Disappearing Racewalking Division

It’s not often that I hear about a race from more than one reader. Two told me they entered the Napa to Sonoma Wine Country Half Marathon, registered as racewalkers, then found out the day of the race there was no racewalking division.

I sent an e-mail to ask about it. Here’s what the race director said:

The racewalk was only a registration category and was to let people know we welcomed racewalkers to our event (my mother is a nationally ranked racewalker). NOCRAP used to be involved and we are no longer allowed to present awards since it is a point to point course and we cannot afford to judge it. We’ve been told by participants and officials that awarding racewalkers when there is no mechanism to prevent run/walkers, is not fair and should stop. So, we stopped posting on the website that we’d be awarding any racewalk categories. However, we can provide a separate category for times and post that. I apologize for the confusion.

I appreciate his getting back to me so quickly.

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