This Time, I Pulled the Plug

I just cancelled my plans for another race.  Several other races have cancelled or postponed, but this time I’m the one who pulled the plug.  The race in question was the White Nights Marathon in St. Petersburg, Russia.  The race is scheduled for June 28.

I’ve been interest in visiting St. Petersburg for years, but it’s not a place I could easily visit on my own.  This year, Marathon Tours & Travel (MT&T) was going there for the first time.  As soon as I found out I could go there with a tour group, I signed up.  I was looking forward not only to the race, but also to going sightseeing with a group and seeing places like the Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood.

To travel to Russia, to need to get a visa.  To get a visa, you need to have a letter of invitation.   For tourists, the letter of invitation comes form the hotel where you’re going to be staying.  MT&T took care of that.  I got the letter of invitation on January and began the process of applying for my visa, which involved mailing my passport with a visa application.  In February, I got my passport back with a Russian visa.  Then I booked my flights.

At the time, COVID-19 seemed like it was confined mostly to China and a few other countries in Asia.  I had no idea that it was could to spread throughout the world, with major outbreaks in the United States, Europe, and Russia.

My first inkling that this trip was in trouble came in a message from my friend Gary, who also booked this trip through MT&T.  His visa application was rejected.  Russia had closed its borders and they were no longer processing any visa applications.

A lot has happened since then.  The United States imposed a ban on travel to and from Europe.  European countries in the Schengen Zone imposed their own travel bans.  COVID-19 spread like wildfire in all of these countries.

Every race on my scheduled before this one was cancelled or postponed.  One of my July races was also cancelled.  I got occasional emails from MT&T with the status of the White Nights Marathon.  There were travel bans, and the Russian consulates were temporarily closed, but the race still wasn’t cancelled.  I was pretty sure I would eventually need to cancel this trip, but I kept waiting for the official word.

On Monday, I got another update from MT&T.  Here’s an excerpt:

Once again, we appreciate your patience as we navigate through this challenging time.  As mentioned in previous email communication, we have been monitoring the situation closely and have been in contact with the race and our ground operator.  Here is what we know:

• As of today, the race is still scheduled to take place on June 28. 
• There is a nationwide lock-down that has been extended until May 11.
• Hotels are not hosting foreigners until June 1. 
• The Russian Consulate offices are still closed in the USA so visas cannot be processed.  ILS (the visa processing center) estimates that they will remain closed until the end of May, but this is still an unknown factor.

Based on our departure scheduled for less than two months from now and the uncertainties, we are providing you with the following options.  Please respond with your choice by Friday, May 8, 2020. 

• Defer your package with Marathon Tours & Travel to 2021.  Our 'inaugural' White Nights Marathon will now be designated as 2021.  We know that many of you like to be the first to experience a new destination so this will secure your spot on our package for next year. Please note that the package pricing for 2021 has yet to be confirmed so there may be a slight difference.
• Apply your payment(s) to a future Marathon Tours & Travel Trip. The amount that you paid will be credited to your account to use on a future Marathon Tours & Travel trip in 2020 or 2021.
• Still travel to Russia.  If you still want to travel to Russia, then we will continue to plan your trip on your behalf.  We cannot guarantee what the situation will be in regards to travel, the race and/or any other restrictions imposed on foreigners.
• Receive a Refund.  If you select this option, please allow up to 60 days.  There will be a processing fee associated with this choice, which will be communicated when known.

Technically, the race is still on, but there’s a long list of reasons why I shouldn’t plan on traveling to St. Petersburg to run it.

1)      Although Russia’s ban on foreign travel is currently only through the end of May, it could easily be extended through June or beyond.

2)      Even before they closed their borders, Russia was requiring foreign visitors to quarantine for 14 days upon arrival in the country.  My visa is for specific dates.  It doesn’t account for a quarantine period.  Even if it did, I wouldn’t want to be away from home for that long.

3)      To get to Russia, I need to fly through airports in other European countries.  If either Europe or the United States extends their travel ban, my flights would most likely get cancelled, making it impossible to get to St. Petersburg with any reasonable itinerary.

4)      The tourist sites I was planning to visit might be closed.  At the very least, even if I could go sightseeing, I would be mostly on my own, instead of traveling with a large group.  I wouldn’t get to see St. Petersburg the way I was expecting to see it.

5)      Finally, and most important, I’d be at risk of contracting COVID-19 and spreading it to other people.  That’s not a risk I’m willing to take.

I contacted MT&T today to inform them that I was opting for a refund.  Ideally, I would defer to next year, but there’s too much uncertainty right now.  I’m not planning any big trips until I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

I still need to cancel my flights, but I’m going to wait to see if the airline cancels them.  If I cancel, I get a credit which is good until the end of 2022.  If they cancel, I get an immediate refund.

I still have 10 races on my calendar for this year, but I don’t know if any of them are going to happen.  Five of them are in July or August.  Four of them are races that were originally scheduled for April or May, but got postponed to weekends in September or October.  Finally, I’m registered for the New York City Marathon in November.

Ironically, the races that are most likely to be cancelled are the ones in September, October and November.  Two of them are races in Europe with thousands of runners.  The other two are in the US, but they have tens of thousands of runners and hundreds of thousands of spectators.  The summer races are much smaller.  They only have dozens of runners.  Even though they’re sooner, they may be possible with a few adjustments for social distancing.

I don’t know when I’ll race again.  The only thing I know for sure is that my next race is probably going to be a small one.