Dallas marathon cancelled!

I think they made the right call. They cancelled it relatively early unlike NYC marathon last year, who cancelled it way late after everyone had arrived in town and was stuck with hotel and airfare bills.

Props to them.

With all these weather events, I think it is wise to arrive in the host city at the last minute before the race.

I keep telling you that everybody HATES the inconvenience the marathon causes them and will take EVERY opportunity to get them cancelled.

Now that the marathons have found out they can charge exhorbitant entry fees months in advance and then keep all the money (NYC 2012) this will become the new business model.

Beating a Dead Horse.

The Marathon is not keeping the money. Most is already spend and the rest goes to Scottish Rite Hospital for this kids w/o limbs.

Temperature was not why it was cancelled. It was ICE. You cant run on ICE.

I agree that this could become the new business model. "Oops, some ice on the road. The roads are OK for all the other Dallas events, but not the marathon". I bet the businessmen hope that marathoners will eventually accept these cancellations as people accept airline cancellations due to bad weather".And for all those that are giving BJs to race directors: The roads are not that bad. The Dallas Stars had their hockey game tonight and there was not a single incident due to icy roads.

get ready to take it wrote:

I keep telling you that everybody HATES the inconvenience the marathon causes them and will take EVERY opportunity to get them cancelled.

Now that the marathons have found out they can charge exhorbitant entry fees months in advance and then keep all the money (NYC 2012) this will become the new business model.

SP wrote:

The Race keeps nothing! It goes to the hospital. Don't you understand the money is already spent? This is non-profit. This is not for profit like the RnR series or some of the other race/marathons. To refund the money takes away from the charity..Scottish Rite Hospital. Kids sitting over there w/o limbs in need of a prosthetic device. The Dallas Marathon is trying to do something which is very classy. You people do not get it.

Ho Hum wrote:

Do they not have ice and sand trucks in TX?

Basically, umm, no!

Anybody who paid by credit card should contact their credit card issuer and dispute the charge. They paid for an event and the event isn't being held, therefore they are entitled to their money back.

Sand Man wrote:

Ho Hum wrote:

Do they not have ice and sand trucks in TX?

Basically, umm, no!

Pretty much. In major Northern cities they might have, what, dozens? hundreds? I live in a large central Texas city and we have ONE.

I call B.S. Everyone knows how these "charity" organizations work, the marathon staff probably all bank, they have full time employees; they have overhead and salary and "operating costs," so they probably pull in at least $2 million per year from sponsors and entry fees and private donations, and spend about 1.8 million, then donate $200,000 after everybody gets their cut. Such B.S. So you can spare me this crap about the "charity."

SP wrote:

The Race keeps nothing! It goes to the hospital. Don't you understand the money is already spent? This is non-profit. This is not for profit like the RnR series or some of the other race/marathons. To refund the money takes away from the charity..Scottish Rite Hospital. Kids sitting over there w/o limbs in need of a prosthetic device. The Dallas Marathon is trying to do something which is very classy. You people do not get it.

This "charity" scam has been going on for years in every kind of business. Hard to believe people are that gullible (or stupid) to not see through it.

Very few paid employees, maybe 2-3. The Board Members are all volunteers/not paid. Half million donated last year. The race is put on by volunteers.

Since all the money is now going to charity and no services are received. Can I list this as a charitable donation on my taxes?

IRS wrote:

Since all the money is now going to charity and no services are received. Can I list this as a charitable donation on my taxes?

Sure, go ahead.

Verne's runner wrote:

Does anyone know if they are going to mail the medals or will we actually have to be there to pick them up?

I don't think they've made an official announcement, but I think they will be available for at least pickup They did when New York was cancelled. It may suck if you are not local to Dallas and they decide not to mail them.

You can spin it anyway you want, but you can't hide.

Brudnicki, who flew in from Canada:

"“I’ve seen a lot of bad weather in a lot of races,” said Brudnicki, who’s run about 20 races, including half- and full marathons. “I’ve run through near-hurricanes before, so this is just a little ice on the ground.

