By HPRS RD John Lacroix

I want to once again ask you to imagine the following scenario:

Your employer asks you to organize a major event for the company with a due date of about a year out. For the entire year, you work diligently on countless pieces of logistics, and tirelessly work to knock the event out of the park. Along the way you get paid for your time and effort on a bi-weekly basis. Two weeks out from your event, your employer decides that it’s no longer going forward with it. Your employer, having cancelled the event, tells you this: “We appreciate your hard work so very much, but since we’re no longer hosting the event, we’re going to have to ask you to refund us all of the money we’ve paid you over the last year; you know, since the event you’ve been working on isn’t happening now.”

How would you feel? Would you be pissed? Would you refund your wages? I’m willing to guess that most of you would swiftly move on from this employer, and most likely that very day. I once again bring this hypothetical to your attention, because we have entered uncharted territory. Your patience, understanding, and grace is required at the utmost.

By now we can all see that our polarized society is at odds about COVID-19. Either you’re terrified of the virus, or you’re minimizing it to just another version of the flu. Some of you are purchasing toilet paper in record quantities; others are going about their business as usual. No one is here to judge you. You need to do what is right for you and yours, and we all support that.

Numerous events and large gatherings are being cancelled. Cancellations are happening out of an abundance of caution initiated by the organizers, or at the strict direction of local governments. The NCAA March Madness Tournament is about to happen without fans in attendance, and the NBA has just suspended their season. The city of Seattle has now banned all large gatherings, of 250 people or more, until further notice. In New York, the Governor called in the National Guard to set up a one-mile quarantine perimeter around an entire town (New Rochelle). Just let this sink in for a moment, regardless of what side of the fence you are on.

The running world is not immune to the effects of this pandemic.

Mad Moose Events recently cancelled two of its Moab events; The Canyonlands Half Marathon and Behind the Rocks. These races were scheduled to happen over the next two weekends. All of the work to make these events happen is done, everything has been purchased, and Justin and Denise Ricks were working hard on extra safety precautions under direction of the county. This family-owned small business was doing everything in their power to get these events off the ground, and safely, for your enjoyment and at all costs.

At first, the county discouraged mass gatherings unless additional safety precautions were taken. The Rick’s quickly sprung into action to make the necessary changes to ensure their events could still take place. Then the county began to waffle with the idea of prohibiting large gatherings all together. While waiting for the county to make a decision, The Ricks decided the right thing to do would be to give their runner’s as much advance notice about these races as possible. They ultimately decided to cancel. The number one job of all race directors, whether some know it or not, is risk management; most notably the safety of all associated with an event (runners, crews, pacers, spectators, volunteers… everyone). The Ricks made the right call, for them, at this time, with the information that they have.

As a race director from the outside looking in, Justin and Denise did all of the right things. They worked closely with the county to figure out the precautions that needed to be taken, and they got to work ensuring they took them. When it started to look like the county was going to cancel these events on them, they went ahead and just did what they felt was the right thing to do.

Then this…

It’s not just that runner’s were asking for refunds, it’s that runner’s were treating these good people so poorly that they felt a need to ask you to be kind. I support the Ricks and Mad Moose, and I am appalled by the behavior of the entitled. THIS IS NOT OUR SPORT.. WE ARE BETTER THAN THIS. No RD should have to ask you to be kind to them when they’re the ones in the trenches facing the adversity. 

This situation brings me back to the hypothetical in paragraph 1… you’re asking these people to give you your money back when the work is done and the money already spent. Between these two cancelled races, Mad Moose was prepared to welcome near 2000 runners to Moab over the next 2 weeks. If they were to refund just $10 to each runner, they’d lose $20,000. If they offered full refunds, a number that likely approaches a quarter million.

Shirts, awards, bibs, food, supplies, and extra supplies are all in hand. The money has been spent. Yet some of you want them to just come up with a refund or credit for you, and if they don’t.. you’re going to persecute and bully them?! In one case they’ve offered a 65% credit to be used towards a future race. If a race costs $100 to enter, and they’re giving you $65 to use in the future, they’re actually losing $65 per runner at future events. This size of credit is hugely generous, but there is a cost associated with it (credits worth almost $40,000). 

We’re in uncharted territory, and I am begging you to remember the following:

• Most every race director was an athlete first. We’ve been in your shoes, and many of us still are. As athletes who wanted to give back, we backed in to race directing.. and in turn, owning small businesses. There is no manual for this, and there is no manual for how races should handle a pandemic. It’s stressful for all of us, and WE’RE DOING OUR BEST.
• 99% of races are in fact small businesses, and family owned. Most of us in trail and ultra are not large corporations with a huge coffer of funds to dig into in the event of an emergency. I know the math you all do, “600 Runners x $100 each equals $60,000! They’re making a killing!” …. Except WE’RE NOT. Races are expensive, and all of the expenses come prior to race day, some times months in advance. If a race is cancelled in the weeks or days leading up, the money is long gone. There is nothing to refund. You can read why most races have a no refund policy HERE.
• If you expect these RDs to refund you or credit you, you are asking small businesses to risk bankruptcy. You’re asking for the race you planned to run, to never happen again. You’re asking RDs to take a huge financial hit for something that is completely unprecedented, and out of our control. The Rick’s were working hard to get these events to still take place, even spending more money on extra supplies. When the county tells you you’re done, guess what? YOU’RE DONE. You need to be compassionate, not demanding.
• You all agreed to the refund and credit policies of an event upon registration. Ridiculous majorities of you never read these policies, and generally feel that the rules don’t apply to you. The rules do in fact apply to you. The rules are in place to ensure the preservation of these events. By asking for an exception, you are stating that you don’t care if races go out of business or not, you just have to have your $100 back.

We’re all feeling the struggle due to this virus. Registration numbers have slowed significantly in the United States, and not just in trail and ultra running. Many of you are choosing to travel less, and with an uncertain stock market, you’re hanging on to your money more. Small businesses, and non-profits, are taking a huge hit right now as events are being cancelled and more of us elect to stay home. Because of the uncertainty, many of you are choosing to not sign up for anything until the last minute. I don’t blame you and it makes sense. This is also causing a major struggle for businesses because we rely on normal revenue streams to stay afloat.

At the end of the day, Race Directors are people too. We are struggling. Many of us are talking behind the scenes about appropriate precautions and how to handle this situation. From conversations I’ve been apart of, you need to understand that we too are on two sides of the fence: the overly concerned, and the not concerned at all. Yet we’re all on the same side of the fence in doing whatever it takes to see our races happen. We’re not out here trying to screw you over or disappoint you AT ALL. We’re trying to do our best with a fluid and unprecedented situation, where most of the decisions will ultimately be out of our hands.

Race Directors like the Ricks put their everything into their series. They’ve built an incredible brand of events that didn’t come to fruition over night. Yet it is overnight that this pandemic has seriously begun to threaten our small businesses, and your demands for a refund are not helping. The work is done, the money is spent.. don’t expect others to do what you wouldn’t do yourselves, and that’s work for a year for free.

It is imminent that many races will be affected by this pandemic. It is very likely that some races won’t recover from the aftermath of a cancellation, and it was entirely out of their hands. It is likely that some RDs will end up quitting over this, because they never signed up to be your punching bag. BE NICE. We’re suffering and feeling the effects of this too. Most of you don’t understand the ripple effects, cost, and risk associated with doing what we do, and the ramifications of a cancellation. Run or don’t… but quit beating up your race director.