I was in Florida a few years ago and did that race. It was a blast.

Fly-by-Night on May 2'nd is still "on". Really hope it stays that way.

Front-page article on this very topic: https://www.slowtwitch.com/...VID-19_Era_7605.html

Now, some caveats: we're non-profit, donate all proceeds to charitable organizations, and we take $0 in compensation from the event. But I can't imagine being in Boots, or Mark Walter's, or DelMo's shoes right now.


Ryan,

That article of your's is mandatory reading for everyone. Thank you for doing that.

I sense their is a perception that because an event is big in numbers of participants, it's a BIG business. Outside of IRONMAN/RnR, almost every other race/event organizer and event management company in North America is a small, even micro-business, and as you point out, some are even non-profit.

Participants see big participation numbers, do some quick math in their heads with the entry fee they have just paid and, quickly come to the conclusion, "Wow, these guys must be making a killing"! Nothing could be further from the truth. The Race/Event Management business is a razor thin margin business at the best of times, and it;s only become harder I would say in the last 5 - 10 years, as hard costs for everything from, permits, to police to porta-potties, has got up exponentially!

The largest Running Event Management Company in Canada, that organizes running races and events all across the country, the biggest being the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon, with 25,000 participants, has a full time staff, I believe of 6-people!! These are not big companies - it's just looks from the outside, that they are big companies.

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Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog

Serious question for you (and if you know, other RDs), do you buy insurance to cover the possibility of the event not occurring? I assume not based on the article but I am curious. I assume a larger group like IM probably does but I really have no idea.

We don't -- and for most smaller races like us, the cost is astronomical. Additionally, looking at a couple of the policies out there, it looks like pandemic isn't covered. Now that there's more government action, it looks like that you might be able to recover on a claim.

I can't say with certainty, but I am pretty sure that IRONMAN self-insures against this kind of thing.

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Editor-in-Chief, Slowtwitch.com | Twitter

Honestly, the ones like Kinetic Multisport in Virginia/Maryland, I kind of hope they don't make it out of this pandemic. They are acting like their cancellation is the customers fault. They are saying requests for refunds are tantamount to someone wanting to cancel due to an injury or pregnancy. I don't think some of these organizers are looking at the long-term. If 2020 season doesn't happen, it's not a great starting point for 2021 to be pissing off your customer base.

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Team Zoot 2023

I think that's a big assumption. Sure the average salary of a triathlon participant is quite healthy, but it's a bell-curve. People who are on that lower end of the bell curve aren't trying to put down payments on the industry. I sure as hell would like my money back from the race organizers. A lot of people are also losing their jobs and income and we're going to ask them to foot the bill for Tri companies? That seems like a stretch.

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Team Zoot 2023

I’m wondering what the impact on smaller local triathlon RDs/ production companies will be. With in many cases expenses incurred already but no races, will we see a number of local tri orgs not survive?


What will be the impact - it will be significant!

The big other shoe that dropped today was the postponement of the Olympic Games. Now, even if you could run a race (which is looking doubtful) in June/July/Aug, with the biggest sports event in the world not running, to run some other event, will be most likely met with derision, negativity and not be viewed in the best light (just guessing here).

Going further, I do expect some race/event management companies, and the races/events they run to not make it. It really depends on how they are set up and what their financial situation is. The ones in the toughest position are the small to mid sized professional race/event management for profit companies. They are often in a position of being unable to give full or any refunds.

Challenging times!

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Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog

I’ve registered for 3 “virtual” events in the past 2 days. Specifically asked NOT to be sent a shirt or medal. Not sure I’ll do the event but if it helps the RD survive. It’s well worth it. No different then ordering takeout from the local restaurant to support them. Obviously these are for RDs that put on good events and I’d hate to see them “go away”

And I won’t be asking for refunds from races that were canceled. I also won’t ask the YMCA for a refund or any other monthly fee I’m paying and not using.

this

I think we could see local racing this summer. Sure the Olympics will have been cancelled but I don't think anyone will care about the optics and might even be relieved to see a community event. Nobody in their right mind will compare the two. I don't think we'll be seeing too many full flights or packed amusement parks by then but things like sprint triathlons and 5ks could happen be happening.

If we are still at the point where going to work, community pools, youth sports, etc. still aren't taking place then I hate to think of where we will be as a society at that point. It will be ugly.

 

I think the really tricky part, is anyone putting on a race any time this calendar year will be impacted (even if the lockdowns are lifted before their race). Boston, was reschedule for September, that will negatively impact other fall races. There are a lot of smaller marathons in the NE in the fall, one could argue Boston should just cancel this year (because they have the financial resources to recover), because the impact on all these local events could likely be the difference between making and losing money (and unlike Boston they just don't have the resources to swallow it).

There is no right answer, but you can see it is going to be really tough for event promoters; for example timing companies can only be in so many places at once, if they already have a commitment in September then can't support the race from May now rescheduled for September too.

The crowded schedule will create problems for sure. If races are happening again it's going to seem like I'm racing just about every weekend. Hopefully there will be an increased demand to participate. You may have experienced athletes signing up for more races after being stuck inside for so long. You also will most definitely see an increase in running participation and to a lesser extent cycling over the next few months. Maybe some of those folks will sign up for a race. Of course unemployment will be a lot higher by then too......

Volunteer recruitment will be a huge issue when events are allowed to start up again. Racers will want to race even if the virus is still present/prevalent but will you be able to recruit the necessary volunteers to properly orchestrate the event.

That’s a huge issue that a lot of people aren’t thinking about.

