By HPRS Race Director John Lacroix

What’s really happening behind the scenes in ultra running, as a result of COVID-19?

Race directors across the country are scrambling. Most road events are cancelled, as they should be considering they tend to cater to a few thousand runners at a time. Trail and Ultra events are different in that most events are capped at a few hundred. One type of running event is not really conducive to social distancing, others kinda are. Those of us who have run a few ultras know that you can spend many miles, in most any ultra distance race, totally alone.

Still, these are trying times. A lot of race directors have been given no choice but to cancel. The other day I wrote to you about Mad Moose Events deciding to cancel two of their events, rather than waiting for the county to make an 11^th hour decision for them. It ended up not being the county that cancelled mass gatherings, but the state of Utah who a few days later prohibited all gatherings of 100 people or more. It turns out that the Rick’s did indeed make the right decision, with enough advanced notice to help runners alter travel plans.

This story is playing out in many places across the country. Most race directors are doing everything in their power to continue to host their events. This involves taking extra health and safety precautions to try and prevent the spread of the virus to runners, volunteers, staff, and spectators. Remember, Race Directors are responsible for more than just runners; they’re also responsible for volunteers, spectators, crews, and staff. Simply put, it’s not all about just you.

Something I want to ask you to consider. Have you been to the grocery store lately? Now’s not a great time to have to be purchasing food for race aid stations, or pre and post race gatherings. We can’t even buy extra toilet paper for the porta potties right now. This makes it incredibly difficult to even host an event at the same quality many of us have become accustomed to. Which brings up a pretty big question. Do we really want to be spending money on resources that most people are buying for daily homeostasis, just so we can have an ultra? Diarrhea isn’t even a symptom of COVID-19, but man are we poised to have the cleanest asses in the world. Don’t look for those extra roles at your race next weekend. 

Jason Green of Yeti Trail Runners (Virginia) forged ahead with his 7/11 Hour Endurance Run this weekend. In order to hold his event he made a few adjustments:

• Doing away with aid stations: Jason welcomed runner’s to bring their own food and have it in their drop bags. Some races are following suit and allowing for additional drop bag locations to afford you an opportunity to better care for yourselves. This reduces volunteer needs and prevents the potential to spread the virus through aid station foods, volunteers, or runners.
• He had his packet pick-up outside. It’s to my understanding that everyone’s packets were laid out on the lawn. You go find yours, then start when you’re ready. There was no mass gathering/congregating, no pre-race meeting.. just show up and “Go!” Again.. the idea is to promote social distancing and limit people being close together in a tight space.
• He offered a virtual option. You were welcome to complete 7 or 11 hours of running wherever you wanted. Everyone who sent the RD a copy of their Strava, would be mailed their race shirt and award.

These are some of the initiatives being taken by RDs to ensure that their event can still happen while taking the extra precautions to keep all of us healthy and safe. These are not easy decisions, and come with a price. Mailing race shirts and awards will cost close to $5 per runner. Many runner’s aren’t just asking for refunds, they’re demanding them in the event of a cancelation.

Nothing is free. Everything associated with a race has a cost, whether that be paid in time, money, or both. Not many of you are willing to work on a project for a year for free. A few race directors just have. We went over the numbers in a previous post, but I ask you again to consider that for many cancelled events, the time has been spent and so has the money. Refunding $10 to 200 runners is a $2,000 hit to race coffers when that money may not even be there. A lot of race directors rely on last minute registrations to even make the event happen!

For those of you who receive a deferral to next year, keep in mind that the race is now operating the next edition of the race in the red. If entry is $100 and 75% of a 200-runner field takes the deferral, that means the RD has $15,000 fewer dollars to work with next year. Do the math.. 75% of 200 is 150 people, times $100 each equals $15,000. The 50 who pay full price to enter next year via remaining slots account for $5,000 in revenue; which is now the race’s total budget to get things to happen next year. What you’re reading is the long-term affects of what’s going on, that will stretch far beyond this year.

What if you receive a 65% credit to a future race? Some RDs have a whole series of events and can offer a credit for you to use on a different race. This also comes at a cost/loss to the RD. If you paid $100 for the race, and you’re getting a 65% credit, this amounts to a $65 loss, per runner, on future races. So if 200 runner’s take a $65 credit, the series just lost $13,000 to accommodate you. That money is lost on any number of other events the race director holds, but ultimately goes against the bottom line at the end of the year. It’s a loss.

