Palmetto Relay COVID-19 - Update - December 2020
We hope everybody is doing well at this point in 2020. We wanted to give an update to registered teams and teams planning to run the Palmetto Relay in March. We are planning to have the race in March. However, there are still some things to get more clarity on over the next few weeks.
By mid-January we expect to have our initial COVID guidelines for the race. These should not be anything unexpected at this point. The main thing for teams will be to have a team van plan. Team members will be spending a lot of time together in their van and it is unlikely masks, hand sanitizer or social distancing will matter or be possible within the confines of the van. And most teams and runners will be in their vans prior to arriving at the race. Teams need to be as certain as they can that team members do not bring the virus with them into the van. Once at the race, social distancing with the help of masks and sanitizer should provide the level of protection that is expected for everything that occurs outside of the van.
We will make our official plans known in early January for the 2021 Palmetto Relay in March. Although that official decision is mainly relevant to new paying teams for 2021. Once we decide to move forward in January, the new teams for 2021 will have to decide if they plan to run or if they would like to back out and get a full refund.
After this point, if a new 2021 team that decided to go forward with the race, changes its mind and decides later to not run the race, that team will not get a full refund (and potentially no refund depending on how close to the race the decision is made). If the situation gets worse and the state or local COVID guidelines dictate that we cannot have the race we will also be unable to give refunds to teams that have decided to run. In the event of cancellation or postponement in this situation, we will offer transfers to future races.
For teams that are transferring from 2020 after not being able to run this year due to COVID, we are still not able to provide refunds. Unfortunately, we are in the same position with the 2020 teams we were in back in March when everything happened so close to race weekend.
After the official decision to run has been made, all teams will still have the option to opt out and transfer their registration to one of our 2021 Fall Races or the 2022 Palmetto Relay.
As mentioned, we expect the decision will be to move forward with the race in March. However, we are considering other options including not holding the race and moving the race to the Fall.
We hope everybody stays safe and we wish all a Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and Happy New Year!