Company behind Saint Clair Vineyard Half Marathon in liquidation
A beloved half marathon forced to cancel this weekend’s annual event has gone into liquidation.
The Saint Clair Vineyard Half Marathon has been a major event on the Marlborough calendar for more than a decade, drawing thousands from other regions and even overseas.
But this year’s event was cancelled shortly before alert level four started in March, five weeks out from race day on May 9.
Co-owner Chris Shaw said after calculating the money already spent and lost on this year’s event, and all the partial refunds, the company (trading as The Grape Run) had no choice but to go into liquidation.
‘‘We’re gutted ... we’ve just lost our business and income and our reputation, and there’s a sense of grief that comes with that,’’ Shaw said.
The organisers started preparing for this year’s event in
June last year, and had spent ‘‘a tonne of money’’ in the months before lockdown. That included investing in marketing to compete with similar races in other regions that had popped up in the last few years, Shaw said.
‘‘If it had happened three years ago we probably would have been fine. If the event was scheduled for three months ago, we would have been in a way better position, or if it was to happen 10 days from now, that would have been fine.
‘‘Basically it’s the perfect storm of wrong year and wrong time of year. This pandemic hit when we were at our most exposed and the rest is history.’’
Along with creditors out-ofpocket, the race was a major contributor to Bowel Cancer New Zealand with competitors able to donate as part of their ticket purchase, matched by the halfmarathon company. The event brought in about $65,000 a year for the charity, which had since started a Givealittle page in the hopes of recouping some of the shortfall.
They also donated about $20,000 to sports groups in exchange for volunteers, and all profit from car parking charges paid to the property owner was passed on to a local school, Shaw said.
‘‘That’s the kind of stuff we do … the reason it’s been so successful comes down to the fact that Anna [Polson] and I really cared about the event and its place in Marlborough.
‘‘We’d love to be part of something to build Marlborough back up again after this. I’m gutted I can’t do anything practical right now to help.’’
The good weather forecast this weekend would have made for perfect race conditions, Shaw said.
‘‘We look at what we used to roll out each year, and we think about what we could have done this year.
‘‘This doesn’t come without a sense of loss.
‘‘We loved being a part of Marlborough, and being able to present Marlborough in that way.’’
The team had copped some vitriolic comments online for only giving a partial refund, Shaw said.
‘‘We had already spent a lot of that money … We couldn’t refund the tickets in full. The bank wouldn’t physically give us the money,’’ Shaw said.
A ‘‘force majeure’’ clause to protect the company from unforeseen events including a pandemic meant they did not have to give any refunds, Shaw said.
‘‘But we didn’t want to profiteer from the event falling over this year, so we tried to refund the balance of money not spent.
‘‘And it has to be said most people are being amazing at a time like this, most of the emails we’ve had have been so supportive and some of the comments just bring a tear to your eye.’’
Saint Clair Family Estate issued a disclaimer on Thursday stating that the wine company’s involvement was only that of sponsorship, and was not involved with the liquidation process.
Foodie festival Feast Marlborough had partnered with the half-marathon in recent years, but this weekend’s events had also been cancelled due to Coronavirus restrictions, though organisers still hoped to run the planned events later in the year.
Chairwoman Fiona Fenwick said the team was ‘‘deeply disappointed’’ to hear about the company going into liquidation.
‘‘The current situation has had such an impact on events and especially the vineyard half, it’s such a great event, not just for the region but for the country,’’ Fenwick said.
‘‘It’s desperately sad times when through no fault of their own everything shifts.
‘‘It’s a terrible loss, a tragedy.’’
‘‘Basically it’s the perfect storm of wrong year and wrong time of year. This pandemic hit when we were at our most exposed and the rest is history.’’ Chris Shaw
Saint Clair Half Marathon Co-owner