Pandemic stops runners in their tracks
Race Waterloo season is on hold and remainder of races in doubt
WATERLOO — The Race Waterloo season commenced in the second week of February with an eight-mile running race at RIM Park.
The way it looks now, with no end in sight for the provincial ban on large public gatherings, the 23rd instalment of the “ReFridgee-Eighter” will likely go down as the first and only race on the 19-event schedule.
The season is on hold until at least June 30, said Race Waterloo race director Lloyd Schmidt, and this week’s announcement by Ontario Premier Doug Ford on how the province will reopen for business might serve as the final nail in the series’ coffin.
“We were kind of hoping that things would open up in July, but listening to the three-step plan for reopening the economy, sporting events are stage three and it doesn’t look promising,” said Schmidt.
“Our events haven’t been cancelled past June 30 but the writing’s kind of on the wall,” he said.
Race Waterloo’s season came to a screeching halt March 13, less than 24 hours before the “Laurier Loop” fun race was set to take place at Wilfrid Laurier University. Runners were told the race was still a go March 12, but the university campus was closed a day later in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The third event on the schedule — the “Elmira ENDURace” — was to be held this past weekend and four others are on the schedule between now and the end of June.
The biggest event of the season — the Waterloo Classic road races — were supposed to take place June 21. That obviously isn’t going happen, so this year’s event will likely be a virtual race in which participants run a 10-kilometre course of their choosing and submit their times online. Details are available at runwaterloo.com.
The Waterloo race was first contested in 1978 and Schmidt took over as race director in ’87, forming the foundation for Race Waterloo in the process. He gradually added races to the schedule and has played a leading role in growing the series into its present form. The final race on this year’s schedule is the “Santa Pursuit” on Nov. 21.
Race Waterloo is run as a nonprofit venture and Schmidt said he’s doing his best to offer refunds to race participants where possible. T-shirts and medals were already purchased for the Laurier Loop and refunds weren’t offered because of that fact. Full refunds are being offered for most upcoming events, with entrants also being given the option of deferring payments to next year.
“For the Laurier race, all the money had been spent and we couldn’t offer refunds. So we kind of got hammered by some people, saying we should give full refunds because we cancelled the race,” said Schmidt.
“That’s not how it works financially but for the other races in the future, if we haven’t ordered the T-shirts yet and we haven’t ordered the medals yet, we will refund your money.”
A decision on what to do with Race Waterloo membership fees ($50 for adults and $25 for youth, seniors and students) has yet to be determined, said Schmidt. There were 430 paying members last year and this year about 300 had paid in advance.
Outside of the Race Waterloo umbrella, the 15th Mudpuppy Chase Family Race that was scheduled for Sunday has been cancelled. Refunds for the event, a charity fundraiser hosted by the Rotary Club of Kitchener Grand River, are available at mudpuppychaseroadrace.com.
Also cancelled was the Waterloo Marathon and Ed Whitlock Half Marathon that was to have taken place this past weekend. A fundraiser for St. John Ambulance, refund options are available at waterloomarathon.com.