Photography by Reza Shayestehpour on Unsplash
The USA Women’s Half Marathon took a turn at White Rock Lake this weekend.
The race was canceled due to “lightening and orders from police to call the race,” according to a representative from USA Endurance Events. Many runners had travelled thousands of miles to participate, leading many to take to social media to complain of the sudden cancelation. Others posted in support of the decision.
To make up for the sudden cancelation, the organization will be shipping out all the goodies that those participating were supposed to receive, according to USA Women’s Half Marathon’s Instagram.
Chandra, a participant from out-of-town, made sure she still ran the miles.
“You go back to the hotel, get your ass on that treadmill and you run that half marathon and earn that bling,” Chandra said on her Instagram post.
Ashley, another out-of-town runner, made sure to end her night with gratitude regardless of the events.
“Our crazy crew is now enjoying breakfast before we go to the finish to collect our race swag and head back to Houston,” Ashley said on her Instagram post.
Minji, a runner whose night ended in the ER due to a fall, describes the trip to Dallas as a whirlwind.
“Bummer to travel thousands of miles to run a race that never happened,” Minji said on her Instagram post.
The organization took responsibility for the incident on a post to their Instagram story:
“Ladies… We are so sorry you did not get the experience you wanted this last weekend. Our team is devastated that all of you were not able to run this course and enjoy the finish line festival.
We know that so many of you travelled from all over and we see you! Our team is putting together all the necklaces to ship out by this week and also all the swag if you did not pick up at the expo.
We are getting to all the emails, surveys and messages as fast as we can to make sure all questions and concerns are taken care of.
So many of you have been so supportive and we thank you for the encouragement in a difficult situation that our company (of 13 years) has never experienced.
We take full responsibility for the lack of communication before the race start time and the parking. We are taking all feedback and making sure all future races are adjusted accordingly.
We were in contact with the city and police the whole time and they did not give us a clear to cancel the race, so we decided to cancel on our end.
The weather had a different plan for this last weekend and we can’t control that or even predict exactly what it will look like.
Again we truly appreciate all the support and feedback and we look forward to serving you all in the future!
Please email us at info@usaenduranceevents.com to send any concerns, questions or feedback!”
The marathon is hosted by USA Endurance Events, which is a road race company that focuses on bringing quality events to cities with the “runner” in mind. They also give back to charities in the cities where their events take place, according to their website. In Dallas, they chose to partner with Make-A-Wish North Texas, a non-profit granting wishes to children with chronic illnesses.
Participants paid a $180 registration fee to be put in a lottery to run the marathon. Only 1,800 were chosen to participate. They were to receive a Kendra Scott necklace, a LuLu Lemon finisher shirt, professional race photos, a custom tote with gifts inside, mimosas and a continental breakfast at the finish line, according to EnduranceSportswire.
CLARIFICATION: On Nov. 6 at 1:30 p.m., a quote from a representative of the race was added to clarify that the race was called due to police orders to cancel the race due to lightning.
