The Traverse City Track Club announced Thursday they are cancelling the 2021 Bayshore Marathon.
The 2020 race was also not held because of the coronavirus.
Lisa Taylor is the Executive Director of the Traverse City Track Club. She says the decision to cancel the 2021 race ultimately came down to its size and current restrictions.
“The main thing is restrictions on outdoor, large mass gatherings and right now we’re at anything greater than 1,000 is restricted by the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services. With our events reaching 7,500, we’re not anticipating based on the information we’re getting from experts and others in the running industry, we’re not anticipating that restriction is going to be lifted by May 29,” said Taylor.
Local hotels say marathon weekend always means a full house, something they likely won’t be able to count on this year, after an already difficult 2020.
“Traverse City is a big leisure market and there’s no leisure travel to Traverse City with all of the restaurants closed to indoor dining, it’s really hard on the restaurants, the hotels and the people who come and stay at the hotels, and eat at the restaurants, spend a lot of money in other places,” said Ron Robinson, Director of Operations for Summerside Properties.
“Events like ours all over the country are doing that right now. So many events have already cancelled that were scheduled for the same time frame as ours. So I think it’s going to create a new kind of energy for when we do have these kind of events,” said Taylor.
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