PRINCETON: Race sponsors hope to get back on their feet in 2013

By Justin Feil, Assistant Sports Editor
   Elizabeth Casparian was walking her dog on Nov. 4 when she saw a trickle of runners on Jefferson Street in Princeton.
   They didn’t have race numbers, and missing were race volunteers that would have steered them along the planned Princeton Half Marathon course, but there were runners. Dr. Casparian ran inside her house to get a cowbell to cheer for them.
   ”It was bittersweet,” said the Executive Director of HiTOPS Adolescent Health and Education Center.
   Dr. Casparian and HiTOPS had pictured a thousand runners passing that morning in the Princeton Half Marathon before super storm Sandy forced the postponement and ultimately the cancellation of this year’s race of which HiTOPS was the organizer.
   ”We feel sad and we feel disappointed,” Dr. Casparian said. “All this build-up, and then bad news. It was a lot and we wanted to do it too.”
   The police and township gave notice to HiTOPS on Nov. 1 that they could not hold the race Nov. 4 because they could not guarantee the safety of the race participants and the community with so many road closures due to Sandy’s damage.
   ”It was the right thing for the community,” Dr. Casparian said. “It’s a collaborative decision. This was our community, and we can’t compromise the safety of our runners or anyone in our community.”
   In the weeks that followed Sandy, HiTOPS first explored ways to hold this year’s race at a later date.
   ”With the momentum of the volunteers and all the materials, we wanted to reschedule between then and the end of the year,” Dr. Casparian said. “There were clean-up efforts still going and with the holidays, they couldn’t give us a date that would work for the rest of the year.”
   HiTOPS also explored moving this year’s race to the spring. In working with Princeton University, which has requested that the race be held on a weekend when they are not in session, HiTOPS could not find a suitable date far enough away from next year’s Princeton Half Marathon. Organizing two half marathons within six months of each other was not feasible. This year’s race was in planning for more than a year and a half.
   ”Even if the event had happened on Nov. 4, we would be planning for the 2013 half marathon,” said Catharine Vaucher, director of development and marketing at HiTOPS, and acting race director. “We are starting now.”
   First, however, they had to pass along disappointing news to runners signed up for this year’s race. An e-mail notified them that not only would the race not be rescheduled, but their money could not be refunded, standard policy in any large race and something that was stated in a clause in the registration agreement.
   ”The registration fee pays for holding the event, everything that it takes to run the event,” Dr. Casparian said. “There wasn’t any way we could offer a refund. That’s a hard thing to communicate because people put money out for it and want to get something for it.”
   However, Princeton Half Marathon registrants as well as volunteers can collect their T-shirts and goodie bags at the HiTOPS office at 21 Wiggins St. from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. this Saturday.
   ”They’re great shirts,” Ms. Vaucher said. “We want people to have them.”
   A limited number of technical training shirts are available for those interested in training for the 2013 Princeton Half Marathon. Race shirts that are left over will be donated to the super storm Sandy relief efforts locally, state-wide and nationally.
   Said Ms. Vaucher: “We’re trying to make amends. Nobody wanted this race to happen more than the organizers. We’re trying to move forward and explain our process.”
   HiTOPS will offer a guaranteed registration for 2012 registrants for the 2013 Princeton Half Marathon, as well as a $20 discount on registration. HiTOPS is exploring the potential to increase the field size above the thousand runners it was capped at for this year. Last year’s event filled up in three months.
   ”We’d love to have them back,” Ms. Vaucher said. “The event sold out so quickly, we’d love to give them priority. It’s a token, but it’s something to say we appreciate what they’ve gone through.”
   Registration fees cover permits and liability insurance for property covered by the race course. HiTOPS was not able to recoup that money.
   ”Everything was paid for down to the T-shirts and medals, down to the port-o-potties, the timing system,” Ms. Vaucher said. “All of those things had been secured and paid out.”
   HiTOPS did not have race insurance in the event that the race would be canceled, something that could have helped to give them some of their money back.
   ”We have liability insurance for all the properties, but we chose not to have event cancellation insurance,” Dr. Casparian said. “We’re not getting any money back from anyone for anything.”
   Donations, mostly from race sponsors, are — even if the race had been held this year — the only source of income from the half marathon to support the adolescent health programs offered by HiTOPS.
   ”The fundraising part of it goes to programs and services for adolescents,” Dr. Casparian said. “Not the registration fees.”
   Plans are underway to try to hold the half marathon next year, with HiTOPS targeting Nov. 3, 2013, but again they don’t expect to buy cancellation insurance.
   ”We probably won’t,” Dr. Casparian said. “It’s extremely expensive. The likelihood of something like Hurricane Sandy happening is very low.”
   Rain, snow, sleet, anything short of a natural disaster, and the Princeton Half Marathon likely would have been held. There was universal disappointment in the event being canceled, and HiTOPS is hoping to build on the momentum it had before this year’s race as it plans the 2013 Princeton Half Marathon.
   ”It was about the relationships and visibility,” Dr. Casparian said. “In that way, it was a tremendous success. We didn’t want anyone to feel negative toward the event or HiTOPS.”