The adventure race was to return in March next year after falling off the sporting calendar about 10 years ago.
But it has now been called off due of a lack of entries and other issues.
Dare2Sweat Events director Neil Gellatly said yesterday he was not prepared to take a financial risk by keeping entries open and hoping for a last-minute rush.
As it was, he said he faced significant financial losses.
The Goldrush was once a mainstay of the adventure racing circuit.
It started in 1997 with about 100 competitors.
At one stage the event attracted 540 entrants and was so popular at times entries sold out in minutes.
The Goldrush attracted many high-profile athletes over the years, including Dougal Allan, Richard Ussher and Nathan Fa’avae.
The race originally took place over three days with night stops in the Upper Manorburn and Tarras, and included kayaking, mountainbiking, road cycling and running.
Next year’s event was to be held over just two days, on Otago Anniversary Day weekend, centred around Clyde. It was to include a mixture of mountainbiking, kayaking and running.
However Mr Gellatly said he was left with no option but to can the event.
‘‘It is very disappointing for ourselves, for the sport, for the community. Multisport seems to be dead or dying,’’ he said.
‘‘[The cancellation] is a combination of quite a number of things. The economy is obviously a key thing. Things are going up all the time, people don’t have the disposable income any more and do not have the time to commit, having to work.’’
He said multisport was unlike many other sports these days as it had no pathways. Most sports did and they attracted more athletes.
Many multisport events had fallen away in the past few years and the only ones left, like the Coast to Coast, were simply bucket-list events, Mr Gellatly said.
‘‘People now bought the bike, the kayak, trained for it, went away and did it and then sold it all.
‘‘We do not seem to have people who want to do multisport any more.’’
He had received 48 entries — all but five of them in the first half hour when entries opened — but needed 150-200 entries to make it viable.
All entry fees and other grants and donations have been refunded or are going to be refunded.
He said the losses he had to endure were significant.
Multisport events bred many champions in many different sports and he remembered running an event more than 10 years ago where Olympic triathlon dual medallist Hayden Wilde competed as a school student.
He admitted multisport was perhaps too hard, and took up too much time, for today’s society.
