4/19/2011

Help! New York City Marathon question

Okay, I'm fully aware of the fact that this might be a stupid question, but I'm still going to put it up here.

I joined the lottery for the NYCM 2011 back in November 2010. Then decided that I wanted to run for charity and contacted Team Hole in the Wall. Registered and started fundraising. Booked early flights (cheaper) to NYC.

Fast forward to January 28th '11: received an email from NYRR saying that chances to get in through the lottery are extremely thin. They advised me to look for other ways to get in and offered a refund if I'd go for the withdrawal.



"On January 24, New York Road Runners posted additional details about entry into the ING New York City Marathon 2011. These details are to educate all applicants about the application process in general and the selection of non-guaranteed entry applicants in particular. Please click here to review the information.

You are receiving this e-mail because you submitted a non-guaranteed entry application prior to January 25. Anyone who applied for non-guaranteed entry during the period from November 8, 2010, to January 24, 2011, now may choose to withdraw from the application process and obtain a refund of the $11 processing fee.

Steps to Claim Your Refund
If you would like to withdraw your marathon application and receive a refund of your $11 processing fee, follow these steps:

Check your ING New York City Marathon Runner Profile to make sure your credit card information is correct. If you have trouble accessing your profile, contact us.
Send us an e-mail at marathonrefund@nyrr.org with “Marathon Refund” as the subject, requesting the refund.
If you paid by credit card, your refund will appear on your statement. Please allow up to two weeks for the refund to be processed by NYRR, and additional time for the credit to appear on your credit card statement.
If you paid by cash or check, please bring your receipt or a copy of the canceled check to our 9 East 89th Street office for processing.
Please note:
This is a one-time benefit that is non-transferable.
Requests must be made on or before April 19, 2011.
Do not reply to this e-mail. Instead, if you have questions, e-mail reghelp@nyrr.org.
By requesting this refund, you are withdrawing your application for non-guaranteed entry to the ING New York City Marathon 2011. This action is not reversible; however, if you become eligible for guaranteed entry to the marathon, you may re-apply by the application deadline. You will then be charged the entry fees including the $11 processing fee.
Your withdrawal does not qualify as a cancellation or denial of entry for purposes of obtaining guaranteed entry to a future marathon. Check our website for more details.
Sincerely,
ING New York City Marathon Registration"

I then emailed NYRR - several times - about having joined a charity and if that implied that I would no longer need to be in the lottery, I would withdraw my lottery entry. Only heard back after email bombing them, just saying that my application had been removed. No answer on the charity/lottery thing. Just 'removed'.

And now I've been hearing that when you're removed from the lottery and no longer in it, you won't be able to accept the guaranteed entry through the charity (invation emails are said to be send out late April). Okay, see, I'm freaking out here, and worried that I can't run NYCM '11 after all.

Team Hole in the Wall couldn't answer this question (which makes sense, since NYRR should confirm it). And I guess my emails to NYRR got lost in cyberspace.

Could anyone help me out on this one?
Since I'm freaking out... Oh, I already said that...

4 comments:

ATTrio said...

Oh man, this would be a major bummer! I am not sure that your name would not go in if you were with a charity. What I would do is try and call them. Call New York Road Runners and make sure everything is ok. Good Luck!
Sarah

Bethany + Ryan said...

I would definitely call them. Are you able to call the USA? If not, i can call for you since i live here

Silly Girl Running said...

@ Bethany: That's so sweet of you! I'll try calling them in half an hour when I'm home. I wanted to try earlier, but with the time difference, the office would still be closed.

Unknown said...

How did it go? Did you call? It doesn't make sense to me that you would have to be in the lottery to run for charity, since charity entrants go directly through the charity and don't rely on lottery applications or deadlines. There are usually charity spots right up until a month or two before the race, so the whole idea of charity being somehow contingent on the lottery is counter intuitive. However, I don't know that for certain! And I really hope you got it figured out in time, because if not, what a huge bummer...