Running News Daily

Göte­borgsvarvet and the race week in Sep­tem­ber 2021 is canceled

Göte­borgsvarvet 2021, which was to be arranged on Sep­tem­ber 11, is can­celed. Both the clas­sic 21km race and the oth­er races dur­ing the race week are can­celed, this due to covid-19 and the increased spread of the dis­ease in the region.

This is extremely sad for the organization as well as for all participants, but with great respect for the pandemic, which unfortunately still is increasing, we had to make this decision, says Jahja Zeqiraj, chairman of the Gothenburg Athletics Association.

After the cancelation of Göteborgsvarvet last year, hard work has been going on for over a year in order to arrange Göteborgsvarvet 2021 in a safe way. More than 35,000 participants were registered for this year's edition.

The last couple of weeks with the increased spread of Covid-19 in the region made it impossible to arrange a safe competition with start and finish around the area of Slottsskogsvallen. The decision applies to all races planed in September.

The decision was made at an extra board meeting last night after dialogue with the disease prevention and control authorities and representatives from the health care in the region.

We have for a long period of time planned and hoped to arrange Göteborgsvarvet and our other races in a safe form this fall, and the earlier dialogue we have had with authorities and healthcare has been positive. Which made this a hard but necessary decision, we still have a strong determination and will to fight for both Göteborgsvarvet and the Athletics Association with its’ 50 track and field clubs in Gothenburg to live on. In this, we need support from Gothenburg to get through these challenging times together. We are now looking forward to 2022. A long-awaited restart of society is on everyone's agenda, including ours.

Claes Mangelus, medically responsible doctor for Göteborgsvarvet

- We have had a good dialogue with authorities, the Police and the healthcare system all the way. The forecasts for the races to be arranged have been good, but with today's reality and the recent negative development make it untenable to arrange an event of this size. The pandemic is ongoing, the spread of infection is increasing again and the burden on the public healthcare remains high, so we all agreed that the decision to cancel this year's edition is the right one.

All registered participants for Göteborgsvarvet and Göteborgsvarvet Marathon will still be able to participate digitally. Digital participation gives a medal and an official result which is approved as qualifying time for Göteborgsvarvet 2022.

- Once again, we must switch from a physical to a virtual race. We know that there will be many questions from our runners and we ask you to please bear with us as we work through the details. Our goal and ambition is still to create a memorable running event even if we cannot be in the same place, says Jahja Zeqirai.