IM Louisville Participant Hit by Car - No Refund or Rollover

Someone here (Suzanne?) had an accident or other problem before CdA andI believe she got an entry to another race.  Of course, that's NAS and not WTC.

That's really a bummer about the accident, sorry to hear it

Sorry to hear about your friend.  I too got hit by a car this year and it sucks.

There are a lot of businesses that have no-refund policies after a deadline - airlines, cruise ships and Disney World come to mind. 

Personally, I think there ought to be a 100% refund policy up till about 3 months.  AND, they ought to reallocate that slot so someone else could take it.  From a business persepective, this would be a zero sum gain. 

Last minutes cancelations/refunds are tough.  If you have a policy that allows exceptions, I'm sure some people will claim they had an accident or had a death in the family or sickness or can't get off work etc.  Then you put the RD in a position of trying to evaluate all the refund cases to decide who gets a refund (and/or slot in another race) and who does not.

Maybe what they ought to do is offer 'race insurance' similar to trip insurance.  Then, if something goes wrong, you'd get a refund and/or a new race slot.

Just some random thought.

~Mike

I agree that the refund policy should be more generous in some time period prior to the race..90 days seems good to me. IMs are expensive and the injury rate is high plus stuff happens in life. Agreed that they could easily fill slots for zero sum gain. My tri team had 18 folks registered for IMLP, 10 started, 8 finished.

They play the % game knowing that everyone that signs up will not race, and even when it gets down to bib assignment they no not all those registering will show up. They have the statistics they run it like a business so they can get the max number people paying the registration fee and not exceed the number of athletes they want to race.

The thing that bothers me is that I hear they do make exceptions to the no rollover policy at times but it is inconsistent and more like an exception. The reasons I have heard about that they do allow it are similar to the reasons that they won't allow it...bike crashes, significant injuries and the like.

Suzanne was a community slot athlete who had a bike crash within 2 weeks of IMCDA and they can roll over to following year or transfer if there is a spot. 

I hope your buddy heals up quickly...all that training, effort, it is really tough. 

I got to move my registration to WI, but that was primarily because I am a community fund athlete. There is more flexibility there, and they do allow you to change races based on availability.

I was very lucky I signed up as a community fund participant. I would have been SOL otherwise.

I can understand the business reasons for having a limited refund/rollover policy (i.e. abuse by participants, anxiety of racing, etc), but I'm sure that if they thought about it carefully they could create a fair policy that would give people who are truly injured (with documentation) and unable to participate an opportunity to race the following year. 

I'm getting hypothetical, but its not hard to imagine this policy creating more problems for RDs than giving someone the opportunity to do the race the next year.  For instance, say someone is hurt, but can't rollover.  They decide to do the race rather than lose out of the money.  They could potentially put themselves in danger as well as other competitors, which could certainly lead to big headaches for the RDs.

I just think its an unfair policy given the level of committment people put into the sport and punishes participants.  I'd imagine the profit margin on the races is enough to support a few rollovers.  Do elites/pros pay entry fees?  If so, if they pull out because of injury, do they get those fees back?  If they are paid by their sponsors, do their sponsors get those fees back or some other compensation for not having their sponsored athlete in the race?  I'd bet they do. 

In IM South Africa there is also a no refund, roll over or transfer policy. 

There is an insurance that you can opt to take out though.  It covers for accidents, training injuries, sickness, death or emergency in the family as well as pregancy (as long as you found out after you entered).  Not many people opt to take it though.

I may be mistaken, but I believe they oversell slots based on this fairly consistent statistic, just like the airlines.  I imagine a race would be overwhelmed if everyone made it to the start.  Any accomodation on a refund policy for NAS or WTC means more work, less profit and as long as IMs sellout, I doubt there will ever be any changes.

On that note, does anyone know what they do in European and non-North American M-dot races for refunds, particularly the ones that do not sell out immediately or at all?

As to the original OP, that really sucks for your friend.   If he decides to give it a go, he should be sure to nukes his system with a Z pack or some other antibiotic after the race (swim in the river).  This setback will make finishing the race even more of an achievement.

I say keep it like it is.  You know going it you can't transfer or get a refund so if you don't want to risk it don't race.  I would love to do IMKY next year but not sure where I will be living or working and until I have a new job after I lose my in December I am not signing up for anything a year out.

This is definitely one of the reasons I feel like you shouldn't have to register for these races a  year in advance.  As another poster said, a LOT can happen in a year!

It wouldn't help someone who gets hurt right before the race, but it would still help a lot of people.

I wish there was a legit way to get refunded or transfer if you get hurt close to the race.  It sucks to lose that much money over something that wasn't your fault.

Last year I was registered for Boulder Peak when the military told me about 30 days out that I had to go to some training in Alabama and I wasn't going to be able to race.  I e-mailed the RD and they had a policy (unadvertised...nowhere on their site, nowhere when you registered) that said you could only get a refund 60 days out.  I replied that if I had GOTTEN 60 days notice I would have given THEM 60 days notice.  Still no dice.

I complained heavily that their policy wasn't advertised and wouldn't you know?  This year it's on their site.  Still didn't help me.

But I digress.  Perfect example of a situation completely beyond my control but RD's wouldn't budge.  It really sucks and it happens way too often.  Life happens.  RD's need to bend a little.

If everyone was honest and never took advantage of situations they could change their policies. We all know that's not the case. It's a shame.

When I did IMAZ I was worried all year that I'd get injured but I also knew the risk when I signed up.  As a matter of fact I think they even sent me an email with a video explaining the no refun policy.

I'm guessing the no-refund policy provides a modicum of motivation for some folk.  If you knew you could get your $500 back if you were not 'ready' come race time.... 

~Mike