Runners Irate Over Cancellation -- Lake Grapevine Runners And Walkers

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Date Posted: 07:43:25 03/21/03 Fri
Author: washingtonpost.com
Subject: Runners Irate Over Cancellation
In reply to: Jack 's message, "Washington Post Article" on 07:37:24 03/21/03 Fri

washingtonpost.com
Runners Irate Over Cancellation

By Greg Sandoval
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, March 21, 2003; Page D02

Much of Washington's running community was fuming yesterday over the cancellation of Sunday's Washington, D.C. Marathon. Scores of those entered in the marathon swarmed phone lines and flooded e-mail inboxes with complaints and demands for refunds from H20 Entertainment, the company staging the event, said a company spokeswoman.

On Wednesday night, race director John Stanley cited an increased risk of terrorism because of the war with Iraq as one of the reasons for canceling the event. He declined to comment yesterday.

A two-day standoff between police and a farmer who drove a tractor into a pond on the Mall to protest the government's treatment of tobacco farmers this week also spooked some of the marathon's 6,801 entrants, H20 said. The Alexandria-based company said that it received 1,200 calls and e-mails from concerned race entrants.

"If anything happened to any of the runners, we would feel responsible for them," said Angela Casey, an H20 spokeswoman. "We didn't want to put them into perceived danger."

Stanley, however, made his decision without consulting law enforcement or city officials, H20 said. That angered many runners.

"It's one thing if the government tells you to cancel the event but who is this [Stanley] that he knows more than the government," asked Ted Blake, 26, a financial analyst from McLean. "There have been people who have slogged through the rain and snow this winter to prepare for the race. Even now, with the indirect threat of violence, [that] wouldn't stop people from running."

A group of runners have called for a protest, proposing on their Web site, picnet.net/runforamerica, that entrants run the course on Sunday as planned. In a message posted on the site yesterday, the group declared: "We refuse to allow terrorists to control our lives. Instead, we plan to run the DC Marathon, as intended."

Said Chris Basso, 26, an account executive for a Washington-based media company, in an e-mail to H20: "The rage and disappointment I feel is indescribable."

H20 also has refused to refund the runners' entry fees, which ranged between $65 and $95, choosing to defer the fees to next year's race. There was some good news for area runners: The Marine Corp Marathon announced yesterday that it will guarantee entry into its Oct. 26 race to 1,000 runners registered for the D.C. Marathon.

Some local race organizers questioned Stanley's timing, asking why he pulled the plug on the race four days before the start, when the country has known for weeks that there would be heightened security risk with the coming of the war.

"You literally have people on planes coming here for nothing," said Brian Tresp, director of the Montgomery County Marathon in the Parks. "Not to have consulted with police is appalling and beyond that not to have followed the lead of other regional races and offer any form of refund is embarrassing."

Susan Maher, president of the 1,400-member D.C. Road Runners Club, said the trend among race organizers is not to refund money when a race is canceled. She said that race sponsors often have fronted the costs for such things as security, portable toilets and sports drinks.

An H20 spokeswoman confirmed that the company has bought such supplies.

Runners are often outraged anytime a race is cancelled, said Maher, whose group hosts Washington's Birthday Marathon. Most have trained for months. When it turns out that their training was for nothing, the realization raises their hackles, she said.

"Runners have no concept of what it takes to put on a race, about the costs, the budget," Maher said. "Everyone is critical. Only the decision-makers have all the information. It's easy to second guess."

But for competitors such as Deonne Snare, 40, who ran six days a week in preparation for the race, money is not the issue. A mother of three, she said that her entire family had to shuffle their lives to allow her time to condition. Her husband, a fellow runner, would rearrange his schedule to manage her workouts.

"My kids had to give up their weekends so Mommy and Daddy could do runs on Saturdays in Old Town," said Snare, who is from Alexandria. "I kept it in my mind and kept telling my kids that we can make it to March 23. Just a little longer. That was part of the motivation, to not let these events affect us. You just don't give in because someone might attack."

� 2003 The Washington Post Company

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Replies:

Race Promoter Defends Actions -- washingtonpost.com, 20:08:04 03/22/03 Sat
- D.C. Runners Keep Moving On Their Own -- washingtonpost.com, 08:07:54 03/24/03 Mon