COVID-19 Response: iDaph Events Update

Updated at 3/27/2020 at 12:30pm

Due to the latest stay-at-home order, our iDaph Team is not able to return to the iDaph Office in the next couple of weeks. Buncombe County has issued a Stay Home, Stay Safe Supplemental Declaration to the local State of Emergency that went into effect Thursday, March 26, 2020 at 8 p.m. The intent of this supplemental declaration is to further minimize all opportunities for exposure and transmission of COVID-19 across the jurisdiction.

Click here for Declaration

Since iDaph is considered a ‘non-essential’ business, we cannot work at our warehouse until the restriction is lifted. This declaration is valid through Thursday, April 9, 2020, at 6 a.m., but will be regularly reviewed and evaluated which may lead to revision, amendment or extension.

Our team is working from home on limited hours, so please continue to contact us via support@idaph.net. We appreciate everyone’s patience and understanding and we hope everyone stays safe and healthy! 

Updated at 3/25/2020 at 8:30 am

Please share your journeys with us

We hope you continue to get outside and run, walk, bike — whatever it is that keeps you focused, healthy and happy! It is more important than ever right now to stay positive, and stay active.

Whether you’re cycling on a stationary bike, taking an online yoga class, running on a treadmill or getting outside for a walk or run, please share your photos and posts with us on our Facebook and Instagram pages. We are inspired by you, and we feel others will be inspired as well!

We are continuing to follow CDC guidelines for no gatherings of 10 or more people until at least May 10, 2020. We are hopeful that by the summer and fall, we will be able to continue our events as planned. We will update our blog as we have more information.

Race Director Daphne Kirkwood runs a virtual half marathon in honor of the Asheville Marathon and Half at Biltmore Estate

Race Director Daphne Kirkwood, who was diagnosed with lymphoma nearly two years ago, was so inspired by all of the posts on Strava during the Asheville Marathon and Half Virtual Run, she ran a half marathon on her own (she is currently self-quarantined at her home), and this was her first one since her cancer diagnosis. She captured most of the run on her iPhone, sharing encouraging words along the way.

“I ran in solidarity today with all the virtual runners participating in the Asheville Marathon,” said Daphne. “Despite the race being cancelled due to COVID19, the energy, love and spirit of the runners is alive and strong! I felt it and 2 miles into my morning run I knew that running a half marathon today, with all of these runners was what I wanted to do.I have been consistent with my running routine since I was diagnosed with lymphoma almost two years ago. But I haven’t run over 9 miles since then. What your mind believes, it can achieve.”

Be Inspired, Do something Great. We love you all and thank you for your continued support and encouragement.

Here are updates on upcoming events

White Squirrel 5K

Registration for the 2020 White Squirrel 5K and Fun Run has been postponed until further notice. 

Kingfisher Crusher

The 2020 Kingfisher Crusher is cancelled due to coronavirus.

The Asheville Triathlon

Registration to the Asheville Triathlon is temporarily suspended due to concerns of the coronavirus. More updates will be available soon.

Asheville Off Road Series

Registration to the Asheville Off Road Series is temporarily suspended at this time due to the concerns of the coronavirus. More updates will be available soon.

Updated at 3/20/2020 at 4:30pm

Coastal Cyclists Spring Century Ride

A message from Coastal Cyclists: After the clear guidance from the governor of South Carolina, President Trump and public health officials, it is imperative that we cancel the Coastal Cyclists Spring Century for 2020. This is sad and disappointing for us, but it is the right thing to do in the face of the global pandemic. Please visit the Spring Century Ride registration site for information on options for your ride entry.

WNC Flyer

We had to make the difficult but necessary decision to temporarily suspend registration to the WNC Flyer on June 7th, 2020 due to uncertainty surrounding the Coronavirus (COVID-19). We will have a final decision on the status of this event on or before April 5th. Until that time, we ask you to please be patient as we continue to gather information and monitor the current situation.

GNAR

A message from The Mountain Community School: We had to make the difficult but necessary decision to cancel the 2020 GNAR event. We are following recommendations to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus.

