The falling tree branches in the wooded section of the course were the telling sign.
With a Nor’easter forecast for this weekend and wind gusts expected to reach 50 to 60 mph — perhaps higher — co-race directors Charlie Breagy and his daughter, Siobhan Breagy, made the difficult decision to cancel Saturday’s Ocean State Invitational at Goddard State Park for the first time in the meet’s 19-year history.
After walking through the course earlier in the day, the Breagys pulled the plug on one of the East Coast’s premier cross-country events, which featured middle school races on Friday, followed by high school races on Saturday.
“It’s scary and it’s dangerous,” Charlie Breagy said. “A tree could fall while they’re running out there. We just can’t take that chance. Tents will be blowing all over the place if the wind picks up. We’re talking about 60-mile-per-hour winds. Between the weather forecast this morning and then actually seeing branches falling off trees while they were working on the course, it was an eye-opener that it was too dangerous.”
Breagy said this year’s event had reached record numbers, with more than 3,900 entries combined across the middle school and high school races. The two-day meet attracted 148 high schools and 40 middle schools from several different states, including all the New England states as well as New York, New Jersey, Virginia and Georgia.
“I have to say that all the coaches have been very understanding,” Breagy said. “It’s a very difficult decision to make, and we know a lot of people were looking forward to it. It’s a fun meet, and there are fun things for the kids to do at the meet. We didn’t want to let teams down, but at the same time, we made the call early because we didn’t want to wait until the last minute because so many out-of-state teams book hotels and have other expenses.”
Breagy has let the coaches know that full refunds for this year’s event will be given, with an option to transfer their payment to next year’s event.
“We are being fair with everybody,” he said. “We are refunding all the entry fees that were paid to us already. If they want to forward it to next year, regardless of the numbers, we’ll put them in. If they bring a bigger team, it will be the same fee, no extra charge, just the one fee. Whatever they paid this year. The other thing, if they want their check back, we’ll reimburse them. We do everything proper.”
Along with the Ocean State Invitational, the Breagys manage several other events in Rhode Island and nearby Massachusetts, which include some of the largest road races in the region. This is not the first time that Mother Nature has put a damper on one of the races. Less than four weeks ago, the co-race directors had to postpone the Brightstar Downtown 5K to this Sunday after rain and windy conditions were forecast for its original date on Sept. 27.
“It has been one of the toughest years as far as the weather that I have witnessed,” Charlie Breagy said. “In 37 years, I have never experienced such terrible luck, and I’m Irish. I thought it was luck of the Irish. Luck of the Irish didn’t stay with me.”
