Peterborough marathon organisers postpone event to next year

Event organisers Sublime Racing, have announced the further postponement of the race which was originally due to take place on Sunday April 5 this year and was postponed until September 13 because of the coronavirus lockdown.

But in a statement which was published to Sublime Racing’s website and social media accounts, Race Director Martin Jennings has explained the decision to defer the event until April 11, 2021.

Martin Jennings said, “As Race Director of the Enervit Peterborough Marathon, I would like to personally apologise to Enervit, all of our runners and to the very special Sublime team, from the Directors to the Race Makers who are all volunteers, for the difficult challenges we have faced this year and to thank you again for your incredible support and understanding.”

All remaining participants will automatically be transferred to the new date and sent a notification once this has been processed.

Anyone unable to attend on the new date, can email [email protected].

The full statement issued by Martin Jennings and Sublime Racing:

Firstly, on behalf of myself and everyone at Sublime Racing, from our Course Director to our hundreds of wonderful Race Makers, I would like to say thank you. I hugely appreciate the ongoing support, understanding and patience you have given us, allowing us the time and space to fully evaluate all options for delivering the Enervit Peterborough Marathon for you this September.

I hope that you and your family are safe and well and have not been impacted by the covid-19 crisis. If you have been touched by this awful crisis, our thoughts are with you.

I have detailed below an update on the Enervit Peterborough Marathon and the influences that have brought us to this decision.

The three main criteria upon which we have been monitoring the viability of the event from a Covid-19 point of view are as follows:

1. The Government would need to have removed all the restrictions on events with less than one thousand participants

2. The perception of the public and local residents would need to be such that it would be deemed ethical to run the event

3. We would need to be confident that it is safe to run the event for our staff, volunteers, runners and local residents

With a positive approach over the recent months we have progressed with our planning and contingencies with our stakeholders, including our sport’s governing body, Peterborough City Council and our event Venue, on the basis that should the ban on events be lifted we will be prepared and ready to stage the event.

With no clear understanding of when the Government will be able to lift this ban, it is impossible for our stakeholders to officially commit to the event and as such we are all progressing on a “What if” basis.

Of course, we continually assess the implications this uncertainty has on our runners preparing for the event. We feel that two-months is the minimum period for which we should offer absolute assurance that the event will go ahead, and we are simply not able to do that.

We are also extremely sensitive to the feelings and considerations of the residents who we affectionately refer to as our Race Neighbours. The restrictions around Covid-19 are starting to relax, however we are very aware that some of our Race Neighbours have been affected in the most devastating way by this crisis and we have to consider if September may be a little too soon for them even if the ban is lifted.

We are also very conscious of ensuring the safety of our Team, Race Makers, and of course our runners, and whilst we have many plans to significantly reduce the risk of transmission, there is no doubt that delaying the race further will reduce that challenge.

We are also incredibly passionate about the standard of event that we host. If you have taken part in a Sublime event before you will know the level of detail that goes into every aspect of the day.

We are concerned that this will be heavily compromised by many of the mitigations that would need to be implemented, such as the lack of baggage, catering and beautiful venue setting.

With all the above in mind, we have made the very difficult but hopefully understandable decision to defer the event until 11th April 2021.

As Race Director of the Enervit Peterborough Marathon, I would like to personally apologise to Enervit, all of our runners and to the very special Sublime team, from the Directors to the Race Makers who are all volunteers, for the difficult challenges we have faced this year and to thank you again for your incredible support and understanding.

We will automatically transfer all remaining participants to the new date and send you notification once this has been processed. Please allow some time for this to take place. If you are not able to attend the new date of 11th April 2021, please email [email protected] and we will do our best to find an alternative event for you or to provide you with a Sublime Racing voucher to the same value.

We will be issuing an official statement about the Sublime TWENTY4 Festival within the next few days, both directly to all participants and via our social media platforms.

If you have any queries or questions about the Enervit Peterborough Marathon, would you kindly email [email protected] and we will deal with all queries as quickly as possible.

Once again, thank you so much for your kind patience and understanding during this very difficult time.