Please visit the GNAR Registration site for to read a message from the Mountain Community School, and for options regarding your registration. The GNAR registration fees were advertised as nonrefundable, but we would like to extend the opportunity for you to either donate the funds to The Mountain Community School or request a refund.

Thank you for supporting our event and our school. We want to extend to both you and your family health and well-being over the next few months.

Asheville Marathon & Half at Biltmore Estate

The 2020 Event has been cancelled but please check our BLOG POST for continued updates.

Chamber Challenge

Registration for the Chamber Challenge on Friday, May 15th has been temporarily suspended. More updates coming soon.

Tour d’Apple

Registration for the Tour d’Apple has been temporarily suspended at this time. More updates coming soon.

Collier Lilly Ride

Registration for the Collier Lilly Ride for NC Outward Bound School is temporarily suspended. More updates coming soon.

UPDATED 3/16/2020 at 8:30pm

COVID-19 & Event Production turned Upside-Down

As most of you are aware, on Thursday, March 12th at 5pm EST, the City of Asheville, Buncombe County and the State of North Carolina declared a State of Emergency (click here for official proclamation). Due to this state of emergency it is prohibited for any organized group of 50+ persons to assemble. We were full steam ahead with plans, and all of our back-up plans which ranged from B to Z for the Asheville Marathon and Half at Biltmore Estate, which was to take place starting on March 20th thru March 22nd, until we received this message from our city officials. 

On Sunday, March 15th the CDC in accordance with its guidance for large events and mass gatherings, recommends that for the next 8 weeks, organizers (whether groups or individuals) cancel or postpone in-person events that consist of 50 people or more throughout the United States. 

Because of the threat and risk of the COVID19 to our participants, volunteers, vendors and staff, we feel a strong sense of urgency to do our part in protecting our people from possible exposure. We started being proactive when we cancelled our largest event of the year, the Asheville Marathon and Half. It was with heavy hearts that we made that decision - only a week away from the event.  Our staff, non-profit partners, sponsors and volunteers work extremely hard, year-round to make this event happen (along with all our other cycling, swimming and running events, and our clients’ events).

Impact of Event Cancellation –

No one ‘wins’ in an event cancellation.

Cancelling the Asheville Marathon event IS an enormous financial hit for our small business and staff. Although we are not issuing refunds for the event (we had a no refund policy in place already when folks registered for the race, and before COVID19 effected this event). With a week out from the event, expenses have been incurred from the entire year of planning and preparing. Some of those expenses includes: planning expenses, staff time, permits, bibs, shirts, buffs, medals, merchandise, water station snacks and gels, supplies, insurance, equipment, rentals, signs, print materials, deposits for rentals and equipment, the list goes on and on…The revenues that we would receive (our profit) at the event (late ticket sales, merchandise sales, partnership deals, sponsorships owed, etc) will not be received because the event didn’t take place.

Instead, we have set up a virtual run on race weekend and are mailing participants their race swag. This is the very best possible replacement that we can do in our power given the circumstances of the COVID19 and the laws we have to uphold. 

First and foremost, we are runners, cyclists and endurance loving athletes ourselves and we understand the commitment, sacrifices and incredible journeys all our participants go through to prepare themselves for an endurance event, which is why it has made all of these recent business decisions extremely difficult for us.

Impact of Deferrals and Postponements 

Participants are asking us about deferrals and postponements and questioning why we aren’t doing these. At this time, it is unclear whether we will be able to put the Asheville Marathon and Half event on next year or any of our other events this year, so we do not want to promise a deferral or transfer into another event. Also, because SO MANY spring/summer events are postponing to the fall, we anticipate a saturated endurance event market, which will lead to low participant numbers and multiple events happening on the same days. This will furthermore cause frustration to participants.

There is also a great deal of uncertainty of what the permit process, food handling, crowd management, etc will look like when events are permissible again. All things to consider when doing a postponement for a future date. In addition, postponing an event also means that you have an unreasonable expectation for your volunteers, sponsors, host sites, venue, participants and partners to be available and postpone with you to the new date. For all of these reasons we are not an advocate of deferrals or postponements in this uncertain time we are currently in. 

