Dear Athletes,

It is with heavy hearts that we must inform you of the cancellation of the Walker Bay Outdoor event, which was scheduled to take place next weekend (26 - 28 April 2024).

After careful consideration and evaluation of various factors, we have come to the difficult decision that the effective hosting of the event is no longer possible.

Old School Group invested in Walker Bay Outdoor a few years ago. With local partners, Rick Oosthuizen and Henk Esterhuizen of See & Sand, we embarked on a journey to position Hermanus and the Walker Bay Outdoor event as the coolest outdoor sports festival globally. Thus far the journey has been amazing. The event grew from a mere 50 athletes in its first year to around 2,500 annual outdoor fitness enthusiasts partaking.

At Old School Group we focus on hosting events that promote balance and celebrate life and fun times with friends. We love to celebrate our victories and always put in an extra effort to make sure we host an event that brings more smiles than sweat.

However, 2024 has not been kind to the Walker Bay Outdoor event and Hermanus. During the planning phase we encountered many obstacles. Often, as is always the case with us, these obstacles were never a mountain too high, some we could control, others we could not.

Despite our best efforts to even try and convince oom Cyril to make the weekend a long weekend, like it used to be, to utilise trails for running and cycling on that took some strain under heavy rains and to gain support from key partners, whose involvement is crucial to the event's success, we were still forced to take a difficult decision that was not in anyone’s interest but ultimately the event and its customers.

As organisers, our priority is to provide athletes like yourselves with an exceptional experience that reflects the values and standards we uphold. Regrettably, we do not believe that we can deliver on this promise given the current circumstances.

We sincerely apologise for any inconvenience or disappointment this cancellation may cause.

Please know that this decision was not made lightly, and we explored all possible alternatives before arriving at this conclusion.

We are committed to issuing full refunds to all registered participants. These refunds will be issued in the next few days.

Once again, we apologise for any inconvenience this may cause and thank you for your understanding and support.

If you have any immediate questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact us: gerhardi@oldschoolgroup.co.za or andrea@oldschoolgroup.co.za

Sincerely, Old School Group and the WBO Organising Team