Keep in mind that in almost all of these cases, races have already spent a large portion of your fees to make their “non-event” happen. Which means that just about every race is now operating with a long-term red, when many of them have yet to ever operate in the black. Race directors take on a considerable amount of risk before the event even takes place. Months before the event we pay for permits, porta potties, shirts, awards, advertising, bibs, insurance, webhosting, promotions, licenses, general cost of doing business; and all of this is done on a prediction (hope) of how many people will ultimately show up. You’re asking for money be returned to you that is no longer there. Race director’s are being forced to take out incredibly risky loans against their own events, to give you a refund/credit/deferral and keep you happy.

Look.. I get it, you didn’t get to run so you want your money back. Demanding a refund, deferral, or credit threatens to put many races out of business. Would you rather your money back and lose the opportunity for the race to happen again? Or would you rather just offer support to the RDs in the hopes of helping preserve the event for years to come? Judging by how many of you are treating the elderly in the grocery store these days, your precious refund is more important.

So some race directors have been given no choice but to cancel. Some are cancelling “out of an abundance of caution.” Some are forging ahead with extra precautions as a way to tamper fears you may have while still holding the event, and some… are doing nothing. Some race director’s are jeopardizing everything just to make you happy. This is a time in our sport where you are getting a clear visual of which race directors’ care about your health and safety, and others care more about their image, ego, and “tough guy” personas. Who would you rather have in charge?

I spoke to one race director who has 3 events, and hasn’t entertained a race registration since February 22^nd. Here at HPRS, where we have 10 events, we had set a new monthly registration record for 22 straight months. That stretch was broken in February and will now continue through March and likely April. Race registrations, regardless of when the event takes place on the calendar, have all but dried up. Those of us who have made race direction our full time jobs, are now starting to wonder what we’re going to do to stay afloat. I’m pretty thankful I don’t have a staff to pay. Not every race director has come to terms with the fact they we each run a small business. Hard news for some. The reality of this has now settled in.

In most cases, race directors no longer have revenue coming in (understandably so), and with the demand for refunds, credits, and deferrals.. they’re watching money go out and it’s only exacerbating an already stressful situation. The next question we’re all trying to band together and answer is.. How do we get runner’s to start signing up for races again? A month ago race directors were trying to figure out the new online sales tax laws requiring you (in 30 states) to pay a sales tax on registration fees. Now we’re trying to figure out how to keep our races alive.

HOW CAN YOU HELP? 

1.) THANK YOUR RACE DIRECTOR. If you get an email about race organizers cancelling or postponing their event, or simply informing you of the most up to date information, thank them for the immense amount of work they’ve already put in to making the day happen. Thank them for all they continue to forge through during this tiring, confusing, stressful, and scary time. 

2.) DON’T ASK FOR A REFUND, CREDIT, or DEFERRAL. Yeah, I said it. Consider it a donation. Consider it the cost of life. Consider it a little bit towards the preservation of our sport. Remember, when you signed up for a race you accepted the risks involved with that registration. You accepted each race’s refund, credit, and cancellation policies. When you registered for the race, you accepted the risk of the event not happening, despite your every intention of running on race day. Shit happens.

3.) KEEP YOUR PERSPECTIVE. What’s important right now is not the race. What’s important is that we take care of each other. Our not holding events is our way of protecting all citizens from contracting a virus due to a completely unnecessary race. By cancelling a race, we’re not just caring about spreading disease to you… we’re caring about transmitting it to your loved ones. Again, we’re trying to look out for our runners, crews, spectators, volunteers, and their families. 

4.) PLAN YOUR FALL RACING CALENDAR. Consider signing up for races that take place in July or later if you can afford it. That little bit of income will go a long way in helping keep races alive. We get it, we don’t know how long this will last or what our future looks like right now. You don’t want to throw more money at a race just for it to also be cancelled. I get all of these things. But if you are indeed one of those folks who has minimized this virus, and think we’re all over reacting, it’s time to put up or shut up. Sign up for more races if you’re so confident this will all blow over!

5.) WASH YOUR HANDS!