organisers, who would be making a loss and having their livelihood affected by being forced to cancel their running events.

Jeffrey Foo

I caught up with Jeffrey Foo, Managing Director of Infinitus Productions, who is the organiser of several large races in Singapore including the Sundown Marathon, on how the Covid-19 and race cancellations are affecting the organisers themselves.

Said Jeffrey, “Revenue is lost for our business and the livelihood of our staff are affected by the cancellation. While both cancellation and postponement of races are just as hard decisions, cancellation impacts the company revenue that feeds the team and postponing is hoping that the event is still going to take place this year.”

He continued, “We chose to cancel the Sundown Marathon because nobody has the answer to how long this pandemic is going to last. There’s one thing event organisers hate, is uncertainty and things or situations that’s beyond their control.”

Not a decision that was taken lightly

Jeffrey reiterated that the decision was not one that was taken lightly, as both Infinitus and F4U, the IP owner of Sundown, has been monitoring the situation since the early discovery of Covid-19 that has impacted China to a huge degree.

Runners’ safety is Infinitus Productions’ highest priority

He added, “Runners’ safety has always been our highest priority and it is the last thing we will ever compromise.”

Jeffrey also pointed out that while there are running races had gone ahead in other countries during the coronavirus period, such as the Los Angeles Marathon in the USA a couple of weekends ago, and the Bath Half Marathon in UK last week, these countries were not taking the coronavirus seriously.

He said, “Both countries were not taking this Covid-19 as serious as Singapore did, and that’s because these two countries did not go through what Singapore went through during the Sars outbreak in 2003. But now, that is why the US and UK are panicking given that their infections are spiralling.”

How best to handle a race cancellation 

When cancelling a mass participation race, the organiser has to tread a fine line, depending on how they handle the logistics involved, in order to retain their loyal runners and not to anger their customers.

The popular Tokyo Marathon, for instance, initially did not handle their cancellation well, when they had announced that runners would not receive any refunds for the cancelled race and that runners who wished to defer their slots to the 2021 edition would have to pay their entry fee again. Runners had originally been up in arms over the announcement.

But runners taking part in the Sundown Marathon, or any of Infinitus Productions’ other mass participation events, do not need to worry about any of this, as everything is well handled.

Explained Jeffrey, “We offer both refund and roll-over options to our runners, and it’s always about having the runners’ interests, safety and loyalty at heart, as we want everyone to join us in the next event with complete confidence that Infinitus takes care of its runners.”