Due to our weekend of wild weather here in the Pacific Northwest, many local races have had to reschedule or even cancel. The Molalla River Trail Race has rescheduled for Saturday, November 12. The good news about this delay is that if you had procrastinated and didn’t get registered yet – you still can! Online registration has been re-opened through November 11th. As of Wednesday (Oct. 12) there were 65 spots left for the 5K, 62 for the 10K, and 76 for the half-marathon. The other good news is that you still have time to get in a little more hill training before race day! (I highly recommend you spend some quality time on the hills over the next month.) To learn more about this race and why I like it, see the Run Oregon preview posted last month.
In case you missed it, the following announcement about the date change was sent out to racers and is currently posted on the race website:
Hey Molalla River Trail Racers:For us the Molalla River Trail Race isn’t just a race, it is our passion. We have spent a year looking for what we can do better, planning, and pouring our heart into giving our runners the best running experience possible. Why? Because we love Molalla, we love our running community and we love the Molalla River Corridor. We are a small non-profit race trying to expose people to the beauty of this area, and to help revive the economy of our region.
When the full extent of this storm was predicted, our hearts sank. We didn’t want to consider the possibly of cancelling the race. However, today the state director of BLM (our race is on their land) has officially closed all of their developed recreation sites through the end of the storm, which has effectively taken the difficult decision out of our hands. That means that Oct. 15th is no longer the date of our race.
Here is where things stand:
Our new race date is Nov. 12th! Finding another date is difficult because a race relies on so many partners including timing crews, permits, volunteers, shuttle buses, etc. Thankfully the stars have aligned, and we have a new date, and if Bigfoot survives the current storm we are hoping to see him then. So mark your calendars, keep training, and let’s hope for better weather.
We realize that unfortunately not everyone will be able to make the new date. If you fall into that category you have one of two choices.
1) If you can’t make the race, our preferred option is to give you a free race voucher for next year. The voucher would be good for either the Freedom 5K (on the 4th of July) or any distance of the 2017 Molalla River Trail Race. If you do not show up to the race Nov. 12th, you don’t have to do anything. At some point in the new year when our registration opens we will send you a voucher for your free race.
2) For those who are not satisfied with the new date, instead of a race voucher we are willing to refund as much of your entry fee as we can. Our reality is that everything has already been purchased for the race, and the vast majority of your race fees go directly to the cost of putting on and advertising the race. Refunds will not be first come first serve. If you would like to get a refund please e-mail me and we will put your name on a list. After all of our race expenses are paid, we will take any remaining money from the race and process as much of a refund as we can based on the cost of your race, how many people are requesting refunds and how much remaining money we have to work with. It could result in very little money or a full refund based on those factors. Refunds will be processed before the end of the year.We are so sorry for any inconvenience these developments have caused you. We hope and look forward to racing with you on Nov. 12th!
Thanks,
Jon Knapp
Race Director
Molalla River Trail Race
Thank you, Molalla River Trail Race organizers, for all your hard work and for thinking about all your racers. We’re sorry that you’ve had to reschedule, but so glad that the race is on for November 12! Personally, I am looking forward to running the trails next month. See you out there!
