Running events get restart from state
Christmas came early this year for George Rehmet — on May 1.
That’s when California’s new pandemic guidelines took effect allowing community sporting events like marathons and other races to resume with restrictions, such as no outofstate participants and social distancing at the starting line. The news was welcomed by Bay Area runners eager to get back out on the race course.
“It’s like Christmas and that big gift you always wanted every Christmas. You never got it and you finally get it,” said Rehmet, a Daly City resident who is president of the Road Runners Club of America. “I think too, you’re sharing the present with other people ... and so it’s like, ‘Oh, I know how you’re feeling. You know how I’m feeling, like we’re so excited to do this together.’ ”
The guidelines come too late for Bay to Breakers, the Bay Area’s most famous running race, which is going virtual this year and starts next weekend. But organizers of other wellknown competitions such as the Dipsea Race, the oldest trail race in the country, say they’re looking at the guidelines with an eye toward possibly going live in the summer or fall.
The guidelines are also a lifeline for companies that put on smaller races, which have lost virtually all their income for the last 14 months.
Tim Stahler, owner of Inside Trail Racing, said the Novato company took such a hard hit that he considered returning to work in the tech field. Unlike some other organizers, Inside Trail did not stage any virtual races — contests in which people can run either a race course or any comparable distance and report their times, but do not gather together in person.
In the end, Stahler was able to stay afloat by obtaining a Paycheck Protection Program loan from the federal government, draining his savings and tapping the college funds for his four children. “Inside Trail is my family business,” he said. “It’s really just me and my wife who put on events, so 14 months of basically no income has been a challenge . ... It’s really exciting to see a green light in our future, be able to put events on and put things back in motion.”
Stahler said he plans to restart events in the Bay Area in June, noting that it typically takes about four to six weeks to organize a race.
However, race companies won’t be able to fully return to business as usual just yet, because the state guidelines have capacity limits on events and aren’t allowing festival or entertainment areas. Other restrictions include preregistration for all participants, staggered starts and capacity limits.
It’s unclear whether the restrictions will be lifted if California’s economy fully reopens June
15. Those restrictions could result in major changes for an event such as the San Francisco Marathon, which is scheduled to be run Sept.
19. Its organizers did not respond to requests for comment.
For Rehmet, the guidelines are a relief. During California’s racing shutdown, he has driven to Oregon and Nevada for live competitions. He also did about 15 virtual races, including one that had him run 100,000 feet of elevation — the equivalent of climbing Mount Everest more than three times.
“I love running marathons, halfs,” Rehmet said. “I’ll take wherever right now. I’ll take any racing right now.”
While organizers will be happy to oblige, some are frustrated that it took so long to get the OK from the state. They noted that running outdoors carries a low risk of coronavirus transmission and that many other sectors were allowed to reopen on a limited basis months ago.
In October, race directors and runners created the California Coalition of Endurance Sports to lobby the state to let community sporting events resume.
“We were literally the first industry shut down and one of the last to come back,” said coalition cofounder Mike Bone. “In the meantime, there’s been several companies that have gone out of business, gone bankrupt. There’s been events that have gone away that’ll never come back because they had to be canceled twice, largely due to the state’s inactivity . ... Of course the pandemic’s been damaging to a lot of people, a lot of businesses, but our industry has been particularly hard hit.”
It’s hard to say how much the industry will rebound. But Bay Area runners are eager to lace up their shoes and get back on the race course with others.
Ambuj Trivedi, a 39yearold Dublin resident, recently completed the 140mile Golden Gate Relay virtually with a group of friends and family, just to get a race in. He’s waiting for the real thing.
“Sitting indoors and doing virtually is the most boring thing. Running in itself is an individual activity,” he said. “But ... if you see people around you, it makes it more fun and more lively, as opposed to keep running by yourself.”
One of his postpandemic goals? To run a halfmarathon with his 70yearold dad.