Good morning runners, we are in Holden Beach, NC and just finished meeting with public officials regarding the half marathon, 5K and 1 Mile race this Saturday. We regret to inform you that the town of Holden Beach will be cancelling the race this year. Please read below for detailed explanation of what that means, options you have and how that will impact you.
Please see a statement from the town of Holden Beach on their Facebook page here
First of all, we are a small family owned local business that lives here at the coast as well. We are passionate runners that work really hard to put on top notch events for everyone. Safety for runners, spectators, volunteers, local residents and everyone around is of the upmost importance. “With the State of NC going under a state of emergency and in the interest of public safety and the safety of the runners, we will be canceling the race.” – Town of Holden Beach.
We want you to know as runners ourselves, we were really looking forward to putting on a great race in Holden Beach. Please consider the town resources that we’re using will now be available to prepare for the storm. The impact of having a lane shut down on the island will impact residents preparing their homes. Portajohns and beer can’t be delivered with the current uncertainty – and of course that’s a pretty important part of the race. And with the uncertain path of Hurricane Irma, we are simply trying to reduce the risk and eliminate any non-critcial events.
We need for everyone to login to your Run Sign Up account and select one of the following options by Saturday 9/9. For assistance in logging into your account and selecting this, click here:
We have 3 options available:
#1) Come run Ocean Isle Beach October 7th with us and earn your Holden Beach shirt & medal. If you’re not signed up for the Ocean Isle race, you will earn your swag for Holden only as you cross the finish line.
#2) If you’re already signed up for the Ocean Isle race on 10/7, either through the series or a separate registration, you will earn your Holden Beach medal when you finish the Ocean Isle Beach race along with your Ocean Isle medal.
#3) You may choose to run virtually on your own time, your own course and still receive your shirt and medal. There is a $10 shipping fee and you will recieve your package after the Ocean Isle Beach race mid October. To offset this cost of shipping, you may use this code “RHB2017” to take $10 off any of our races before 12/31/2018. *We are paying the online processing fee for you.
Click Here to login to RunSignUp. Navigate to “Run Holden Beach” under your races and select “Add-Ons”. Here you will see the options above. Please let me know if you need any assistance with this.
UPDATE AS OF 9/7 AT 8:00 AM EST: The forecast for Saturday is still the same and at this time we should not feel the affects of Irma until Tuesday or Wednesday of next week. We will be in Holden Beach all day and if anything changes we will update you immediately.
UPDATE AS OF 9/6 at 9:30 PM EST:
The race is still on at this point. We are aware that the governor of NC has issued a state of emergency. However, the reality is all projections show this hurricane not getting here until Tuesday afternoon and it being a sunny 70 degrees on race morning. Safety is #1 and again, this is not our call alone.
UPDATE AS OF 9/6 at 10:55 AM EST:
We spoke with town officials this morning. There is no news or indication of a cancellation/delay at this time. They will be in constant communication with the emergency services and communicate with us. We will continue to keep you updated here and on Facebook.
UPDATE AS OF 9/5 at 3:00 PM EST:
Everyone’s safety is of the most important to us and we wanted to keep you informed not only of the decisions made regarding the hurricane but also of the process. City officials will ultimately make the call if we should cancel this event and there is a lot that goes in to their decision making. If you’ve ever been through a hurricane before you know it’s a very hard call. Is it going to turn? Is it going to intensify or fizzle out? It is definitely a wait and see situation and the town itself is worried about evacuating it’s own residents let alone 2500 extra people from out of town if the need should arise! But its just to early to know what exactly will happen.
Over the next day or two as Irma gets closer to the US we will have a better idea of what impact if any she will have along the NC Coast. To stay informed please check both our Facebook page and Blog for the most up to date information. As we are informed by the Town of Holden Beach, we WILL inform you but as a team, we cannot keep up with the individual emails.
Right now the weather forecast for Saturday in Holden Beach is mostly sunny with a low of 62 and high of 80 and we are planning to go ahead with the race. We are in close contact with city officials and they will advise us if something changes. Check back here for updates!
If you are unable to keep your travel plans due to the Hurricane (say traveling from south Florida) and we are able to continue with the race and you would like to receive your packet and pay for shipping we will make arrangements for that after the race is over. We will deal with that next week.
If Irma comes further north than currently predicted and government officials decide it is better to postpone – we will at that time post a make up date. Please do not call the Town of Holden Beach – they are very busy and will relay all information to us and we will post it here.
Most of all we want you to be safe and whether you are affected by this Hurricane or a past/future storm our thoughts and prayers are with you.
