Milwaukee Marathon canceled in 2021 due to lack of 'necessary approvals' from city

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- The Milwaukee Marathon announced Thursday the cancelation of their 2021 event.

The cancelation is a big disappointment to runners, especially since Covid caused the Milwaukee Marathon to cancel last year as well.

In getting back to a sense of normalcy this summer, a lot of people got themselves a solid pair of sneakers and then took to running along Milwaukee's lakefront in preparation for a big race this fall.

"My friend and I have been training for almost a year," said runner Emma Tomsich.

The two were signed up for the Milwaukee Marathon and got Thursday's disappointing news in an email.

"I was sad, I was heartbroken. I didn't know if my friend was in class but I wanted to like Facetime her right away and be like no, like seriously!" said Tomsich.

"I've been training really hard this week and it's really disappointing because I've been looking forward to this like since the beginning of summer," said runner Ryan Sanchez.

Marathon organizers are offering full refunds. Sanchez said he'll take it and then try to sign up for the Lakefront Marathon.

"Yeah, definitely I'll try to do that one, because like hopefully I want to make sure that my work wasn't for nothing," he said.

The Milwaukee Marathon said despite months of working with the city of Milwaukee on necessary approvals, they were unable to make the Oct. 23 date work.

"Not surprised. We saw this coming for a couple of months. They shouldn't have planned it in the same month as another marathon," said Patrick Bieser, Milwaukee Running Group organizer.

Bieser runs the 2,000 active member Milwaukee Running Group and hopes to see the Milwaukee Marathon return in the spring.

"It's a beautiful tour of the city. I've run it several times myself. It's a beautiful marathon and it deserves a place in Milwaukee. We love Lakefront Marathon, but having another marathon, one in the spring and one in the fall, would be an excellent balance for Milwaukee. We deserve this," said Bieser. 

The following options are available due to this year's cancelation:

• Defer your registration to the 2022 Milwaukee Marathon (date to be announced)
• Transfer your registration to the Hot Chocolate 15k/5k -- Chicago (Nov. 7, 2021)
• Transfer your registration to any other Ventures Endurance event 
• Receive a full refund for your 2021 registration

The marathon says to check your email for a message containing more information on how to make your selection. 

The deadline to select an option is Oct. 22. If you do not select an option by that date, your registration will be deferred to the 2022 Milwaukee Marathon.

Milwaukee Marathon says they are working with the city to go back to the previous mid-spring timeframe for 2022.