Everyday that passes more cases of infection are reported and we at Deliz Running are as concerned as everyone about the safety of our community and our families. We are committed to follow the guidance of experts and local authorities to do what we can do for our patrons who attend our races and for our friends and family who volunteer their time to make each race happen.
The Highlights of this Announcement
- Online registrations for The Gump Run 5k and the Great Cupcake Run 5k are now halted.
- The Gump Run 5k is now cancelled.
- The Great Cupcake 5k is cancelled.
- Other races taking place beyond April will remain on schedule, while we monitor the situation.
Our Decision
Up until yesterday we were determined to continue forward with our schedule of races under the belief that, based on the guidance of County and State officials, our events (with precautions) would not pose a risk to anyone involved. However over the course of the last 24 hours matters have changed.
On Friday March 13, Orange County Government enacted a state of emergency to go along with the same declaration by the State of Florida enacted on March 1. As part of this declaration Orange County Schools will remain closed for a week past Spring Break, Orange County Libraries have cancelled much of their programming, and Orange County Parks and Recreation has cancelled a slew of programs focused on those programs serving senior citizens.
These measures have not yet risen to the level of a ban on public gatherings, however many of the larger events in the local world of running have begun to self impose cancellations. These include the annual Corporate 5k hosted by our friends at Track Shack, which has been postponed to a later date in the year, and the Smile Mile which has been turned into a virtual run.
Those events are much larger events than what we typically produce at Deliz Running, thus a comparison is difficult. As we specialize in small, affordable, basic races, we believed we could go ahead with our plans. Given that our races do not draw spectators, we often do not have sponsor tents, and since our average race consists of about 100 runners, we believed that we could go ahead. Specially, since no Orange County infections had yet been reported.
However, over the last 24 hours we witnessed the number of infections across the US rise from 1500 to almost 3,000 and the cases in Florida go from 47 to over 100. This near doubling of confirmed cases over the last 24 hours speaks to the exponential growth of the infection. We expect these numbers to increase rapidly over the next few days, and are now worried about where we might be by the end of the month.
With this in mind, we also expect the state of emergency declared to expand as health officials and government entities attempt to get ahead of the curve of infections. And it is likely that organizations as ours, which utilize County property will be asked to cancel our events. We have already received exploratory inquiries towards that possibility.
For that reason, and in an effort to not be a source of friction in the County’s attempts to handle this serious situation, we have decided to cancel our next two 5k events: The Gump Run 5k and the Great Cupcake Run 5k.
Over the next 24 hours we will email all registered participants with information regarding these cancellation and how we will proceed to do right by them.
Thank you
Michael A. Deliz & Katy Comellas-Deliz
Deliz Running