“There’s still two days to throw some salt on the ground, clear a path, get a shovel — I’ll do it.”

Again, I'm a Dallasite, transplanted from the Sibernian north. There are two separate issues: As of 9am on what would have been race day, the roads are simply impassable,covered by an inch of ice. Cars are creeping along on the interstates. The decision to cancel the race was a good one, especially given that the DFW area doesn't use road salt. Very few local runners can drive out of their neighborhoods. Had this race been held in Buffalo, where I used to live, the roads would have been clear two days ago. My wife, a Texan, has been housebound for 60 hours (by her estimate)and she is sick of me and my treadmill running! Why Dallas doesn't use salt is beyond me. Everyone remembers the Super Bowl fiasco of a few yrs ago.

The second, separate, issue is how the Dallas Marathon people deal with frustrated runners. As of this writing, they are sending registrants a race shirt. Perhaps this will mollify bucket-list hobbeyjoggers. They are also hinting at a special deal for 2013 non-runners in 2014. They should comp everyone, as NYC has done, but I predict that they won't. Runners are free not to run in commercialized, pseudo-charity events. I only race in small events with low entry fees. Fortunately, the DFW area has two awesome race directors who understand how to keep costs low and events low-key, much as they were back in the day. Here's a great-looking low-key distance event in the Dallas area:

http://www.running-the-distance.com/

SP wrote:

Half million donated last year.

Just because I am a runner doesn't mean I should be shaken down for a donation to some charity every time I want to do a race.

Our sport somehow became overrun by this.

For a marathon as large as 25,000 people, it is beyond comprehension they didn't already have a cancellation policy in advance. Of course when you care only about how much money you can make, how much you can donate, and how good you will look doing it, and not care about the participants, that is expected.

Nordic Man wrote:

Lifelong Texan here as well living in Ft. Worth. Where are you located?

This is not an issue of cold, it is an issue of ice on the streets. It layered on Thursday night, was bad yesterday, and became worse today. There wasn't even a fresh crunchy layer of snow/ice today. It warmed just enough yesterday and hardened and became even slicker today. The temps did not rise much more than about 26 today. So yeah, that ice will be gone by tomorrow morning as the temps, oh yeah, get lower tonight.

Typical letsrun idiots making rush comments about something they have no firsthand knowledge regarding.

Houston TX....I know the conditions up there are bad and that area does not have the equipment to completely deal with it. I think they should let the marathon go on for those that want to do it. I ran a half in Austin in 2006 in 30 degree weather with roads iced over. It was kind of dicey but it was fun after it was over. It was actually a PR for me in the half. I do not mind comments by idiots. My father told me when I was young " When you stick your head above the rest of the crowd, sooner or later someone will throw a rock at it."

not about the race anymore wrote:

For a marathon as large as 25,000 people, it is beyond comprehension they didn't already have a cancellation policy in advance.

They did have a cancellation policy in place.

Wejo,

Glad to know you're a P1! Don't you love the new FM signal? sooooo much better than the beat down of 1310 (i live in north Denton county)

Let me address this....This is not snow, this is 3" of ice. We did not get snow, we got a round of freezing rain, and then 3" of sleet and we are expecting freezing rain on top of that later today. I've got a 4x4 diesel and have done nothing the past two days but pull people out of the frozen ditches. However, last night I lost control at 5 mph, I saved it but my truck was on a very slight grade and i couldn't do jack crap.

You can barely walk on this ice, down here they use a mix of 10% salt and 90% sand, but its only enough to cover bad intersections, bridges, and roads. So for all of you yankees...keep talking about how awesome y'all are. Then when somebody mentions in the summer that "it's 89 degrees out, will i be ok to run or will i die?" in the summer...i will make a point to be a tough guy and look down upon you.

I can't stand all of the yankees that have been moving down here for the past decade. All y'all do is complain. If you don't like it...please leave. The temperate sucks, congrats. The drivers around here suck, congrats. oh wait...low cost of living and unobtrusive government??? ya you're welcome for that too. Go back up north to your pathetic union jobs you turd sandwiches!