Insurance

We are receiving a lot of questions about our insurance policies and if we have insurance to help cover refunds, revenue losses, event expenses and the possibility of more event closures due to the pandemic. We have two policies: One through USATF and the other through a private insurance company. We have been told by both companies that the policies unfortunately exclude pandemic coverage.

What’s next for iDaph ‘owned’ events… 

We want to let you know that our iDaph Team does have a plan. First, in our Fletcher office, we have instructed our employees to work from home to protect their health and well-being. If employees do come into our office, they are diligently washing their hands and sanitizing work spaces. We will continue to ship out merchandise from our iDaph store and eventually will be mailing out race swag from the Asheville Marathon.

Unfortunately, it has become clear that we will be unable to proceed in the manner of our current business operations that our runners have come to expect at our events, where the safety and security of our runners, volunteers, staff, partners, and spectators are our main concern.

The love of endurance events and creating life-changing and memorable experiences for our partners and community is why we exist.

We have made the difficult, but necessary decision to suspend ticket sales for two of our ‘idaph owned’ upcoming events that are to take place in the nearest future. These events are the Asheville Triathlon on July 19th, and the Asheville Off Road Series on September 20th, until further direction from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). We are following recommendations that no gatherings with 50 people or more take place for the next eight weeks to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus.

There are so many unknowns at present we thought it best to delay the sale of any additional ticket entries until the situation is clarified. Participants that have already registered have a spot reserved in these two events and if we do need to cancel the event because of the COVID19, we will notify the participants when that information is available. 

In addition, we will delay the opening of any additional future event registration sites for ticket sales, until there is certainty that these fall/winter/spring 2021 events can go on safely for our participants. We also must have certainty that our small business is still viable and that the events are able to continue to take place in the locations that they are being held.

The events on delay from opening registration includes the Trick or Trail and Spooky Sprint, Biltmore Park Turkey Trot, 2021 New Year’s Resolution Run, 2021 Frostbite Races and 2021 Asheville Marathon and Half. We hope that if we are able to continue with these events that you will support them by signing up and joining us. 

Partner Events - ‘non-owned’ iDaph Events

We will continue to service the ‘managed events’ that we partner with as their go-to, professional event planner. We will be a resource for them as they navigate through this tumultuous time and into the future. We are in constant communication with event management professionals in our field as well as insurance companies, health related contacts and city and county officials so that we can make the best decisions for the well-being of the participants and our clients. We are keeping up with all the latest information, resources and publications regarding COVID19 and the impact on special events and will pass this information along to our ‘managed event partners’ as it impacts their events. This is what our business does and will continue to do and offer for those clients. Contact us if you need consulting advice on your event, we are here to help. 

Events that we manage for non-profits and clients in some capacity, which includes event production, consulting, timing, registration, or other custom event production services, will make case-by-case decisions on their process of suspending ticket sales for their events, deferring, postponing, canceling or continuing these events. We will continue to provide updates as we have them regarding our partner events, which are:

WNC Flyer, Tour d’ Apple, Light Up the Night 5K, Firecracker 5K, White Squirrel 5K, Collier Lilly Ride, Spring Century Ride, GNAR, Chamber Challenge, Flight of the Vampire 5K, Kingfisher Crusher, Rock the Quarry, and WCU Mountain Heritage. 

Our Thanks… and take good care friends

We appreciate the love and support from our runners, partners and volunteers, and we thank you for your understanding. We are hopeful that the future will be bright for our business and that we will continue to be able to provide you with the events that you have supported and loved all these years! We want everyone to stay safe and healthy while our world continues to navigate the coronavirus pandemic. After all, without all of you, events won’t be nearly as fun to produce. So take good care of yourself, go outside and run, walk, hike, bike, do yoga at home or outside - practice social distancing but keep doing the things you love to do (just do them differently!). 

Let us also try to find ways to be kind to each other and come together and support one another (and support small businesses of all kinds when possible and safe to do so). 

Please continue to check our website for updates, and our Facebook and Instagram pages. Your continued support means so much to us. 

Stay well friends,

Daphne Kirkwood

iDaph Events Owner

Past iDaph Blogs