The Amazing Thailand Marathon Bangkok 2021, previously scheduled for March 14, was on Wednesday postponed to June 27 in order to avoid mass participation amid the latest outbreak of Covid-19.
Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) governor Yuthasak Supasorn said the TAT had discussed the event with organisers and health-related agencies and they had agreed to delay it for everyone's sake.
The organising committee said on Facebook that the new surge in Covid-19 had caused the government to announce several measures, including inter-provincial travel restrictions and a ban on big events with high numbers of participants.
Even though the government was now considering easing those restrictions to help the economy and society generally, TAT said the event had to be postponed to reduce the risk of virus exposure at a mass gathering.
Participants have two options available: they can register for the new event date or enrol for next year's race, scheduled for March 13, 2022, by the end of this month.
The committee also set up a working group to help participants who are out of pocket for expenses like accommodation caused by the delay.
In 2020, the Amazing Thailand Marathon Bangkok attracted more than 28,000 participants.
The bronze-label event is endorsed by the government, which promoted it as a way to establish Thailand as a sports hub destination.
Wednesday's decision came a day after the cabinet agreed to postpone Thailand's five-year contract to stage MotoGP, one of the country's biggest annual events, by one year.