One of the hardest decisions that a race director or organizer faces is whether to cancel or postpone a race when conditions warrant it. It is never an easy decision and certainly one that race directors would prefer not to make. We have had several events over the years that have had to cancel for one reason or another. Some have been because a race director got nervous when registrations weren't coming through fast enough and in our estimation, pulled the plug early. We've had one that used the weather as an excuse to cancel but the truth was that she was going to lose money on the race so she pulled the plug. The majority of cases though are when weather or other conditions are simply out of control and there is nothing left to do but call the event. In those cases, it is not a decision that is taken lightly.
Sometimes the conditions are so obvious that it would be crazy not to cancel or postpone the event. Those are the easy decisions and not hard for everyone to understand. Conditions such as major flooding, ice accumulation, or other severe weathe that could pose a public safety risk are the kinds of factors that can cause one to cancel. What gets really hard is when weather forecasts are predicting certain weather but there is no guarantee that it will come to frution. For example, the day before an event the weather forecasts call for sleet or ice and dangerous road conditions. We all know that weather can change in an instant and that weather forecasts are not always correct. In those situations, you just have to make a decision and go with it. Unfortunately, no matter what the decision, you are going to get met with resistance and anger from some of the participants. You're damned if you do and damned if you don't. If you do cancel the event and the weather forecast turns out to be wrong, then people are upset because you "chickened out". Those same people though would most likely be angry and calling for your head if you did proceed and it turned out to as predicted or even worse. As a director you simply have to make the call based on information you have at the time and then live with it.
The other decision that has to be made is whether to cancel or postpone. Sometimes postponement is an easy decision and can be carried out without a lot of effort. Most of the time though it is difficult if not impossible to reschedule. There are factors such as the venue and vendors which may make it hard to reschedule. The biggest issue though is cost. If an event has to pull the plug the night before, or even worse the morning of the event, the event is already fully committed and in most cases all of the budget has been allocated. Vendors still have to be paid in most cases. The venue may have to be paid depending on the contract. Food and drink has probably already been ordered and delived. The list goes on. Cancelling an event in those cases is actually the only wise decision. To postpone would mean having to incur all of those costs over again.
In most cases, the participants are very understanding of these issues and work with the event in terms of refunds, rescheduling, etc. Sometimes that is not the case and people can simply refuse to be understanding. Hopefully you are among the former. Our preference is that you never experience a cancellation, but if you do, please try to understand from the perspective of the organizers. It's much harder than you might think.
See you at the race!
