Same thing...just the passage of time and to a different degree. And in your example, you could just return the merchandise and say you don't want it for $10 -- can't do that with the race.
Like I said earlier, if the race immediately went to the "we will sue" line, then that's bad form, but it still was a mistake on someone's part, and if properly described (and it seems like it has been) then the money should be returned.
Now, that said, if I were on the side of the race, I would decide that we made a horrible mistake that we must eat and then plan to not make that mistake again. BUT, since they decided to go forward with trying to get that money back, the right thing IN THIS CASE is to give it back.
People don't like to do the right thing when it involves losing some money, but it is the right thing here.