Threat of lightning postpones Worcester half-marathon, 5K

WORCESTER — If it were just rain, rain and more rain, the Worcester Running Festival would’ve gone off as planned Sunday morning at the Common.

“But when the reports were predicting a possibility of four hours of lightning, common sense has to prevail,” race director Charlie Breagy said. “I couldn’t have that on my conscience in that environment. We made the best decision in the end.”

Breagy said he made the call to postpone about two hours before the event, and there was a post on Facebook at about 6 a.m. The National Grid Half Marathon was slated to begin at 7.

“We are sorry for this announcement but safety of the runners and volunteers is the most important concern. We will announce a new date within a few days. We will also offer additional options for those that may now be able to make the new date,” the post read.

Breagy hopes the sooner, the better. He has inquired with the city about the possibility of holding the festival as soon as next Sunday, the day after the Longsjo Classic’s twilight criterium in downtown Worcester.

“The city has been great to us,” said Breagy, who hopes to make an announcement in the next couple of days.

Breagy and his crew arrived in Worcester at about 3 a.m. Sunday and went about setting up the course and the staging at the start/finish. Runners did arrive Sunday at the Common, “and there were some who weren’t happy with the decision,” Breagy said.

“If it were just a local 5K, I would’ve called it off yesterday, and if I definitely knew about the lightning yesterday, I would’ve called it off then,” said Breagy, who previously hadn’t called off an event in his 27 years as a race director. “But we had people coming in from out of town, staying at hotels, and we wanted to try to accommodate them.”

More than 1,150 had registered for the half marathon, Harvard Pilgrim Health Care 5K or Bay State Savings Bank Youth 1K, according to Breagy.

Contact John Conceison at john.conceison@telegram.com