Essay: Discontinued or Inactive Races

I've created a new tag for races that are no longer happening, for one reason or another. Currently on this list: 

Culver City 5K
EIF/Revlon Walk
Karhu 5K
Live Ultimate 5K
Sunset Strip 5K
Rose Bowl 5K 
Run for Her

* RnR LA continues as a half-marathon, but at least for now, the 5K is gone.

For the most part, I hate adding this tag to events. The Karhu 5K was a disaster, but some of these other races were amazing. Particularly, the Culver City 5K and Sunset Strip 5K were two of my favorite races ever.

The race director for Culver City was in contact last year, explaining why the 2015 event would not happen. At that time, there was apparently some hope that the race would be rescheduled in the fall of 2016. However, as of September 2016, there's been no word on it. It's a real shame, since it was a fun, friendly and well-organized race.

The Sunset Strip 5K is just confusing, truth be told. It was a phenomenal race in every way; well-organized and run from start to finish, with a great theme, wonderful medals and shirts, and strong course support. It ran once, in 2015...and then poof, nothing. The organizers stopped posting on the event's Facebook page in August 2015. Earlier this year, someone commented that the race will return in 2017 - apparently this person had gone out of his way to track down some answers - but as of now, there's no word.

The Live Ultimate 5K was not as good, but was another "one (or two) and done." At the time, the Live Ultimate race organizers seemed to be ambitiously planning a series of races. They had some other events in Florida, and in 2014 they had one more Los Angeles race in Downtown LA, but then they faded out.

I did not add Firefly Run to the list, but I was on the fence about it. The race is still active, just not in Los Angeles. It "tours" to different cities, and LA has not been on the schedule for a while. There have been recent stops in Seattle and San Francisco, but for whatever reason, the race has not come south to LA in a while.

The Rose Bowl 5K  (which also had, IIRC, a 10K and half or full marathon) seems to have quietly faded out and been replaced with a new-for-2017 Pasadena Half and 5K, also at the Rose Bowl.

EIF/Revlon and Run for Her were both mega-races that had many similarities. Both had tens of thousands of participants. They both focused on fundraising for cancer-related hospitals and organizations, as well as awareness. They both had huge sponsors. Both races attracted many people who might not have ordinarily been interested in doing a 5K, and it was, for a large number of participants, a very leisurely walk.

In 2014 Run for Her branched out to New York City, and by all accounts, that race was successful. In 2015 it was gone, with a note from organizers at Cedars-Sinai Hospital noting that the race had "outgrown" its environment. There were promises that it might come back, but as of now, nothing has materialized.

No promises were made about recalling EIF/Revlon to life. The run/walk was held in numerous cities, including both LA and New York, in major venues. The New York walk went through Times Square to Central Park; the Los Angeles one used the LA Coliseum, where the Olympic torch was lit for participants to see as they finished the race. In 2014 it seemed to be moving right along, but in 2015 it was gone. Very little was said about it.

What caused the demise of these mega-races? 

In a city like Los Angeles, there are so many races almost every week that when one goes under, there's always another to replace it on the schedule. However, for runners and walkers who appreciated certain races, their absence is acutely felt.