If you’ve ever directed a race then you respect the hard work that goes into its preparation. It is not an easy task to put together even a small 5K, but a multi-race event requires a team of people to put on a good race. There are several tasks involved: distribution of information and advertising, ordering shirts, food/drinks, awards just to name a few. The bigger the race, the more responsibilities that go into the event.
Mistakes happen and that is understandable. A shortage of shirts or the awards get out of order, maybe the food runs out. Shirts can be re-ordered and awards corrected, and a bagel is nice but not going to ruin the event if not available. However, a mistake like closing registration when registration is promised on a certain day is cause for upset.
The Oklahoma City Marathon, Half Marathon, and relay held their ninth annual event this past weekend. Ninth annual – they’ve planned it eight other times. Their website promised expo registration would be available Friday and Saturday. Nowhere on their website did they indicate that they would close registration if they hit a capacity. However, Saturday morning they posted that the half marathon was “Sold Out.” How can you sell out of something that was suggested infinite?
In my opinion, the directors should have posted that there would be a limited number of registrations available. There is a lot of mental and physical preparation that goes into a distance race. Hopefully, this gets fixed for future events. It’s a poor way to represent a good cause. -pm