The 12th Annual St Jude Marathon Weekend scheduled to take place on Saturday, December 7th, has been cancelled due to Memphis weather conditions.
After warning advisories for an ice storm were issued out on Thursday, a dangerous mixture of ice and snow made its way throughout the West and South over the weekend.
Currently over 300,000 people are said to be without power with as many as 250,000 being in Texas and 30,000 in Arkansas.
Meanwhile, marathon runners who were expected to participate in this weekend’s race are looking on the bright side — they got to raise funds for St Jude despite not being able to run during this wet icy cold weather.
Richard Shadyac, Jr., CEO of ALSAC/St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital released a statement during the St. Jude Heros Pasta Party concerning their decision for cancelling the race citing it was for the safety of the race participants, volunteers and spectators.
Those who registered for the 2013 St Jude Marathon will get first opportunity to race in the 2014 marathon in a special registration.
In addition, if runners still want to run in a race to support St Jude, there are some options.
There are three upcoming races and registration fees can be applied to one of those races.
(1) P.F. Chang’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Arizona Marathon and Half-Marathon (Jan. 19, 2014) – Arizona
(2) Rock ‘n’ Roll New Orleans Marathon and Half-Marathon (Feb. 2, 2014) – New Orleans
(3) St. Jude Country Music Marathon and Half-Marathon (April 26, 2014) – Nashville
Another option runners have is to get a refund of registration fees or donate it to St Jude.
As a bonus for racers, local businesses are providing activities for runners which include Elvis Presley’s Graceland, The Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, amongst others.
Can you use our race registration from 2013 that was cancelled toward our race registration for 2014.
Angela
Angela, they are not doing it for the 2014 Memphis event, but we will be getting the first registration – a special one – because of the ice.
I know folks are upset about it – but – to be fair, in the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) it DOES say there are no refund – period. This was a special exemption because it was the first time in the entire time the event has been conducted they’ve had to cancel it.
And note – I’m saying this being someone who was going to be doing her first St. Jude event (a 5K, but it is still the first one) and was heartbroken when she heard the City told St. Jude that it had to be canceled.