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Another COVID-19 cancellation

Waupaca Area Triathlon called off

By Greg Seubert


The list of canceled summer activities keeps growing.

The Waupaca Area Triathlon, which had been scheduled for Saturday, Aug. 15, is the latest area event to be called off because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

This year marks the 20th year for the triathlon, which includes a Shadow Lake swim or kayak course; a bicycle ride on rural roads south of Waupaca; and a run on city streets.

Past triathlons have included long and short courses and attracted hundreds of individual and relay team participants.

The event’s board of directors met May 28 and voted unanimously to cancel the triathlon.

One of those votes came from board member and course director Dean Sondrol.

“We watched what other triathlons were doing and they were canceling,” he said. “We discussed all the different options and got some feedback from the city. It’s just too unsure what’s going to happen. We don’t want to put the participants, the spectators, the volunteers and our local residents at any type of risk because of something going on.”

Options on the table

Sondrol and triathlon organizers looked into reducing the number of participants to make this year’s event a possibility.

“Instead of having 700 or 800 people involved, we’d cut it down to 200 or 300,” he said. “We didn’t feel it would be right for us to bring a lot of people into the community if there’s still a concern with the COVID crisis.”

Sondrol headed into the meeting with an open mind.

“I was toying with saying, ‘Let’s just wait another month and see what happens,’” he said. “Getting the feedback from the rest of our group and hearing what’s going on, we just thought it doesn’t seem appropriate to do that.”

Having the triathlon start at end at South Park also had a hand in the board’s decision, according to Sondrol.

“If the venue was somewhere open, we could say, ‘Well, maybe we could do it,’” he said. “If it were out in the middle of nowhere, maybe we could do something. If it were just a run, maybe we could work something. It’s a wonderful event and I really enjoy watching the people come and go. You can’t just say, ‘OK, you have to go over here and you have to go over here.’”

No triathlon, no money

The triathlon’s board gives away money from the event to local clubs, groups and organizations.

“We’re trying to see what we can do to help that,” Sondrol said. “We offer scholarships and I think we do have money put aside that we can use for that. I know some of the groups like the Boy Scouts count on that money, so we don’t have a good answer.

“The toughest part of the decision was all the people who count on that money,” he added. “Those same people are the ones we’d put at risk by having them come and volunteer.”

Sondrol talked to some of the event’s volunteers before the May 28 board meeting.

“They were concerned and saying, ‘I don’t want to be around that area,’” he said. “There are some people who said, ‘I’m not worried about it.’ It’s just not worth that risk of having one person who could possibly be infected or come down with the virus because of coming to Waupaca.

“It would be very difficult in our small area to do it effectively,” he said. “If our (participation) numbers aren’t there, is it cost-effective to do that? I’m still going to have to have volunteers at the finish line. I’m still going to have to have people to hand things out.”

Several participants for this year’s triathlon have already paid their registration fee.

“We will be offering everybody the option of refunding their full refund or defer their fees to next year’s race” Sondrol said. “Everybody’s in the same boat. We may lose a few people, but hopefully, they’ll say, ‘I have to come back and do it.’ We have people who have done it every year. I know they’re going to have a tough time.”

Triathlon participants will probably have a hard time finding an event this year in Wisconsin.

“I tried to find some and couldn’t find many,” Sondrol said. “We’re already getting people saying to hold their registration until next year. That’s a positive sign.”

‘Difficult decision’

Triathlon officials had big plans for this year’s event.

“It was a difficult decision because it was our 20th year, but we’re going to come back bigger and stronger and have a great 20th triathlon next year,” Sondrol said. “We can reach out to schools and have the kids make 20th anniversary signs. We looked at reducing our fees 20 percent. Maybe we’ll come across some even better ideas of what to do to pull people in.

“We’ll try to be stronger and see what else we can do,” he said. “We’re going to meet in the fall and see what can we do to make it better and what can we do to get these people back.”

The board’s decision turned out to be what Sondrol expected.

“I thought it was coming just because Arts on the Square is the same time and I know they canceled and other triathlons have canceled,” he said. “It’s not the way we wanted to go, but we felt safety was first.”

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