Gold Country Half Event Update 3/2/21

Providing an update on the Gold Country Half Marathon and 5K presented by Marshall Medical (“GC Half/5K”) currently scheduled for May 16, 2021. The race organizing committee has been monitoring the current COVID-19 restrictions and has also been in continual contact with El Dorado County officials and Town Center management to determine if we can host our fourth annual running event in a safe and effective manner less than three months from now.  While all running events that are held in the coming six months will look much different than before and contain a host of challenges for race organizers, our primary challenge lies in the ability to obtain the necessary County permits and then have adequate time to plan a safe and fun event for participants, in particular with our Half Marathon event.

One obvious option for us, which has already been taken by other Spring 2021 events (such as the Boston Marathon), is to postpone the event to Fall 2021 and hold off on launching registration. While Fall 2021 is an option for the GC Half/5K, we believe that the half marathon calendar in the Sacramento region will be extremely full with regularly scheduled Fall half marathons as well as other postponed races. We also believe that a virtual option is not something that would be widely accepted given the desire to get back to racing in person. Given these factors, we have made the difficult decision to cancel the 2021 Gold Country Half Marathon, however we will be moving forward with a rescheduled Gold Country 5K presented by Marshall Medical as soon as we feel confident that we can provide a world-class event under the current conditions. The date of the 5K event will likely be in June or July and we will finalize the exact date and launch registration as soon as possible.

While we may only have a 5K event in 2021, we will be channeling our extra time and energy in bringing back a better than ever 2022 Gold Country Half Marathon event! We would also ask that you kindly provide us with your thoughts on this year’s 5K event and next year’s Half Marathon/5K event. This survey should take no more than 5 minutes to complete and can be found at the following link: Gold Country Half Marathon / 5K Event Survey