The Bath Half Marathon has been rescheduled again to October 2022, due to organisers struggling to accommodate challenges brought on by the pandemic.
The event had previously been rescheduled from March to 29th May, to help reduce the impact on the local highways network due to the restrictions in place on Cleveland Bridge.
Organisers of the annual event, Running High Events Ltd, said their sector had been particularly disrupted by the coronavirus pandemic and it had to overcome many challenges over the last 2 years.
In a statement, the company said: “Despite our best endeavours this disruption, including recent staff absence due to Covid, loss of some key contractors and suppliers, and issues arising from the Cleveland Bridge closure, have had a cumulative impact on our small team, which we are struggling to accommodate at this late stage in our event planning.
“We have reluctantly decided it would be sensible and responsible to postpone the event until the Autumn.”
The statement continued: “To the runners, we would like to apologise for the inconvenience caused because of the postponement.
“We know many of you personally and know how hard everyone trains every year for the event and are genuinely sorry for the disappointment caused.
“We will be emailing all entrants next week with details of your entry deferment and refund options.”
Bath & North East Somerset Council also released a statement, saying it was “very surprised and disappointed to see that the organisers of this event have postponed again”.
The local authority said it had “already worked extremely hard to accommodate a change of route, a change of date, a change of start point, all at the organiser’s request, to enable this event to go forward.”
Their statement continued: “For the sake of complete clarity, there is no reason at all from the council’s perspective why this event should not go ahead. Indeed, although it is a big ask, if any other professional organisation wished to run an event on 29th May, we would work with them to see if it is possible.
“Again, to be clear, the date of October 16th the organisers refer to as an alternate has not been agreed with the council.
“We are also surprised the organiser is advertising a date next year and is accepting people’s entries without having agreed the 2023 date as possible with the council.
“We know the organiser’s decision will be frustrating to all the people training for the half marathon, and all the charities and good causes relying on the sponsorship.”
Running High Events said it has informed its charity partners of the decision to postpone, and “are acutely aware of the role the Bath Half Marathon plays for them in raising invaluable funds”.