11th Annual Oak Barrel Half Marathon
October 24, 2020
8AM
After consulting with our local officials (mayor, Sheriff, and EMS), we have decided that is in the best interest of our runners and community to postpone the 2020 Oak Barrel Half. I understand how very frustrating this is for our runners that have been planning and training for months to join us in Lynchburg – and I apologize for that.
We learned yesterday that the ‘public side’ of Jack Daniel’s (visitor center (distillery tours), Miss Mary Bobo’s Restaurant, Jack Daniel’s Hardware Store (gift shop)) will all be closed as of Monday (3/15/20). We are not certain how long those closures will last. In addition to the concern about gathering 1700 people on the square in Lynchburg amidst the concerns for the COVID-19 virus situation, the weekend would not be quite the same without Jack Daniel’s involved and open to welcome all the runners.
Mach Tenn Running Club looks forward to the week of Oak Barrel all year long. We love getting the opportunity to see so many of our repeat runners that first weekend in April. And it is always so exciting to be able to share a small section of the world with our new Oak Barrel runners. We are a running club and so it is all about the run and the event. The great thing about Oak Barrel week is that as a club we all get to be together with both running and volunteering. It is one of the few times during the year that our small club is all together getting to do what we love doing. Unfortunately, we will not get the opportunity to host Oak Barrel on April 4th this year but do plan to reschedule for October 24, 2020.
We have tentative approvals from the county for the date change for the race. The formal approval for the race date change will have to come from our Metro Moore County Council at their next monthly meeting. Fortunately, that meeting is scheduled for this coming Monday (3/16) and we have been added to the agenda for that meeting. So, we hope to have the formal approval by Monday evening for the date change.
Once we have that formal approval – We will conform that date with all of you.
We know that the alternate date will not work for some of you – and certainly understand that.
Our plan for our participants is that you will have one of three options:
- Leave your registration in place and join us in Lynchburg on 10/24.
- Run Oak Barrel 2020 as a virtual race. In this case you would run the 13.1 miles on your own and then we would ship you the ‘swag’.
- If the 10/24 date does not work for you – you can request a refund of your registration fee.
The exact logistics we will work out in the next week and get that information to you via email. Please keep in mind that we are an all-volunteer running club. We appreciate your support and patience while we do our best deal with this difficult decision and to bring you the 2020 Oak Barrel Half Marathon.
The 2019 Race Guide