Out of an abundance of caution...
No matter how hard we try to see things through a nationalistic view, the world is completely interconnected. We are just now watching as something that started in China, as a whisper on the wind, the next epidemic. Right now, it's impossible to know how far reaching this will be - just that it's a daily conversation on the national news. Can it get worse? Who knows. It does feel like every other year, something comes up from the jungle and the news presents it as a pandemic. New viruses make for easy reporting, especially when there's an explosion of cases in various countries and plenty of grim photos to show. But for now, it feels so far away - something that we won't have to deal with.
Until we do. And the first indication that we are going to have to deal with? The cancellations of many many races as the CDC and other organizations start recommending limiting group sizes. I know many races are under 250 in entrants, but that doesn't include all the volunteers and crew helping the race. The entire spring racing season is on hold - either due to cancellation or postponement of many races. And of course, many of those runners are screaming for full refunds of their races. It's been building to a crescendo this past weekend on Facebook in the trail and ultra running groups. It's amazing how much people are focusing on the money they are "owed" vs the money that the race directors have already spent to support you and the rest of the athletes.
Some thoughts I while reading the comments demanding refunds - sometimes not in the most polite terms.
1) What can be used at future races as some people have asked? Not much really. Medals and awards have specific logos, dates and placements. Do you really want a medal from XXY race when you ran XYX race? Given the comments I see, no you don'. Can you give the overall winner award from one race to an age group winner in another? No - you can't. You can't reuse awards like that. Shirts have years on them and I know that runners don't want the 2020 shirt for 2021. Bibs often have the runner's name on them so those are hard to use for other events. These are all costs that have been incurred for every race - regardless of what you've paid for the race. And vendors will not take those items back and refund the costs involved. That's one place your money has gone - and those items aren't ones that have been purchased just before the race.
2) Permits have been paid for well before the event date.I doubt the county/city/state/BLM/DOT who issued those permits will refund the costs for the permits. If your race was a point to point race, the directors might be lucky and be able to get the transportation costs refunded. But how much is that really compared to the entire costs of putting on the race. So again, where is the money you are asking for coming from? It's already been used to set up your race. You're asking for money that is no longer there.
Until we do. And the first indication that we are going to have to deal with? The cancellations of many many races as the CDC and other organizations start recommending limiting group sizes. I know many races are under 250 in entrants, but that doesn't include all the volunteers and crew helping the race. The entire spring racing season is on hold - either due to cancellation or postponement of many races. And of course, many of those runners are screaming for full refunds of their races. It's been building to a crescendo this past weekend on Facebook in the trail and ultra running groups. It's amazing how much people are focusing on the money they are "owed" vs the money that the race directors have already spent to support you and the rest of the athletes.
Some thoughts I while reading the comments demanding refunds - sometimes not in the most polite terms.
1) What can be used at future races as some people have asked? Not much really. Medals and awards have specific logos, dates and placements. Do you really want a medal from XXY race when you ran XYX race? Given the comments I see, no you don'. Can you give the overall winner award from one race to an age group winner in another? No - you can't. You can't reuse awards like that. Shirts have years on them and I know that runners don't want the 2020 shirt for 2021. Bibs often have the runner's name on them so those are hard to use for other events. These are all costs that have been incurred for every race - regardless of what you've paid for the race. And vendors will not take those items back and refund the costs involved. That's one place your money has gone - and those items aren't ones that have been purchased just before the race.
2) Permits have been paid for well before the event date.I doubt the county/city/state/BLM/DOT who issued those permits will refund the costs for the permits. If your race was a point to point race, the directors might be lucky and be able to get the transportation costs refunded. But how much is that really compared to the entire costs of putting on the race. So again, where is the money you are asking for coming from? It's already been used to set up your race. You're asking for money that is no longer there.
3) Finally - and the point that really got to me. We all signed waivers agreeing to refund policies for races - policies that include “acts of god” And now that something has happened you want more then what the race organization is offering. Are we so entitled that we would rather risk bankrupting the organization so we can have our money back?
I know some people will continue to say - I'm not taking the financial hit for this, the race should. No - the race shouldn't. We want to have these races here next year, right? Then we have to be respectful of the races and the race directors. They are doing everything they can and us runners need to be aware of that. Be nice. Don't put your favorite race out of business!
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