Because of the COVID-19 outbreak, this month’s Whidbey Island Marathon was postponed to a later date and participants are being offered different options for completing the race.
Originally scheduled for Sunday, April 19, the marathon was moved to Sept. 13.
The race was postponed because it would be impossible to enforce social distancing, Race Director Jared Loranger said.
“The reality is you’re going to pass people.” Loranger said. “There are still water stations and community interaction.”
Registered participants have the option to race on the new date, complete the race virtually or defer their registration for next year.
“We didn’t want to pigeonhole our racers into a date,” Loranger said. “You can’t just give people a new date and say show up for this date.”
Loranger said some of the runners may be military personnel who are leaving, Canadians who are unable to travel or students who were planning to race during spring break.
Anyone who would still like to run — but is unable to make the September date — has the option of “running” virtually by using an app such as Strava or Nike Run Club. Participants could run at home on the treadmill, follow their own course, or even run the original Whidbey Island Marathon course.
Runners who complete the marathon virtually will receive their completion certificate and swag through the mail but, because the running conditions can vary greatly, the virtual runners will not receive an award. Also, running virtually will not qualify participants for the Boston Marathon.
“A qualifying run has to be under our conditions, and it has to be timed by an official race timer,” Loranger said.
Registration to compete for the September date will remain open.
The scheduled April 1 price increase has been postponed until July 12.
“We wanted to give people plenty of time to go back to their jobs,” Loranger said.
Before the marathon was rescheduled, Loranger said he had over 1,200 registered runners. He is hoping, with the later date, to reach 2,000.
• To register for the marathon visit www.runwhidbey.com
