Scheduled to take place on September 27, 2020 – the team at Elbaman on the island of Elba, Italy, have confirmed the cancellation of this year’s race.
The organising team set a deadline of June 2020 to make a decision on this year’s race.
‘June was the deadline because it represents the limit within [which] we have continued to organise – digging into our reserve fund without using any Euros collected from entry fees.’
Athletes are being contacted by e-mail and must respond by July 15, with a choice of:
- Full refund of entry fee, after service cost, e.g. registration service charge of 5%
- Refund of entry fee, with organizer holding €50 deposit for pre-registration to 2021 event
- Refund of entry fee, with organizer holding €50 deposit for pre-registration to 2021 event – and additional deduction of €50 as voluntary donation to support organizational expenses to the cancelled 2020 event
- Refund of entry fee, with deduction of €50 as voluntary donation to support organizational expenses to the cancelled 2020 event
A statement from Elbaman Triathlon President Marco Scotti continued…
Unfortunately, we have come to a decision that we would never have wanted to make: Elbaman 2020 is cancelled and the XVI edition will take place in 2021. Most probably in our usual date at the end of September; this will be finalized soon.
Thanks to a very careful and detailed management, we have already spent about €18000, but with ‘only’ €6000 wasted because this was used for materials and services specific for 2020.
That’s sure, we are not so happy that our reserve fund is almost “over”, that is our life jacket for any unforeseen situation, but we have always to keep athletes in first place. We have taken the liberty to insert, amongst options available for registered athletes, to leave a donation to support us.
Many of you know that we organize Elbaman not for an economic return, almost zero, but for the pleasure to see you reach your goal and live a unique experience. As a family-staff we also enjoy a long weekend all together more as friends than as co-workers.
Some very important and pragmatic aspects:
- It is absolutely not clear when mass-sport events will be authorized in Italy and there isn’t any guideline or rule to follow;
Even if some rules would come, we have valid reasons to think that our budget could not deal with extra expenses for organizational or infrastructural required adaptations; - A remarkable number of our volunteers, including some crucial staff members, have informed that they cannot be present for personal reasons or for lack of holidays from their jobs after the lockdown;
- In Italy it is effective in law that an organizer has the penal (not civil) liability in case of contagion during the event, even if all rules are respected. This is a critical point for everyone, but especially for us organizing in our free time and not as a job.
- Given the economic situation, many of our supporters cannot contribute as usual. This creates quite an important gap in our budget with certain consequences on the event.
