Mumbai: Runners take to Facebook after marathon scrapped citing monsoon

Then why have an event in Mumbai in July, say angry runners demanding that their entry fee be refunded

The Color Marathon, which was scheduled for July 3 on the Bandra-Worli Sea Link and for which more than 6,700 people had registered on Facebook, has been cancelled. The organisers had started selling participation passes two months ago but, in a surprise move, called off the event on Thursday, citing "technical and weather reasons."

This announcement came barely a day after they announced they would be postponing the event to August 21. Most participants had already bought their passes. They demanded a refund and let loose a series of posts against the management — which finally prompted it to call off the marathon.

"The weather forecast predicts heavy rainfall on July 3," said Rahul Sharma, manager of the Color Marathon. "Because of that, we won't be able to build our set up on the given day. We had initially shifted it to August 21 but Mumbai's public started posting bad comments on Facebook, which prompted the management to cancel the event and issue a refund." All refunds will be received within 20 working days, according to the organisers' Facebook post.

Disappointed participants have slammed the management, calling them "unprofessional". "I never even got a notification from the organiser about the event getting postponed or cancelled, or about a refund," said Saurabh Agarwal (25), a Navi Mumbai resident who paid R600 for his marathon pass. What bothers Saurabh even more is the tactlessness shown by organisers after cancellation of the event. "They were very rude in their responses on Facebook and over the phone."

Saurabh also alleged that although official registration had shut on June 25, organisers had reopened registration on June 28. "How could they not know three days before the event that it would have to be cancelled? It didn't make sense to postpone it to August either, because then, too, it would be raining!"

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