Coronavirus In Minnesota: Grandma's Marathon Cancelled, 'Virtual Race' To Be Offered
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Another event Minnesota looks forward to every year has been canceled in the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Grandma's Marathon organizers just announced the cancellation of the June race.
"This is not the news that we wanted to be sharing with our running community, but after very careful deliberation, we have made the extremely difficult decision to cancel the 2020 Grandma's Marathon Race Weekend of events," organizers said Tuesday morning. "The staff and board of Grandma's Marathon along with our medical and public agency leaders believe this is the responsible action to take in an effort to keep everyone safe during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, and not take valuable resources away from our local health system."
Organizers added that "in order to preserve our ability to continue to provide the Grandma's Marathon experience to the running community for years to come, we must uphold our no refund and no deferment policy."
The registration fees are being converted into donations, the organization said.
There will be a "virtual race" offered to anyone registered for the 2020 marathon, where participants will be allowed to run wherever they want, whenever they want. They'll be notified via email about the specifics, but it will include an official downloadable race bib.
Also, a 20% discount will be applied toward the 2021 Grandma's Marathon races.
