Myrtle Beach Marathon offers a deal for canceled runs

Runners who signed up and picked up their marathon and half-marathon numbers for this year's Myrtle Beach Marathon will receive 50 percent off next year's sign-ups through March 31.

The mass e-mail is scheduled to go out at 9 a.m., and race president and co-director Shaun Walsh said he "hopes people will take it in the spirit in which it's being given."

He said about 5,900 people picked up their numbers for this year's big races, which were then canceled because of the weather.

Their sign-up fees averaged $80 per person, he said. If 5,000 people take this discount offer, it could mean a loss of up to $200,000 revenue for the marathon, depending on what their sign-up fees end up being.

Walsh said marathon organizers won't know exactly how the loss of money will affect next year's race until they find out how much they will be short.

"For us to retain the quality of the event, we need to know about this kind of loss well in advance," he said.

He said he hopes the city will allow organizers to increase the field next year, even though some changes were made to the course this year that weren't tested because of the weather. But a bigger field would help make up for some lost revenue.

Runners who picked up their numbers and didn't get to run in the Myrtle Beach Marathon will also learn this morning that they are being offered a 50 percent discount to enter the Marine Corps Historic Half, a half-marathon scheduled for May 16 in Fredericksburg, Va., Walsh said.