45th TCS Amsterdam Marathon cancelled

The 45th edition of the TCS Amsterdam Marathon that was planned for Sunday the 18th of October 2020 is cancelled. Despite the strongly adjusted program the Municipality of Amsterdam and organiser Le Champion have decided to cancel the running event, concerning the increasing number of corona contaminations in the capital. Also the international character of the TCS Amsterdam Marathon is a disadvantage now. Participants come from all over the world: in the Olympic Stadium normally over 140 different nationalities are at the start. The registrations of the people who are registered until now will be valid for the 46th edition on Sunday the 17th of October 2021.

The past months sports organisation Le Champion did everything they could together with partners to make it possible for both top- and recreational athletes. The organisation had confidence in the completely adjusted program with less participants. However the developments of the corona virus in the last weeks made id irresponsible to handout an event permit for the TCS Amsterdam Marathon 2020.

Ron van der Jagt, director of Le Champion, is both disappointed as understanding: ‘’It is really a pity that we have to cancel the TCS Amsterdam Marathon because of the corona crisis. It is our mission to get as many people moving as we can, in order to contribute to a healthy society. The health of people therefore is our principle. Therefore we wanted nothing more than to organise the TCS Amsterdam Marathon in a safe and responsible way, with an adjusted program. Until a month ago we were optimistic. However the development of the corona crisis of the past weeks, both in the Netherlands as international, makes it impossible to continue’’.

Platinum Label
Since last year the TCS Amsterdam Marathon, as only Dutch marathon, is rewarded with the Platinum Label by the international athletics federation World Athletics. With that the TCS Amsterdam Marathon is acknowledged as one of the best of the world and also suffice the highest quality standards. That is something the organisation of the fastest marathon of the Netherlands really wanted to realize.

During spring marathon after marathon was cancelled. For Le Champion this was the moment to gather strengths both internally as externally to come up with a fitting solution for the TCS Amsterdam Marathon, who had 47.000 participants at the start last year. We have done everything we can, together with partners, to come up with a feasible adjusted program. Of the twelve scenario’s one alternative remained at which the quality of the TCS Amsterdam Marathon remained guaranteed and the social distancing could still be maintained. In this plan there was place for 12.5000 runners, including the international elite race, the Dutch championships and the performance runners. ‘’We believed that in this way it was safe and therefore possible, however reality catched up with us the past few weeks’’, stated by René Wit, Race
Director of the TCS Amsterdam Marathon.

Olympic Games and Dutch Championship
No unforgettable start and finish at the Olympic Stadion, no exceptional passage through the Rijksmuseum and Vondelpark. A big disappointment for runners from both in and outside the Netherlands. For top athletes also two other great achievement opportunities fall into water: for the fifth year in a row the Dutch championship for the marathon would be in Amsterdam, with favourite Abdi Nageeye as Dutch record holder at the start. Also there was still an opportunity in Amsterdam to qualify for the Olympic marathon of Tokyo. The World Athletics has recently advanced the qualification period from the 1st of December back to the 1st of September 2020.

Virtual TCS Amsterdam Marathon 2020
Josu Devasia, director of title sponsor Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) The Netherlands: ‘’Concerning the development of the virus we support the choice that has been made to cancel the event. As title- and technology sponsor we worked hard to build a virtual race app for our partner Le Champion. Of course it is very disappointing for all the participants who were registered for the marathon that the event can’t take place, but there is nothing more important than everyone’s health and safety. Therefore we hope that all participants will join the virtual competition in the week of Sunday the 18th of October.