Outlook not good for marathon rescheduling, refunds

Thanks for the coverage, Dan & Doug. A big dissapointment...the possibility of a "washout" is most depressing. It sounds like a possible reschedule would be this time next year, but Pasadena should grab the golden opportunity that is available in the spring: with the L.A. Marathon moving first from March to President's Day, and then from President's Day to Memorial Day (talk about HEAT STROKE!), there is a spot for Pasadena to grab. Really, just about any weekend from President's Day to late April would be great. Pasadena would have no competition and loads of interested parties. In case you haven't been following that story, the LA Marathon and the LA City Council have managed to enrage thousands of LAM participants in the past week by moving to May 25. I'd say their foolishness (driven by Councilman Bernard Parks--thanks, Councilman) is Pasadena's chance to redeem itself. Maybe not in 09, but....

Credit toward entering the next race would be the least the organizers should do for those who paid the registration fee if there is no rescheduled event. A full refund would be ideal but a partial one would be at least fair. Even if a substantial amount of money was spent toward the race, not all of it was expended since the race did not happen. There must be funds left unspent. It wouldn't be fair for the organizers to simply hang on to those funds while the participants get nothing for it.

I think you are giving Race Director Israel Estrada too much credit when you state "At least they are being honest." Mr. Estrada's attempt to try and defer responsibility by stating, "I wish (the city) could waive their fees for this year so we can use it for next year" and "That's really going to be up to the city manager and the city council..." is absolutely outrageous. Did the city manager or the city council decide not to insure the event for cancellation? Or was it Mr. Estrada? As the race director, Mr. Estrada is entitled to the credit for the events success or, in this case, the events failure. The cancellation was disappointing, but not the cause of the failure. The failure was the decision to not insure the event against cancellation, and is either a reflection of Mr. Estrada's incompetence, greed, complete disregard for the participants, or a combination of the three. The fires and their effect on the air quality were indisputably a risk that could not be mitigated. You can really only do two things with unmitigable risk: insure it, or accept it. He did not want to pay the cost of insuring the event against cancellation, so he accepted the risk. However, now he is trying to push the consequences of his poor decision making onto the consumer (the participant). Mr. Estrada stated, "I want to honor all of the participants who paid their registration, but we have to figure out how we're going to deal with the huge costs that we have incurred." Who are WE? Mr. Estrada and the event organizers incurred the cost. The participants should not have to bear the cost of the event organizer's poor decision making. My wife paid her marathon registration fee with a credit card through www.Active.com. Honestly, she didn't read all the terms when she paid, but I am going to try and dispute the charge with my credit card company. I've done it before for service or product not delivered. It is easy to dispute a charge. Just call your credit card company. The phone number is on the back of your credit card or on your monthly billing statement. They will send you a form that you fill out, sign, and mail back. One or two billing cycles later, the charge will likely be removed. I have three direct questions for Mr. Estrada. 1) Why did you decide not to insure the event against cancellation? 2) Do you think that the participants should be responsible for your decision not to insure the event against cancellation? And 3) how much are you being paid to be the event director?

I find the actions of this race the most outrageous I have ever experienced, to not have the proper insurance and to make the participants "eat" the cost is reprehenisible. I would not enter a race put on by this organization or city ever again. I didn't get a thing from it except the loss of my fee. The thought of holding on to our funds for a rce that may or may not happen angers me all over again. My understanding went out the window with all the paosturing and whining by the race director. I would not take a chance on anything put on by this organization again, I advise other runners to do the same.