Hello Orcas 100 runners and volunteers,
We have decided to cancel this year's race. We did not come to this decision easily and after a long deliberation with various trusted folks, we are unanimous in our decision.
The reason for cancelling is out of concern for everyone's safety, the runners, the volunteers, the park staff, and the emergency responders. The safety concerns stem from an impending widespread storm that is schedule to begin Friday and last until Saturday and possibly into Sunday. It is predicted to be very similar to the one the island sustained on Monday. Temperatures below freezing, wind gusts as high as 50-60 mph and up to a foot of snow are in the forecast for Friday and Saturday. The storm we just had earlier this week was actually worse than predicted so if the impending storm follows the same pattern, it poses an incredible risk to the runners, volunteers, and crews in the park.
If the weather is as bad as predicted, people will have a hard time traveling to and from Orcas Island to run and volunteer. On the island the roads could be treacherous, trees can fall on trails, roads and buildings. Power is likely to go out which only complicates everything. Park staff and emergency responders will have their hands full with protecting everyone and everything already on the island, and if we had 100+ runners out on the trails along with crews and volunteers on the roads, it would make an unsafe situation even worse. We saw up close the power of the wind and the destructive capacity of falling trees on Monday and the result could and might have been deadly.
Of course all of this is based on a forecast and we all know a forecast can be wrong. However, we have been keeping a close eye on the weather forecast and it has not changed all week. We also reached out to the San Juan County Emergency Management Team and one of the members was able to sit in on a meeting with the National Weather Service today. They reiterated what we were already worried.
Because the camp is not a safe place to shelter in a storm, we have an emergency evacuation plan in place, but it also poses a great risk to the safety of everyone involved. If we tried to evacuate during a windstorm when the trees are falling down on the trees, there is the potential for the road to not only be impassable, but also the potential for large trees to go down on the cars themselves. Our contact with the Emergency Management Team also said it is very likely the power will go out on the island we cannot risk losing communication during an emergency evacuation.
The other major issue is the lack of hospital or emergency vehicles on the island. If there is a major injury, a helicopter would have to land to transport the person to a hospital on the mainland, which may not be possible in a windstorm. A similar issue arises with the ferries on the island and the potential for the boats and ferries to and from the island to stop running during the storm. In conclusion this comes down to everyone's safety and we are not willing to take the risk of anyone's life.
With all of this said we highly recommend everyone to not come to the island or if you are already here we recommend leaving before the storm hits.
We have contacted Rosario Resort and Doe Bay Resort and they said that if folks with reservations call and cancel right away they will refund the deposits.
Our policy is to not offer a refund when we have to cancel a race due to circumstances that are out of our control, especially this close to race day as we have already incurred most of the expenses. However, in this case we would like to do more than that. We can offer each runner two options: either 50% off the 2020, 2021 or 2022 Orcas 100 miler or 100% off
any of our other races in 2019, 2020 or 2021. If you chose to use the credit of a different Rainshadow of your choice, we can also offer a lottery bypass for the races that have lottery registrations (Sun Mountain, Deception Pass, and Orcas). Please
email Elizabeth when you decide which option you would prefer.
We can refund anyone who paid for lodging in the bunkhouses at Camp Moran. Please
email Elizabeth to get your bunkhouse refund.
We also can mail shirts to anyone who bought one. Please
email Kesia your mailing address and size to get your shirt.
We are all incredibly bummed about this and we know you are too! We do not take cancelling lightly, but we also value you all and cannot risk the safety of everyone involved. We truly appreciate your understanding and patience with us and we hope that you can make it to another race soon!
