The Sahrawi Government and the organizing committee of the Sahara Marathon have been forced to postpone the Sahara Marathon 2013

10 February: The Sahrawi Government and the organizing committee of the Sahara Marathon have been forced to postpone the Sahara Marathon 2013. The recent war in Mali and the tragic kidnapping that occurred in Algeria have caused huge international concern that forced us to take this sad decision.

Given the instability in the region and threats of further violence from terrorist groups against Western targets, the Sahrawi government temporarily suspended all visa processing and have repatriated displaced social workers.

In these circumstances it would be irresponsible to encourage 200 runners from over 20 countries to travel to Algerian territory. Most of these countries have made serious appeals to their citizens not to travel to the area.

Sahrawi and Algerian authorities have done a commendable job as far as security is concerned in recent months, but the organization of a long distance race in these conditions requires an enormous logistical and financial effort, which cannot be asked of people surviving in refugee camps. All measures taken by the authorities are directed towards avoiding any risk to the solidarity built up between runners and Sahrawi people themselves.

We expect to be able to make a new call for the 2014 Sahara Marathon, a race with a huge international reputation thanks to the support of the runners and the hospitality they receive from the Sahrawi families. Organizers and the Sahrawi Ministry of Youth and Sports will go on with some actions to support the humanitarian projects of the Sahara Marathon. The first is to organize the children’s races and other local activities for the Sahrawi refugees.

In some European cities we will stage charitable races under the umbrella of the Sahara Marathon to raise funds to send a truck with all the sports equipment and solidarity that we have received. The disappointment felt by the team and the runners who prepared this trip will not weaken our commitment to help these people and to demand the justice denied to Western Sahara for the last 38 years .

To those who registered we apologize for the inconvenience and disappointment, but we hope you can understand the situation created by these international events. Those who had already paid the registration fee will have it refunded. For the solidarity project and the organization, the cancellation is a moral setback, but also economic.

If anyone would like to purchase official T-shirts or wants to support the project, we greatly appreciate it. www.saharamarathon.org

Source: AIMSworldrunning.org