Canceled races...

 My friend and client Jerry emailed me yesterday, Cruise to Run Race Director, just got back from Alaska on their "maiden" Running Cruise. This guy has seen it all, done it all, and shared with me that one of their races was delayed due to the fact the ship (small, presumably) bringing the runners hit a whale.

No $%^# Mobey Dick!

And on the same "run" a bear was on the course and interrupted the run (are they adjusting the finish times with an asterisk)?

* the following participants can deduct 30 seconds and qualify for a fresh pair of shorts

! (:

So of course I piped in, "we actually had a pregnant bear on the course at the 1999 Jasper-Banff Relay that canceled outright stage run #11 for all teams except the first place Japanese Pro team who went by first.....Naturally the bear was dis-interested in these skinny fellows anyway, wait for the plodders 4 hours later.... yours truly was actually scheduled to run that stage, all revved up and back to bed....strange evening for sure.

So we started chatting, Jerry and I, and found out that we were both in the infamous Around the Bay Road Race 30km in 1996. The Port of Hamilton bridge went "up" a little prematurely on all 4,000 runners save for the first 15 men and lone female, now that was a debacle! It was exactly 15km into the race, so of course many of us turned around and went back the way we came. We could see in the water the slow-moving tanker that was in fact a day early on arrival (who wants to be in Hamilton earlier than expected anyway)??

Think that's strange.....

An early edition of the Toronto Marathon (when there was only one - 1971 I think) featured world famous marathoner Bill Rodgers, and somewhere out in Scarborough (yikes) a pack of runners was stopped by a train, another race finish another asterisk....

*the following runners can deduct two minutes from their finish times and earn 35% off their next trip with Via Rail

How about the race in Myrtle Beach - canceled due to a massive, freak snow storm the night prior:

http://www.mynextrace.com/Article1132.htm

Remember the Chicago Marathon in 2007, canceled mid-stride as it were, due to oppressive heat and humidity:

http://www.mynextrace.com/Article526.htm

The best story was the Montreal Marathon, somewhere back in the 1990's I am guessing, the race was actually canceled as runners lined up at the start line. "Runners, take your marks. Set. Wait........hold on...nervous Race Director takes emergency call from police on course....permit hasn't been paid....unsafe road conditions (traffic)....Pull the Plug!

Well, something like that, straight from the mouth of the current organizer, a client and friend of mine, who struggled for years with runners and sponsors, saying time and again, "we're not the same organizational team as THAT year"!

Imagine if that was you, what would you do?

At least a bear won't be munching on your energy bar.

PD

peter@mynextrace.com