Run through the Roses canceled this year

The annual City of Madison Run through the Roses has been canceled for the remainder of the year.

Kristin Kulavich, race director, said the reason is that Bob Jones High School is hosting ACT testing on the same day and at the same time as the race.

“They usually have upwards of 400 students testing,” Kulavich said. “We didn’t feel like it was a smart decision to block off the roads and try to have a race at the same time.”

Kulavich said more than 400 people were registered to race that day.

The committee looked into starting the race at a different time, but said people had already had activities planned for those times and it would interrupt those activities.

“A lot of them were having theirs at different time along the race routes and it would have shut off their events,” she said. “It wouldn’t been very fair to them.”

Kulavich also said the option to push the race to a later date also wasn’t an option because September the beginning of planning the next year’s race.

“We couldn’t have a race going on and be planning for another race,” she said.

This is the third time this year the race has been canceled. The first was after the April 27 tornadoes, which Kulavich cited “an extraordinary circumstance” as being the reason it was postponed.

It was rescheduled for June, but hot temperatures provided unsafe running conditions, she said.

Kulavich said the group did weigh the option of moving the event to a later date.

“We quickly found out it wasn’t going to work,” she said.

She’s now in the process of informing participants.

Race rules have a no refund policy, so Kulavich said in lieu of refunds, people could roll their registration over to the 2012 race, which is tentatively scheduled for Saturday May 5, 2012.

For those wishing to not roll over, Kulavich said that money will go toward scholarships for underprivileged kids.

“I am beyond disappointed we’re not able to have the race this year,” she said. “It’s always such a joy to see all the runners racing through the streets of Madison, but we are looking on ahead for 2012 and making it a better and bigger race.”

To contact her for questions or concerns, Kulavich can be reached via email at krisdkul@hotmail.com.