Big Sur Marathon postponed
Organizers of the 35th Annual Big Sur International Marathon, originally set for Sunday, April 26th, have announced that the race will be postponed until later this year.
Over the past several weeks, the Big Sur Marathon Foundation has been monitoring updates from county, state, federal, and international public safety and health agencies regarding the global coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. With state and local efforts to control the virus expanding quickly, the Foundation’s governance board, medical director, and race officials decided that postponing the race is the best way to help ensure the safety of participants, volunteers, spectators, and residents.
Race officials are currently coordinating with local agencies, partners, and other impacted entities to secure a reschedule date for the 2020 Big Sur Marathon, Relay, 21-Miler, 11-Miler, 12K, and 5K. They aim to reschedule for late summer or early fall and plan to update participants as soon as a date is secured. The By-the-Bay 3K, which draws roughly 4,500 schoolchildren from Monterey County Schools each year, will not be rescheduled for 2020.
“Like our participants, we were disappointed to have to move the race to a later date, but we strongly feel it is the responsible thing to do,” said Doug Thurston, Race Director and Executive Director of the Big Sur Marathon Foundation. “This situation is moving so quickly locally, nationally, and world-wide and we all have to work together to try to stop the spread of this virus.”
Registered runners in the 2020 Big Sur Marathon weekend of events will be given the chance to run their race on the rescheduled date or choose from other options, the details of which are in process. Thurston said all options will be made public as soon as possible.
“We understand a postponement might not work for some of our participants and we are working hard to determine alternate options for those runners,” Thurston said. “We appreciate the patience, understanding, and concern of all those affected during this stressful time.”
