The 2020 Mill Race Marathon is nearly five months away, and by that time there’s a chance that sporting events will be up and running again.
But over the seven-year history of the Mill Race events, running experts have had training sessions on Saturday mornings and on Tuesday and Thursday evenings beginning the final weekend in May. The Saturday morning classroom sessions and group runs sometimes draw upwards of 150 people, so unless social distancing guidelines are relaxed by that point, this year’s training series may have to be altered.
“Right now, we don’t know for sure,” race director Randy Stafford said. “We have plans to start it if we can. If we can’t do it in person, we should be able to do the sessions on a virtual basis, and we’ve looked into how to do that. But it will be mid-May before we kind of make any kind of decision on that. We need to let things play out for a couple more weeks and see what the Governor does and see what the county health commissioners recommend.”
Stafford said the classroom sessions can be done virtually. How they deal with the training sessions is a question mark.
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“That may be, people are given what the workouts are supposed to be and do them independently until we can start getting together,” Stafford said. “Right now, there’s just not enough known or guidance in place to say yes or no on it. It’s something we can make a decision on a couple weeks out because we really don’t have any investment in it, other than our people’s time.”
As far as the Sept. 26 marathon, half-marathon and 5K are concerned, Stafford doesn’t think that is in serious jeopardy at this point.
The Mill Race Marathon planning committee was to have a meeting with the city and Columbus Regional Health in mid-April, but that was pushed back to May because of COVID-19 concerns. Then last week, realizing that the CRH people are pretty swamped, they pushed the meeting back to June.
“At that point, I think we’ll do a really deep dive into what’s possible from the medical standpoint, what’s possible from the city, is it feasible to hold the race from a health standpoint, and see if we have to make some changes,” Stafford said. “We don’t want to, but there’s a lot of different circumstances going on right now and a lot of unknowns.”
Event manager Joel Sauer is in charge of making sure all the equipment and items that are needed for the race, including the timing system, is ordered and installed.
Sauer said one thing he is doing differently this year is, having discussions with vendors regarding what if the uncertainty happens to drag on longer into the fall or if they have to modify it in a big way. He said the good thing is, the committee has really strong relationships with all of its suppliers, most of which have been working with them since the event started in 2013.
Most of the vendors have told Sauer that if he gives them two weeks notice prior to a potential cancelation, they won’t be charged. Sauer assured them he’d let them know more than two weeks in advance.
“I’m just going business as usual because we’re not going to be able to make a decision until later this summer when we find out how this pandemic plays out,” Sauer said. “I’m still working with vendors and getting the orders all lined up. We just like to have everything in place so we’re not scrambling at the last minute.”
Sauer said the Mill Race marketing team has a lot of good ideas, and they’re starting to look at a potential virtual option if the race has to be canceled.
“There’s a lot of creative and high energy people on that committee,” Sauer said. “They’re also strongly planning different ideas to promote the event if things really clear up. As far as the planning committee, it’s just a great group that puts on this race, and I feel privileged to work with them. We realize this is an unknown, and we’re all planning the different aspects of the event. We’re just kind of looking at each area and determining what areas we need to move ahead and what areas we need to slow down a little bit and let things play out.”
Sauer also said the committee has been fortunate to be able to work with most of the same people from the city of Columbus, the Columbus Police Department and Columbus Emergency Medical since the event’s inception.
“We feel like getting into May, June, July is not a concern for us because if things start opening up and we can put on the event, we already have a track record that we’ve used, so we don’t have to reinvent the wheel on the main aspects of the race,” Sauer said. “We’re never on cruise control, but all of the basics are covered and we can spend our energy concentrating on the big decision on public safety and how the state is giving guidance on groups getting together. There will be plenty of time this summer to figure all that out.”
The committee also will be playing close attention to other events this summer that are similar to the Mill Race to see how they are handling logistical things. Sauer said the committee will look to the Road Runners Club of America (RRCA) for advice.
“This is their industry,” Sauer said. “This is what they do, so they’re putting out a lot of guidance. Up until now, it’s been guidance on, ‘You need to cancel your races.’ As we get into May, it’s, ‘How to put on races in a post-pandemic life,’ so that come this summer when races can start being put on again hopefully, then they’re coming up with different guidance for their member clubs all across the country can take under advisement.”
Some of that advisement could deal with the potential for multiple start lines and trying to implement social distancing at awards ceremonies.
“They’re just looking at all aspects of events and just thinking through, ‘What are things races can do to develop more safety?’” Sauer said. “We’re lucky in the fact that we’re in September, so we’re not going to be right at the time when things are opening up.”
Stafford may have to make an adjustment to the early part of the course this year. In the past, runners have gone across the Third Street Bridge on SR 46 and back across the Robert N. Stewart Bridge on Second Street.
With that area being overhauled at the moment with the addition of an overpass across the railroad track and SR 11, the current location of the SR 46/SR 11 intersection will no longer be an intersection.
“What was originally told to us was, the overpass wasn’t going to be ready and we could use the existing road bed,” Stafford said. “(City engineer) Dave Hayward and I are starting to make sure what is available to see if were going to have to make a course change.”
Sauer said the Mill Race committee is going to be following state and local guidelines in making all of their decisions.
“The No. 1 priority, and we’re all clear on this, is safety for participants, safety for the city of Columbus and safety for everybody involved,” Sauer said. “We’re going to be working closely with the city and the police and Columbus Regional Hospital. We feel we have the contacts to make a good decision. At this point, it’s just to early.”
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What: Eighth Annual Mill Race Marathon, half marathon and 5K
When: Sept. 26
Where: Begins and ends on Washington Street just north of downtown Columbus
Cost: $70 for marathon, $55 for half and $20 for 5K through June 30; $80 for marathon, $65 for half and $25 for 5K from July 1 through Aug. 31; $95 for marathon, $80 for half, $30 for 5K from Sept. 1 through 24; $110 for marathon, $95 for half, $35 for 5K at packet pickup Sept. 25 and 26
Registration: millracemarathon.com
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