Discounts offered to Myrtle Beach Marathon runners

Runners who signed in for the Myrtle Beach Marathon last month - which was canceled because of snow - are being offered 50 percent off next year's registration fees plus half off registration fees for the Marine Corps Historic Half, a Virginia half-marathon planned for May.

Marathon organizers sent e-mails offering the discounts Tuesday morning to the nearly 5,900 people who showed up for marathon weekend and picked up their race numbers.

But not all the runners are happy with that deal.

"It might be a valid offer for some, but it's not for me," said Andy Bindewald, a runner from Columbia who said he's "peeved, to say the least," about the cancellation.

"Even if they gave me 100 percent of my registration back, I don't think I'd come back," Bindewald said.

The 13th annual Myrtle Beach Marathon was scheduled to be run Feb. 13. But the night before, Myrtle Beach city officials canceled the race because the weather forecasts called for 3 inches of snow and warned of the possibility of icy conditions and downed power lines and tree limbs.

The city is not an official co-sponsor, but it does approve the event's course and the number of runners, and it sets up city staff to help put on the event. The city is not paid by the marathon and does not make any money directly from it, not even for a special-event permit, which normally costs $250.

"We provide a lot of support at no cost, which we do for other events, too," said city spokesman Mark Kruea.

The city said it wasn't only concerned for the safety of the runners, who would be on a partly open race course with regular vehicle traffic, but also for the safety of the 1,500 volunteers and city workers who would have to begin before dawn setting up the course, then stay out during the race to staff water and sustenance stations and guide traffic.

Shaun Walsh, the race's president and co-director, said he hated to see the race called off, but the race board's own emergency plan dictates the most up-to-the-minute weather forecasts should guide decisions. Many runners were upset about the cancellation, and some of them ran the route on their own that Saturday.

"We just couldn't gamble on the hope that no one would get hurt," Walsh said.

The race's board of directors has taken about two weeks to decide what it would do to try to compensate runners for canceling the race.

The sign-up forms state that no refunds will be given, even if the event is canceled, but Walsh said the board wanted to do something. Full refunds were never a possibility because much of the cost of putting on the event is paid long before race day, and a certain amount of money is promised to charities the race weekend benefits.

Bindewald said he spent a lot more than just the cost of registering for the race, and no one is offering to make up that money.

"I raised $700 for the Lymphoma and Leukemia Society [which is still going to the charity]. I took half a day of vacation to drive over there, got a hotel room and went to restaurants there," he said. "They didn't give the cancellation notice until 10:30 at night. I think it was a plot to keep people in their hotel rooms another night.

"The weather forecast said 3 inches all day. They could have called off the race earlier and people could have canceled those hotel rooms."

This was the first time Bindewald had come to Myrtle Beach for the marathon or half-marathon, both of which were canceled, and said he thinks the decision to call of the races will hurt tourism.

Gary Krugger, who drove from Erie, Pa., and slept in his car, said the reasons the city gave for canceling the runs were "ridiculous."

Walsh has said it wouldn't have been fair to ask the 1,500 volunteers to come back the next day - especially on a day when so many people around here go to church - or give up other plans they had made to work a delayed race.

Krugger said those reasons don't matter to him and the discount won't entice him back.

Walsh said the marathon board had received a lot of e-mails by Tuesday afternoon, most of them negative.

"There's a lot of 'I, I, I,'" he said. "People don't seem to realize that a race like this does not just pop up the day before it's run."

But a few messages were more cheerful - from people who thanked the board for the "generous offer" and praised the board for "a wonderful event," he said.

Some are angry that the discount offer only lasts through March 31, but Walsh said that's because the board has to start planning for next year's race and how and where to advertise it. How much money it will have ahead of time to pay for the advertising will be affected by how many people take the deal.

"We need to know as soon as possible, so if we have to change our advertising plans, we can do that," Walsh said.

The race 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 for the marathon.

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 wants the city to 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 allowing more runners would help make up for some lost revenue.

The discounts are only valid for the marathon and half-marathon. Open registration for next year's runs and bike race begins in August. Next year's marathon has already been scheduled for Feb. 19.