The race organization and the athletes might be ready and raring to go but the race only works if you have volunteers, permits, full on local governmental support, law enforcement, lifeguards, emergency personnel, and a robust medical presence of people and equipment.

The emergency and medical infrastructure is going to be really taxed for the coming months. The lag time for things to realistically get back to normal is going to be weeks and months after we are given an all clear. Then there’s concern of additional waves of infection if we let our guard down too soon.

Look at China as an example. They are now four or five months into this and they’re nowhere near a return to normalcy. They had several days of no new cases but they’re now seeing new cases again. Nowhere near previous levels but new cases nevertheless. They are now starting to ease lockdown restrictions so we shall see if they start to see a new wave of infections.

China had much more draconian lockdown measures than North America. Yes, they have a way larger population and population density so maybe not completely an apples to apples comparison but we are realistically only a couple of weeks into this. There’s likely a few more months of just trying to control the spread. Then we can start our new normal and I’m not sure lending any kind of importance to putting on a triathlon is going to be a high priority.

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Favorite Gear: Dimond | Cadex | Desoto Sport | Hoka One One

I think it is going to be a long haul before any of us are racing

If social distancing is relaxed to 'get the economy going' then there will be a lot of people sick, which will cut down on the number of people able to race, and many others will avoid races to avoid getting sick.

Also the health care system will be operating with reduced staff and increased caseload. Who is going to provide emergency medical care for racers? I imagine insurers will be reluctant to assume any added risk as well.

Finally, if by some miracle a race is held in an area that is less affected, only local athletes will be able to attend. Travel is not going to be easy until there is a vaccine available.

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 I do expect some race/event management companies, and the races/events they run to not make it.
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100% there will be casualties. Once a small little community event gets passed by a year will the racers return? Volounteers return? Will the races that are non-profit like the one I help put on (now cancelled) want to pick it back up in 2021 or think twice that maybe now is the time to lay it to rest "after all these years"?

independent race series like Dynamic Race Events out here in BC have cancelled races through June. They have Elk Lake on August 2nd still scheduled. Well Victoria 70.3 just rescheduled to August 9? So two weekends in a row that park, lake and local roads are dedicated to triathletes. That puts strain on Dynamic Race Events as those racers who might have done both will now only do one and locals relationship to events for 2021 and beyond become strained.

Penticton RDs have cancelled Ultra520 set for August 1-3 weekend and Ultra-swim a week later. I have opinions on future of IMC but just opinions-:(

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@rhyspencer

If we are still at the point where going to work, community pools, youth sports, etc. still aren't taking place then I hate to think of where we will be as a society at that point. It will be ugly.


If you are looking at the trend charts and the modeling right now, today, in North America, the U.S. in particular . . it's NOT looking good.

The tricky thing is when do you give the "all clear" signal for life to resume it's normal ebb and flow? Trump seems to think that will be in two weeks. At the present rate, by that time the U.S. may have recorded 2000 or more deaths, and it still be rapidly on the rise! Trump is CRAZY - but I'm assuming people have figured this out!

I was on a large Webinar/Conference-Call with many leading Race Directors in the Running Race/Event Business in the U.S. and Canada, and it seemed to be the consensus that it may be the "fall" when we do start to see some more normalcy. I fear the normal summer Triathlon Race Season for most of North America is going to be quashed! But I'm hoping this is NOT the case!

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Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog

My local triathlon event organization is really struggling. These organizations aren't the cash cows that some of us might think they are when we have the sticker shock of seeing race entry fees when signing up. A lot of them have business loans, staff, and rent that doesn't go away when the country goes into lock down.

I'm proud of this company because they're offering the option to defer race entry until the next year even though it'll hurt their chances of surviving. They are encouraging people to consider doing these races as 'virtual races'. The virtual races include all the shirts, medals and awards that you'd have at the normal race. (I hate the term 'swag bags') I don't love the idea of virtual races any more than the next guy but I think this organization is doing what's best given this crazy situation.

I think the real struggle is that athletes aren't going to sign up for their local triathlons right now like they typically would at this time of year. Numbers will be down this year and I fear if we don't go out of are way to support our local triathlons that we won't have them as an option next year.

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Had a spare moment just now to check on Dynamic. Lucky we squeaked in the Westvan run. Was going to Sun Run it, then Westwood.

QBTri for June 14th says April 30th registration but my guess that gets toasted as well. Ceevacs Cowichan challenge is same weekend June 14th

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Training Tweets: https://twitter.com/Jagersport_com
FM Sports: http://fluidmotionsports.com

Very interesting thread from my perspective and a lot of very good insights from the various posters.

In our case we have been and continue to be in touch with the various host communities in an attempt to look at our options based on best and worst case scenarios. Right now this includes rescheduling the early season events (June and July) to later in the summer vs the worst being cancellation. Rescheduling might seem easy however, we believe we have to be mindful of the event calendar and whether us moving to a later date could possibly cannibalize participation in another local event. Something we do not want to do.

When it comes to possible cancellations, as many here have noted, we will have to make those decisions while addressing the sustainability of our company and how cancellations will result in requests for refunds or deferrals. In our case we will not be able to make any decisions until we know the fate of each of the races in our portfolio. We have looked at any and all scenarios and the factors that will go into making final decisions and, to that end, we put together an FAQ for our series and Barrelman Niagara Falls. I thought some might be interested on another local event management company perspective. https://multisportcanada.com/covid-19-faq/

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John Salt, Founder - MultiSport Canada
Canada's Largest Triathlon Series and Barrelman Niagara Falls
http://www.multisportcanada.com / http://www.niagarafallstriathlon.com
"Discipline Is What You Do When No One Is Watching You"