Marathon resolution e-mails expected today

Runners disappointed last month when the city of Myrtle Beach canceled the annual Myrtle Beach Marathon will have to wait until today to see if the marathon board is offering anything that will make up for their loss.

The board of directors is supposed to make an announcement today via e-mail to the more than 6,000 people who signed up to take part in the 13th annual marathon and half-marathon on Feb. 13. The events were canceled the night before, when snow fell across the Grand Strand and weather forecasts called for icy conditions and downed tree limbs and utility lines.

The city said safety was its main concern, not just for the runners who would be on a partly open course with drivers who are often unfamiliar with how to navigate such conditions here in the South, but also for the 1,500 volunteers who would have had to be out before dawn setting up the course.

Marathon president and race co-director Shaun Walsh said Monday that the mass e-mail to runners was ready, but three of the five board members still had to approve the announcement that was being attached to the e-mails.

He said many of the race organizers were out of town this weekend and did not have a chance to read through the draft and make changes or ask questions; so that was being done Monday and had to be completed before anything could be distributed.

Walsh said the plan is to notify the runners and the media at the same time.

The board has been mulling what it will do to try to make the runners happy. Marathon organizers have said a full refund would not be possible because so much of the cost of putting on the race is paid for ahead of time.

Even though the race's sign-up form says there will be no refunds, even if the event is canceled, Walsh said the board wants to make up the cancellation somehow and has been considering its options.

Other races are offering sign-up discounts for Myrtle Beach's jilted runners, but many have said they were so angry at having come here for the race and then not being able to run, they won't come back to Myrtle Beach.

Runner Robin Bowen said she traveled six hours to get to Myrtle Beach with some friends and she understands the city's safety concerns and that the charities the race benefits can't afford to lose out on the donations promised.

"I also understand the amount of money that was spent by each runner and their families [that] weekend," she wrote in an e-mail. "For a runner, the training, the personal time to juggle family, jobs, and training, the sacrifices that are made to accomplish a goal of running a half or full marathon, or qualify for Boston, to honor a mom's 71st birthday or a father's memory, can never be reimbursed."

She wondered why communication to the runners wasn't handled better, why there wasn't a better contingency plan, and said there are a couple of things that would make her happier:

"I personally would like a letter from the MB [Marathon] Board of Directors," she wrote, and "a monetary incentive to run next year's race, from entrance fee to hotels and restaurants."