Thank you for entering Potomac River Run Marathon and Half scheduled for Sunday, May 2,
with starts at 8 AM (full marathon) and 9 AM (half marathon) at Fletcher's Cove, 4940 Canal Road, Washington DC.

This message is the first message of several that we send out.

We want everyone to know that we anxiously await written approval from National Park Service. We hope to receive that approval this week. We inform you immediately if we get a go or a no-go decision.

Either way, we update our complete information page at https://safetyandhealthfoundation.org/marathon/index1.php and our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/groups/PotomacRiverRun

If we get a "go" decision, our pre-race packet pick-up is Saturday, May 1, from 11:00 AM to 5:45 PM, at Pacers Running Store, 3100 Clarendon Boulevard, Arlington VA 22201, or on the commons across the street at Clarendon Metro. Parking is free underneath Trader Joe's, entrance at 1100 North Garfield Street.

Then race-day packet pick-up and bag check is at Fletcher's Cove, 4940 Canal Road, Washington DC 22207 at the picnic tables down the stairs in the lower parking lot. You can park in the upper parking lot and walk across the wooden footbridge, or you can drive through the tunnel on the right to the larger riverside parking lot.

Pre-race at 7:30 AM and 8:30 AM, please join Arlington's Certified Laughter Yoga leader Diane Cohen on the Towpath for a Laughing Yoga warm-up. Write to her at ArlingtonLaughterYoga@yahoo.com

At 7:45 AM, please join us for the National Anthem, played by 16-time Potomac Rier Run Marathon finisher Michael Creadon.

The race itself is entirely on flat and scenic C&O Canal Towpath, from the bridge at Fletcher's Cove almost to Billy Goat Trail, passing Locks 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10 -- the vantage points along the canal. We host aid stations at Locks 5, 7, and 10, staffed by Buy A Brick Foundation, Marathon Charity Cooperation, and D.C. Capital Striders. The aid stations have water, Gatorade, and Carb Boom. Aid station volunteers all wear protective gloves and masks. Aid stations are flanked on both sides by trash boxes. Please dispose of your paper cups and Carb Boom packets in the trash boxes. Please don't litter them on the trail so nobody has to pick them up.

The half marathon is out'n'back once. The full marathon is out'n'back twice. Marathoners turn around at the midpoint, near the start / finish line but 10 meters away so they don't trigger the RFID system.

Currently, we plan to use touchless RFID timing powered by www.Webscorer.com, and we send a URL to you a few days before the race with constantly updating results. This year, to be contact-free, we don't have tear-off tags at the bottoms of bib numbers, but please wear your bib number high and visibly so we can read it at the finish. Your RFID timing tag is stapled to the back of your bib number in a waterproof plastic envelope. Please don't remove the RFID timing tag from the envelope. Please pull the envelope off the back of your bib number after you finish and place it in the collection box after the finish line. (We decontaminate the plastic envelopes for subsequent re-use.)

Then we give you a finisher's medal and our congratulations. Post-race, we have water, Gatorade, Carb Boom, and Simone Super Energy, plus bananas, tangerines, and energy bars from Trader Joe's. Sadly, we can't provide bagels or pizza as in previous years -- that's our plan for next year when we're out of danger.

Webscorer allows us to print age-group awards instantly. We have nice-looking SHF wooly hats and sweatshirts as age-group awards, plus the cash prizes for 1st, 2nd, 3rd M/F in the marathon.

If we get a no-go decision, we inform you immediately. If no-go, we offer you free entry to any of our future races. We send everyone a survey form asking which race you want, and then we send you a code for a free entry to your future race. We make other arrangements for you individually as needed.

COVID-19 SAFETY PROTOCOLS:

Face masks for everyone at the start, no exceptions. We provide free masks. No shared anything. Physical separation before the start. No touching. We may split the starting groups and ask faster runners go first, or go by age group. (RFID timing is helpful for that problem.) We may receive other safety requirements from National Park Service as a condition of our permit, and we communicate those to you.

If you have questions, please write me (racedirector@att.net) or call me (703-927-4833). I'm here to serve you.

If you ordered the Saturday night pre-race dinner or the Sunday morning pre-race cab, we write individually to you.

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Thank you for your support
Jay Jacob Wind, director
Safety And Health Foundation
racedirector@att.net