Clonakilty Waterfront Marathon on Saturday cancelled

corcaigh07

Due to heavy rain yesterday and last night part of the Marathon route is badly flooded. With close consultation with local authorities and professional grounds workers in the area, we unfortunately had to make the tough decision to revert all Marathon runners only, to the half marathon distance. We would like to inform you now of this change of plan in advance of your trip to Clonakilty.

 

Further rain is forecasted today and tonight and we have been advised that water level from the sea will not subside in time. The water level has nowhere to run off at present and will remain like this for several days.

 

This decision was based on Health and safety grounds, the wellbeing of our participants and the terms of our insurance conditions. Your safety comes first at all times.

 

We hope you will not be disappointed and you can fully enjoy the Clonakilty experience. We are looking forward to seeing you all. We very much appreciate each and every one of our participants along with the love and joy you bring to Clonakilty every year. Again we are sincerely sad to bring you this news but we feel we had to make this call now rather than on the morning of the event.

 

This year is a very special year for Clonakilty Waterfront Marathon celebrating local hero Michael Collins, the 100th anniversary of the state and standing in solidarity with our Ukrainian friends who live in peace with us all over the country.

For the most up to date information please go to our Facebook page click HERE

Notes: we cannot run the half marathon loop twice due to traffic management and town centre congestion.

 

Thank you again, love and best wishes from 

The Runclon.ie Crew XX

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corcaigh07

No refund of any type offered and no defer option offered despite this on their website:

In the event the race must be cancelled due to adverse weather conditions, participants will be transferred to the same category for the rescheduled event. This is valid for one year only.

There is no refund.

event

I'd say they will do a deferral. Sure they will hardly just cancel the event and then keep the money.

I'd give them a few days, I'd imagine its absolute panic stations down there

28064212

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119917658#Comment_119917658

From the text above, it sounds like they're not cancelling, they're "just" downgrading the full marathon to a half (there already was a half scheduled). Now, maybe they're in the process of evaluating their options regarding refunds or deferrals, but if so, they should have communicated that in the announcement. At the moment, it sounds like you do the half or get nothing.

corcaigh07

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119917912#Comment_119917912

That's exactly it, the 10k and half are going ahead. The full is off so essentially anyone that paid €70 for the full are only getting the half, which costs €60.

No gesture of goodwill offered for the difference in price and no option to defer until the 2023 event.

fatherted1969

I would expect them to push on with the races on Sat and worry about sorting out the marathon mess early next week. Some runners may be happy to drop back to the half so there may not be too many holding out for the refund/deferral. I was planning to drive down for the marathon but the motivation to drive 3hrs for a half marathon just isn't there.

Website clearly states cancellation options in event of adverse weather so I'd be expecting that to be honoured. Bit of a strange text to send out, completely at odds to their website though. I'm sure they are up to their eyes trying to organise the reshuffle,

Correct decision to pull the marathon though, very unfortunate. Clon is always a great end of year marathon for me. Great part of the country. Hope they don't get any flak on the day

corcaigh07

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119918715#Comment_119918715

I'd be hoping for an update today. I'll do the half if the choice is that or nothing at all but if there is a choice to defer, I'll be taking that.

Not exactly fair to wait until after Saturday for a decision.

corcaigh07

They have backtracked on their comms from yesterday, deferrals now to be offered. Correct decision but they could have saved themselves a lot of hassle if this was offered from the beginning:

All full marathon participants are automatically transferred to tomorrows half marathon. As per your race waiver, all full marathon participants who do not take part in tomorrows half marathon will be automatically transferred to next years event. No refunds will be provided. If you decide to not take part tomorrow, please email support@myrunresults.com and your request will be processed in the coming weeks. Date and race route for next year will be confirmed in due course.

We look forward to a great and safe race day tomorrow which we are focusing on. Our love and best wishes from all the Clon Crew

fatherted1969

I think they were trying to get as many as possible to step back to the half, a full field of marathon deferrals brings a lot of issues I'd imagine. Be great if they could run this off early next year without impacting next year's run

event

Yeah as usual people jumped straight to moaning and would lnt give them a minutes peace to catch their breath.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119919340#Comment_119919340

When you say backtracked, did they say in their comms specifically say that deferrals wouldn't be allowed?

28064212

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119922020#Comment_119922020

You're being extremely generous to the organisers there. The initial communication says "we unfortunately had to make the tough decision to revert all Marathon runners only, to the half marathon distance. We would like to inform you now of this change of plan in advance of your trip to Clonakilty". There's no interpretation of that which suggests anything other than "do the half, or get nothing". They only issued their revised approach after a backlash from people "moaning"

Race organisers absolutely get a lot of unfair criticism - that doesn't mean they should be exempt from it when it's justified.

event

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119930336#Comment_119930336

You mean in your opinion there was no other interpretation?

I just think people should be cut some slack. Too often these days people are way to quick to go on witch hunts cos they don't have all of the information they want right this instant.

It was in their T&Cs/FAQs on their site previously that people would be deferred to the next year. Why wouldn't you just trust the website? And what they did years ago when the same thing happened?

Maybe they rushed their comms out. Maybe they thought the public would cut them a bit of slack.

When did everyone turn in to Veruca Salt?

bucketybuck

You are wrong on this one, their statement was unambiguous:

"we unfortunately had to make the tough decision to revert all Marathon runners only, to the half marathon distance. We would like to inform you now of this change of plan in advance of your trip to Clonakilty"

That very clearly states that runners are being bumped to the half-marathon, with no suggestion whatsoever of any other option.

There is no room for interpretation in that statement, there simply isn't.

T-Bird

My wife called them after I received the text message regarding the cancelation and transfer on Thursday evening. She left a message and asked for them to call back, and fair play to Bob that he did. He avoided the question re deferral and forcing people to do the half marathon and said that they would not give any answer regarding this until after tomorrow and said that they were only concentrating keeping the other 2 events open at the moment and he never once suggested that the marathon runners could run next year instead in the 10 or more minuets he was on the phone. He mentioned how much money he had lost in the previous cancellations and other stuff I won't go into here, and also the abuse he was getting from some of the calls.

I think it was deliberate ploy to see how many would defer to the half or 10k before giving into pressure and releasing the statement regarding deferral.

I signed up for the full, which was to be my first, I couldn't cancel the apartment as it was too short of a notice, so I went there anyway and did the 2nd half after on my own, which was some experience.

bobburns007

Hi there, is there going to be a run clon 2023?

corcaigh07

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120719790#Comment_120719790

No word yet on a date.

corcaigh07

Forgot to mention, this is now to be held on Nov 25, 10k, half and full. Course is now based in Courtmacsherry (doing a Ryanair).

yerwanthere123

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121230042#Comment_121230042

€50 for the 10k though?! Sweet Jesus.

opus

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121276646#Comment_121276646

The Thomas Kent 10k in Castlelyons (not too far from Fermoy) on Nov 12 would be a cheaper option at €20, €50 is saucy for a 10k for sure!

yerwanthere123

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121277490#Comment_121277490

And not only that, they've just announced that they're reverting back to the original, much hillier course, two weeks before race day!

corcaigh07

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121356713#Comment_121356713

Yep, strange decision, funny feeling it's based off revenue as they sold out the Courtmacsherry run, then announced the route change and extra places.

Also strange as I thought the initial course change to Courtmacsherry was due to flooding concerns.

corcaigh07

Cork Running Blog on the situation:

https://corkrunning.blogspot.com/2023/11/the-2023-clonakilty-marathon-is-on-move.html