The ACT government has turned down a bid by Cundy Sports Marketing to host a marathon one week after the 2010 Canberra Marathon would have been held.

The fate of this year’s Canberra Marathon spent months in limbo as Cundy Sports Marketing and ACT Cross Country Club were in legal dispute over race ownership.

The final axe came down as the government announced it would not allow road closures amidst the legal dispute.

Roads ACT director Tony Gill said that the newly proposed “Classic Marathon” was clearly an attempt to rebadge the Canberra Marathon and has rejected the bid.

Cundy Sports Marketing had proposed to run the Classic Marathon on April 17-18 instead of April 11, which had been the date of the Canberra Marathon..

''People who were already entered in the Canberra Marathon would be entered into this Classic Marathon and it had basically the same public liability coverage, so when looking at the application I formed the view that it really was the same event,'' Mr Gill said.