Pages

▼

Feb 6, 2014

When races cancel/postpone........

This can be quite a topic here in Michigan given the weather we have been having lately.  It's cold and extremely snowy but should races postpone/cancel due to the weather?

I will preface this with I'm not talking about the devastation that happened in NYC.  That was certainly justified when a City like New York shuts down from a hurricane and people have no power, water or food.  I'm just talking about because of snow or it's really cold - nothing life threatening.
My snowy race in January - Brooksie Way Chill at the Mill 5k in Rochester
I guess the way I see it, unless there are people that are going to get hurt, the race should go on as planned.  The fact that some runners have to drive a long time to get there should not matter.  As I do, many runners typically sign up for these races months in advance and plan them around their schedules.  Changing the date last minute can be very problematic for peoples schedules and downright cancelling would be even worst.

Of course, I write this after I ran the Super 5k this past Sunday.  It didn't take long to get to the race, but the condition of the course was really snowy, as in ankle deep snowy.  If we were not signed up for it, we just would not show up but then we would also not get the best price for the race either.  I've never missed a race I signed up for yet - no DNS or DNF in 65 races.  Sometimes it happens, but my hope is that the only way I'm not showing up for a race is my decision and not the races.  Frankly, I'd rather see a delay in the start time than changing to a new date or cancelling.

Then again, I run in anything so it's hard to argue with me that there's ever a reason to cancel given I run regardless of weather.  I've seen it all yet somehow I manage to get my miles in.

It's Michigan.  It's Winter.  It snows.  Deal with it or don't put on a race or sign up for a race at that time of year.

What's next?  Should races change/cancel because it's raining out?  What say you?

Have a great day and....Keep Running!!!!

at

3 comments:

  1. JoannaFebruary 6, 2014 at 2:32 PM

    This is obviously a touchy subject for people, but at the end of the day, I think safety has to be the guiding light on these decisions. Rain is not dangerous (I've raced in the rain) unless there is lightening involved, in which case runners should not be out on a course. Snow, similarly, is fine unless it's too icy, and then the risk of injury becomes too great unless you can adequately salt and prepare the course.

    ReplyDelete
  2. coach dionFebruary 7, 2014 at 12:36 AM

    They once cancelled a race because of wind... or so they said, we think they didn't get all their paper work done!!! Oh it was windy...

    ReplyDelete
  3. LorendaFebruary 11, 2014 at 2:06 AM

    For the first time ever, I had to miss a race I'd signed up for in December. I signed up for it knowing that my daughter was graduating from college that day but graduation was at 5pm so I wasn't worried about a 9am race. We ended up having to go up earlier in the day to load all her stuff. It had snowed all night and kept snowing all day. I checked the race results when I got home that night and saw that the winning time was 25 minutes! (yes, really, 25!) The streets must have been knee deep in snow! I felt like I had really missed out on an adventure. I did a 5K last week (Feb. 1), the snow was deep and footing was terrible and I placed 2nd in my age group with a grand time of 32 minutes!

    ReplyDelete