Hello Half Marathoner,
As you know, the weather forecast this week has been questionable as far as the potential for thunderstorms.
The Hoosier Half Marathon, and therefore the NIRCA Half Marathon National Championship, has been cancelled by race organizers.
We're runners -- a little rain has never stopped any of us! However, lightning is a non-negotiable, serious threat to life safety.
This decision was made shortly before 4am this morning when lightning struck within 15 miles of Bloomington and organizers decided it would not be safe to set up the race course (nor responsible to allow the possibility that thousands of runners could be stranded on the course in an unsafe situation).
The severe weather is expected to impact Bloomington at roughly the planned race start, 8am.
We are as devastated and disappointed to learn of about this as you must be, since we've all put in hours and miles of hard work to get here today.
Next Steps
The Hoosier Half Marathon is inviting runners - yes, you! - to pick up race shirts and medals, if you wish.
The Devault Alumni Center will be open between 6:30am and 8:30am today if you'd like to grab a free shirt/medal.
Additional Decisions To Come
At this point, NIRCA National Championship events still remain: our efforts must go toward ensuring that two full days of our Track & Field meet run smoothly, carefully, and safely. This half marathon competition will not be rescheduled by NIRCA nor the Hoosier Half Marathon as heavy expenses have already been incurred to produce the event and secure your race entry.
The Hoosier Half Marathon & 5k announced earlier this week that all registrations are final sale; the event cannot offer refunds of race entries due to this incurred cost, and all proceeds are benefitting the Riley Children's Foundation, one of the nation’s best children’s hospitals in Indianapolis which provides pediatric care to every child who needs it.
Riley is an incredible local organization that helps hundreds of kids who find themselves in life or death situations every single year; in the big picture,
we are proud that a large portion of our entry fees are going to a truly worthy cause.
With this in mind, no decisions have been made - or will be made this weekend - on how NIRCA will proceed, financially, with this information about the race's no-refund policy.
We will keep you up to date via email and social media following the event weekend.
QUESTIONS?
Contact our Race Management team at:
race.management@clubrunning.org
