Statement from Events Management Queensland 

In considering the uncertainty of our ability to deliver an event in July, the Board of Events Management Queensland yesterday decided to suspend planning and entry registrations for the 2020 Village Roadshow Theme Parks Gold Coast Marathon, effective immediately. This suspension will be reviewed no later than 19 May 2020, or when a revised public health order provides us with certainty of the future of this year’s event.   

The Village Roadshow Theme Parks Gold Coast Marathon is not immune to the impacts, and the regulations applied by governments to slow the spread of the COVID–19 pandemic. 

In Queensland where our event is staged, the Government has ordered: 

• A person must not organise a mass gathering on premises in the State of Queensland from the time of publication of this direction until the end of the declared public health emergency 

• A person must not attend a mass gathering on premises in the State of Queensland from the time of publication of this direction until the end of the declared public health emergency. 

The public health emergency area specified in the order is for ‘all of Queensland’. Its duration has been extended by regulation to 19 May 2020. 

The key message here is that we cannot deliver an event until the end of the declared public health emergency. We do not know when the public health emergency in Queensland will end. Like you, we hope it will end soon. 

For those runners who have already paid their entry fees, we will review the status of those fees plus a multitude of other financial and contractual considerations. We will provide further information on this in May, subject to any changes to the public health order and other regulations in place. 

If you have made accommodation and/or transport bookings to participate in the event and are concerned about the potential of a cancellation, you should make a decision on that booking based on knowing the risks around the uncertainty of the event proceeding. 

Like everyone else, the new regulations we live and work by are affecting us and restrict what we can achieve. Please bear with us further as we work with our stakeholders and partners to have a definitive position set as soon as possible. 

On behalf of our team, we wish you good physical and mental health during this challenging time.