When the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, under the surge of the pandemic, announced new recommendations to cancel gatherings of more than 50 people for the next eight weeks, Get in Gear was one of the first road running events in Minnesota to act.
The date was March 15, and within 24 hours the event — which offers five different races and was scheduled April 25 in Minneapolis — announced the cancellation to thousands of runners. A "rite of spring" since 1978 (as Get in Gear proudly calls itself) was derailed.
Since then, 50 Minnesota races within the eight-week window have been scrapped or postponed. Then another large domino fell last week: Grandma's Marathon. The event, which also includes a popular half-marathon and 5-kilometer race, was expected to bring in 20,000 entrants for its 44th year.
Now, the status of another 200 races between June and October remains uncertain, with questions of how races will proceed.
"When Grandma's had to cancel there's no doubt that was a blow," said Mike Logan, president of Twin Cities in Motion, which puts on the marathon and popular TC10-Mile. He said it's been difficult to watch the COVID-19 pandemic affect the entire racing community.
"Even if stay-at-home orders are lifted or reduced, we know that large gatherings in all sports are being scrutinized."
Grandma's Marathon's absence will cost the city of Duluth upward of $10 million in lost revenue, according to Visit Duluth, a tourism group.
Twin Cities in Motion already has put off two of its events in May, and the organization is developing contingencies for those and events later in the year, including the Twin Cities Marathon on Oct. 4, Logan said.