District Attorney Assigns Investigator After Boulder Marathon Is Canceled
BOULDER, Colo. (CBS4) – Angry runners have been sounding off about this year's Boulder Marathon being canceled at the last minute, and now the Boulder County District Attorney's office is getting involved.
Race organizer Jeff Mason said they canceled this year's marathon because last year's floods made holding the race impossible. But the Boulder County Sheriff's Office says the cancellation came because the group failed to meet deadlines for key permits.
District Attorney Stanley Garnett said that after receiving numerous complaints he will assign someone from his office to see if further investigation is needed.
Organizers of the Boulder Marathon are offering free entrance into next year's race, but runners still aren't happy.
"With this happening two years in a row, I don't even think I can stomach saying, 'Okay, I'm going to believe him this time,' " runner Michael Blackburn said.
In fact, there are a number of runners who feel the same way and many are asking for their money back instead.
Garnett said he will assign someone from his office to look into whether or not they can help get the money returned.
"If you take 3,000 people in the two years, that's $300,000. I would like to know where that money went," Blackburn said.
CBS4 spoke with David Benje, a promoter for the Rock 'n' Roll Denver Marathon, about potentially having to refund thousands of runners. He said it wouldn't be easy.
"It's pretty difficult because there are a lot of bills that have been paid, there are deposits that have been laid down that aren't going to be refunded. There are hard costs – medals, t-shirts and the like -- that have probably been already been paid for," Benje said. "So yeah, it's tough, but two years in a row holding onto people's money is questionable."
The Rock 'n' Roll Denver Marathon offering up free registration to the first 200 Boulder Marathon runners who register.
MORE ON CBSDENVER.COM: Rock 'n' Roll Denver Marathon & 1/2 Section
The Bear Chase Trail Race in Lake City on Sept. 27-28 is also offering half-price registration to all Boulder Marathon entrants. Visit bearchaserace.com for more details.
CBS4 also learned that the group Human Movement has enough resources to put on the race as scheduled. All they need is approval from different city and county organizations who they were scheduled to meet with Monday morning.
LINK: Human Movement
