When the Cape Town Marathon was called off before sunrise, a different kind of endurance kicked in. Within hours, Woolworths redirected hundreds of kilograms of fresh food to local charities—ensuring not a single item went to waste.
Woolworths, the official food sponsor of the 2025 Cape Town Marathon, had prepared to feed 24,000 runners along the route and at the finish line. Once the event’s cancellation was announced at 4:45 a.m., the team moved swiftly to repurpose the stockpile. By 10 a.m., 18 charities across Cape Town had collected more than 500 kilograms of food, including 26,000 bananas, 20,000 ClemenGolds, 5,000 apples, 1,800 sandwiches and 600 hot cross buns.
Chief Customer Officer Spencer Sonn, himself a keen runner, described the effort as “the Woolworths Difference in action”. “While I was disappointed for the athletes, knowing that orphanages, old age homes and soup kitchens benefitted was deeply rewarding,” he said.
This act of quick thinking sits within Woolworths’ Good Business Journey programme, which last year saw more than 800,000 kg of surplus food donated nationwide. A race may have been cancelled, but in the space of a few hours, it became an exercise in community and compassion.
