The Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon in Minnesota was canceled Sunday because of concerns about record heat, organizers said.
Sunday in Minneapolis and St. Paul will be the hottest day of the week, with record temperatures close to 90 degrees Fahrenheit possible in the afternoon, according to the National Weather Service.
The annual marathon, organized by Twin Cities in Motion, was canceled early Sunday.
https://twitter.com/NWSTwinCities/status/1708427570608562608
“It saddens Twin Cities In Motion and our partners to be unable to hold the races that runners have been pointing toward for months, but the safety of participants and the community will always be our primary concern,” they said in a statement. “Extreme heat conditions can tax both runners and our emergency medical response systems.”
Some runners decided to brave the heat, including a couple who were celebrating their first wedding anniversary with a 10-mile run.
“We figured, ‘Why not?'” one of them said. “We were prepped anyways.”
The Twin Cities Marathon in Minneapolis on Oct. 4, 2015.Craig Lassig / AP file
Another runner said that it was his first marathon and that he was very excited about it. He planned to run the full 26.2 miles regardless of the cancellation.
“Just super disappointed when I got the email this morning,” he said. “You think, you know, I saw the weather forecast for the last 10 days, and it was all the same, hasn’t changed, so the fact that they canceled it morning of was just, just super, I don’t know, just super disappointing.”
Also Sunday, the New York City Triathlon canceled the swim part of the race because of water quality concerns after a massive rainstorm dumped more than 7 inches of rain on the city in less than 24 hours. Organizers announced that the event would be switched to a run/bike/run format instead.
