FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Chris Laskey
561.241.3801 X 144
Wilma Gives A1A Marathon A Lashing!
Due to the effects of the category two hurricane named Wilma we will have
to sadly and unfortunately reschedule the Inaugural A1A Marathon. We regret
how this will effect the athletes and families that will have to reschedule
their marathon vacation plans, and will do our best to keep you informed of
rescheduling dates.
Understanding that South Florida is one of the most beautiful places to
live and vacation in the world, we sometimes have to deal with situations
that are not in our control, and a Hurricane happens to be one of those
items. With the sensitivity to the people and government agencies that
still do not have power and have had to deal with the clean up and
aftermath of Wilma, the event just could not be held!
For those athletes representing the 36 different states or seven different
countries planning on participating in the A1A Marathon, some experts have
said Wilma could be the most expensive storm in the history of the US. The
width of this massive hurricane stretched from Port St. Lucie to Key West.
Havoc from Lady Wilma caused downtown Broward office buildings to have
windows blown out, plus towers, homes, and 22 Thousand square miles of
power outages in Florida. We kept in touch but Exclusive Sports Marketing
headquarters was without power for seven days. When returning to the
office, and having had several phone calls with agencies during the week
without power, we still had some hope until we reached Sergeant Mitch Van
Sant.
Sergeant Van Sant has been the leader of the police plan for the marathon,
has been a visionary and trusted warrior over the last two and half years
in the quest of pulling this grand event together. Reaching him by phone,
he stated, “Steve the entire police force has been on a 12 on and 12 off
hours shifts since the storm hit, as we discussed several days ago, we have
every officer on duty this morning to manage the 50% at best intersections
that have no lights or power for the Monday morning rush hour traffic, we
brought in help from Volusia county, for additional support. Our force has
not had a day off yet, and with the Marathon being next week, it will be
impossible to get the support, and we can not ask these people to work a
5am shift, even if we get things close to back to normal. We are sorry but
we will work with you in every fashion to reschedule this great inaugural
event! We understand your efforts and will continue to be part of your
team.”
To all those athletes that have already taken the time to be part of this
event, we will give you further details by next week November 8th of how we
will handle the rescheduling date and your entry fee. We thank-you in
advance, for your patience and understanding in this time of misfortune at
the hands of Mother Nature.
In closing we would like to assure all, that this event was on target to
become a historic event in the running and marathon world! We will strive
to reprogram that commitment to Fort Lauderdale, Pompano, and
Lauderdale-by-The Sea, all sponsors, and government agencies that were, and
will continue to be involved! Look for the new starting line coming soon!
Peace and peace of mind:
Exclusive Sports Marketing Inc.
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