By Don Urquhart, Times-Chronicle
Interior Health has reneged on its approval for the 2021 Half Corked Marathon after the Oliver Osoyoos Winery Association had been given the green light to hold the event just last week. The postponement brings yet more economic pain to the local communities of Oliver and Osoyoos.
The event, in what would have been its 14th iteration, is now postponed to next year and will see all registered participants for the 2021 Half Corked Marathon having their tickets deferred to 2022.
“After receiving approval from the Environmental Health Officer on August 25th to proceed, a further edict was received yesterday [Monday, Aug. 30] advising that the event is not permitted to move forward,” OOWA said in a statement.
Jennifer Busmann, executive director at Oliver Osoyoos Winery Association (OOWA).
Jennifer Busmann, executive director at Oliver Osoyoos Winery Association (OOWA) told the Times-Chronicle that the withdrawal of approval was a “blow”. The organization she said, “has worked incredibly hard over the past months to make continued adjustments to the event, in order to create a format that falls within provincial and local orders and guidelines. We have been left with no choice but to postpone.”
Busmann also underscored the economic importance of this event for small communities like Oliver and Osoyoos. “We’ve had a challenging summer economically whether it’s been from COVID, or changes in Public Health Orders, or fires and smoke,” she said.
“The economic impact that this event has in our local communities is substantial and to get approved it kind of put a little ‘pep’ in everyone’s step and now all those hotel rooms are getting cancelled, all those restaurant reservations are going to be cancelled and we’re not going to see the pickup in our local retail stores or wineries. Financially it’s a blow to our local economy,” she says.
Detailing the work that went into gaining approval for the event, Busmann said that once the association learned of the province’s revised health orders last month that extended tougher restrictions in the Central region to the South Okanagan, they waited for the written order in order to understand what they could and could not do.
OOWA then submitted their COVID-19 health and safety plan to Interior Health for approval. “In order for us to proceed with the event, we needed the approval for our health and safety plan from interior health in order to get our Ministry of Transport permit, to get our insurance, our liquor licensing – a whole series of things that were banking on that approval.”
A sigh of relief was exhaled on Wed. 25 August when the written approval came through and by the next day, all the remaining permits were in order. But only five days later on Monday, the linchpin approval was pulled by Interior Health referencing concerns over virus spreading outside of the event.
Specifically, Interior Health officials cited “COVID transmission risks of people travelling and socializing, outside of when the event itself is occurring”. It’s unclear why this was not taken into consideration when the original decision was being made on the submitted plan.
An Interior Health spokesperson told the Times-Chronicle that “racing events” are not permitted under the gathering and events order. No explanation was given as to why this was not applied in the first instance when the event was approved.
“The concern is not with the race itself, but with gatherings at the beginning and end of a race,” the spokesperson added. “We thank all the organizations and events that have had to postpone or reschedule their events as we all work together to reduce the COVID-19 activity we are seeing across Interior Health.”
On at least one positive note, Busmann says unlike last year when there was a “hard backlash” in which many people were outright cruel in their criticism on social media when the pandemic was announced and changes were made, “this time in the last 12 hours we’ve had a flood of really kind responses, and that kinda makes you smile”.
The plan going forward will see registered participants’ tickets for the 2021 Half Corked Marathon deferred to 2022 and the event split into two.
The first part will be held in Spring (April 22-24, 2022) which will be the 2021 Half Corked Marathon followed in the Fall (Sept. 9-11, 2022) by the 2022 Half Corked Marathon.
Registered 2021 participants will have the option – during Sept. 2021 – to choose which event works best for them. “Offering flexibility with a choice of date for 2022 will appease more participants than just postponing to one date,” OOWA says.
And crucially, committing to two dates gives organizers a backup option should there still be significant COVID-19 restrictions in place in the spring. If this is the case, the ‘plan B’ is for all tickets to be deferred to September.
All registered 2021 participants were sent an email on August 31 with more information. More details can be found on the Half Corked Marathon webpage or email [email protected].
The association also says it hopes some participants will still continue with their Sept trip, adding that “wineries are ready to welcome them with open arms and full glasses,” adding there is a full range of self-touring options available on their website.
