Kidney Wales is in talks with race organisers after the cancellation of a running event that has raised more than £250,000 for the charity in previous years.
Ross Evans, managing director of the health charity, told Third Sector the charity was “truly saddened” that the event, scheduled for 4 September, was not going ahead.
Kidney Wales organised the Cardiff 10k race for 35 years and was due to be headline charity partner next month. Front Runner Events took over organising the race in November.
The charity has raised nearly one-third of its annual income through the event in recent years, including £268,654 in the year to March 2020, £264,515 in 2019 and £264,264 in 2018.
Evans said: “Kidney Wales is extremely disappointed that the Cardiff 10k will not be held this year. Our charity has organised this event successfully for 35 years, creating one of the biggest mass running events in South Wales.
“The pandemic meant that the 2020 and 2021 races were postponed, and for 2022 Kidney Wales granted Front Runner the licence to run September’s event in person, with Kidney Wales’ involvement being as headline charity partner.
“We are truly saddened that the race is not being provided, as we had envisaged. We tried our very best to ensure that the race would go ahead in person.
“We are in discussions with Front Runner Events about next steps, and we will be able to provide further updates in due course.”
The charity did not comment on whether it was considering legal action.
In a statement announcing the cancellation, David Martin-Jewell, managing director of Front Runner Events, said his team “were not expecting so many challenges” in putting on the event.
“Despite having explored a number of alternative options and scenarios we simply have not been able to find a viable solution,” he said.
In a later statement, Martin-Jewell explained that entries for the event “were far slower than we had anticipated”.
He said: “We needed a far greater number of entrants than we received to simply cover the expense of staging the event safely.
“I can only apologise for the position that we have found ourselves in and for the anger, embarrassment and frustration that has been caused by this situation.
“That was never my or our intention. We are event organisers; we love creating running events.
“We simply tried to do the best we could for everyone in what have been very challenging circumstances.”
He also urged runners “who may have been fundraising as part of their intended participation in this event to ensure that their chosen charity receives the benefit of their efforts at the earliest opportunity”.