MILWAUKEE — The Milwaukee Marathon scheduled to start and end at Fiserv Forum on Sunday has been canceled.
Marathon organizers shared the news Saturday saying the current winter conditions along the route led to the cancelation.
"The circumstances will not allow us to hold an event that meets our standards for a safe and successful race for participants, volunteers, and all other stakeholders," organizers wrote.
According to a Facebook post, Milwaukee Marathon will work with officials to explore all possibilities for 2023 races. They said they will provide participants with all available options such as deferral to another event, a virtual participation option, or a full refund.
"Thank you to the Milwaukee running community for your understanding. We will follow up with next steps and more information as soon as possible," organizers wrote on Facebook.
The cancellation is leaving runners like T.J. Rosbeck with no choice but to search for other options. He was disappointed to hear the decision to cancel the race.
"I mean, people that run half marathons, full marathons, even shorter distances, we train for that kind of stuff," Rosbeck said. "I’ve been running outside if it's above 20 degrees, I'm outside running if its wet. Runners prepare for these kinds of things, especially those of us that live in Wisconsin or choose to run in Wisconsin."
Rosbeck is planning to run his very first full marathon in June, so Sunday's Milwaukee Half-Marathon was a big part of his training schedule.
"I had seen that the First Call race in Waukesha, they’re doing a 5k, 10k and half marathon, still had spots so I was like, either way, I have to run for my training for my full marathon in June. So I signed up, got all my information and I’ll go run that one instead."
Waukesha's race organizer, Sean Osborne, says despite the snow their race will go on: "We had a backup course already approved and permitted with the city of Waukesha."
He told TMJ4's Mariam Mackar that the Milwaukee course poses different challenges for their organizers.
"That race is a different animal than ours, they're closing down major roads lots of cops involved, municipalities involved," said Osborne.
The director of Milwaukee Marathon, Chip Hazewski said in an interview their decision was based entirely off of safety concerns for their runners and workers.
"As an organizer, it's a decision you don't want to have to make and the worst part is knowing that the runners are upset and have been training and looking forward to getting back out and running this year."
Despite disappointment from runners, Hazewski said many have been understanding about the decision.
Milwaukee Marathon had been scheduled to host both a half marathon and 5K, but the full marathon was not scheduled to take place.
Organizers previously said they were working to bring back the full marathon in 2024.
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