Friday, September 14, 2007
Dear LB,
Due to the outbreak of Foot and Mouth in Surrey, the Crown Estate acting on advice from Defra and their own veterinary consultant has closed Windsor Great Park for the foreseeable future. This of course means that the Windsor Half Marathon has had to be cancelled for 2007. We have investigated the possibility of moving the date but this has proved not to be possible
This is a massive blow to all concerned; you the runner and us as organisers. For us the event is 12 months of the year, as soon as one finishes we start on the next one and to have it cancelled just 2 weeks before the event is, quite devastating.
We cannot refund any entry fees, it does state this quite clearly in our Terms and Conditions and as you can understand with just 2 weeks to go we have spent a great deal of money on the organisation- money we will not get back. The Windsor Half Marathon is a non profit organisation with all surplus funds being donated to our two event charities and to our groups of volunteers (ATC and local scout groups who number over 400) we rely very heavily upon revenue on and after the event to bolster our donations and this of course will not be forthcoming this year.
If there is a small surplus this year it will be donated to the two charities that have already spent a lot of time and energy working on the event, but we have decided to offer a large discount on the entry fee to all this years entrants who wish to run next year. The amount at this stage we cannot say as we need to sit down and do our sums.
Every entrant will receive an email prior to the 2008 entry officially opening which will enable them enter at the special discount entry fee.
We sincerely hope that you understand our position, it is simply the worst time we have ever had in event management and there is an awful lot of work still to do and all we can do is apologise once more but as you can see the situation is totally out of our control.
Kind Regards
P H - Race Director
To be honest, I don't understand their position! They could have said we'd get free entry into some small race! I might not be at my fittest right now but I was looking forward to the race.. and my MONEY, they just want to take it????!!!! LOL!
4 Comments:
lol, I see the Brits remain tight-fisted as ever.
You are very correct! LOL!
I just read my own email yesterday and twas quite disheartening. I was looking forward to the windsor race. They've offered to transfer us (8k entrants) to the brighton 8k holding in October. Might just take them up on it cos I dont see them offering a reasonable discount that would make us happy next year when they could have automatically transferred us to next years race. I'm so so diassapointed. (smile)
The hydro active race was lovely. The course was crowded all the way till the end. I think there was about 20,000 entrants. Finished in 45 minutes.
I've transferred my entry to the Brighton 8K. Its holding on the 14th.
When is your next race? It takes a lot of will to run these days. the mornings are so cold and dark. How are you both faring with your early morning runs?
Post a Comment