Well, for the second time this winter, we had to call off one of our Winter Series races due to iffy course conditions. But unlike with the postponement of the Kickoff Run 5K on 7 December, this time we made the decision a bit too late!
Snow fell on the Thursday before our original Tandems 5K race date of Saturday 1 February... but we made the mistake of expecting that the course would be fairly clear on race morning. It wasn't, however. Race director Mark Stickley drove out on race morning and discovered that
Running down the snowy Stickley Loop on Saturday 1 February
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the gravel sections of the course were still covered in a light but slippery layer of snow and ice. He called me (the series director) at 7:35 AM, telling me that he was uncomfortable with the idea of holding a competitive race under those conditions, so we made the decision to call it off.
Having expected that the race would be held, I had to scramble to get the word out about the postponement-- posting a notice on the SVR Web site, sending out an announcement via the SVR E-Mail List, and calling WINC 92.5 FM to spread the news via radio. Some folks had left for the race by that point, though, and I know that more than one person heard the news on WINC while they were in their cars (the announcement made it on-air at 8:23 AM). Perhaps twenty or thirty people never heard the news at all, showing up at Signal Knob Middle School in Strasburg only to be met by Mark telling them of the postponement. Most were disappointed, but everyone seemed to take it in stride.
And some folks decided to stick around for a group run at 9:30 AM! About fifteen of us headed out from the school to run the slushy 5K course at an easy pace. (Scroll down for more photos from the group run!) The snow presented no problems at a jog, but it would've been slippery (especially the turns) at a hard pace. Your author enjoyed the group run quite a bit, especially since he rarely runs with other human beings. Jonathan Whitehead, Anna Marlowe, and I gabbed the whole way around the loop.
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Start of the group run
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(Side note: About two miles into the group run, poor John Winkert came dashing up behind Jon, Anna, and me, huffing and puffing. He had arrived at the school late and didn't know the race had been postponed, so he sprinted out onto the course, trying his best to make up ground. When we told John that the race was off and that we were just doing a fun run, did John get mad? Nope! He just gasped, "Oh, good, now I can slow down.")
As with our first postponement, this was a borderline call. Despite the slippery course, we probably could've held the race without any major problems. But when you're a participant at a race, it's one thing. You're responsible for yourself, and as Ed Grainger noted on race day, "If we try to run competitively on a day like today and bust our butts-- well, guess whose fault it should be?" It's another thing entirely, however, when you're one of the organizers of a race. Even if you have the participants sign a waiver and make them aware of the course conditions, you still bear some measure of responsibility for everyone's safety. You also have to consider the liability of other parties involved, like the running club, the owners of the race site, the county, and the local residents (like Mark's parents, who are always kind enough to let us run part of the Tandems 5K through their property). And obviously you worry about the possibility of someone getting hurt, even if it's that person's own fault. You can't make everyone run intelligently, unfortunately.
Signal Knob, shrouded in clouds on 1 Feb.
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All you can do is look at the conditions presented on race day, and then try your best to make the best decision you can. It may not always be the decision everyone wants to hear, and sometimes it may not even be the right one... but as your mother probably told you, "It's better to be safe than sorry." On 1 February, we opted for safety. And this despite the fact that we really did want to hold the race as scheduled! Nobody wants to call off a race.
We do apologize for the late decision, however. Technically, our Winter Series flyers have always said, "Events may be cancelled or postponed by 9:00 AM on race day." But especially in light of how many people who live outside of the Shenandoah Valley have been coming out for Winter Series races over the past few years, we really ought to have our decisions made sooner than 9 AM. I would like to see us use 7 AM as the target in the future-- and preferably the night before race day if possible.
For races run in part on unpaved roads or on trails, we may also consider having alternate, all-paved courses planned in advance. We made a successful last-minute switch to an all-road course with the Treasure Hunt 5K on 18 January, so one person asked me recently why we didn't do this with the Tandems 5K. To be perfectly honest, we completely forgot about the idea! I'm not sure why, but I guess we were blinded by our expectations that the original course would be in good shape on race day. Coming up with an alternate Tandems 5K road course just never popped into my brainless head. We did have a road course planned out for our second attempt at holding the Tandems 5K, although luckily we didn't have to use it. But we probably should've had the road course ready on 1 February.
Anyway, I just thought I'd explain the Tandems 5K postponement, along with the thoughts that went into it and the thoughts that have come out of it. When you put on races during the winter months, you run into these sorts of problems... but hey, at least these are just little three or four dollar events. It's been said before, and it'll be said again: "Hey, it's just the Winter Series!"
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