The notoriously onerous process of obtaining all the permits needed to stage an event in Squamish claimed another victim recently but the event's organizer was quick to say he's well on his way to getting things together for 2012 and hopeful about ongoing efforts to streamline the process.
Ryne Melcher, who took over as race director for the STORMY (Squamish Test of Running Mettle Yeah!) ultra-distance trail race from Wendy Montgomery for the 2011 event, on Monday (June 6) said that while the permitting process is a "headache," it was ultimately his decision to cancel the 2011 event and work to bring it back, with gusto, in 2012.
"Long story short there just wasn't time to get the permitting done," Melcher said of the event that had been planned for its 11th running on Aug. 7.
When he announced the cancellation last week on the race website, Melcher stated that it's important for participants to know early in the process that the race is a go so that they can plan their racing schedules. Without all the necessary permits in place just two months before race day, Melcher said he couldn't obtain insurance for the event, which means the 2010 STORMY would have attracted smaller numbers than if everything was secured in a timely manner.
"Time is running and I don't see, personally, a lot of value in half-assing an event and having maybe a third of the field that might show up otherwise," Melcher told The Chief.
The process of obtaining the necessary paperwork to stage an event in Squamish came under the microscope early this year, when the organizer of the Mind over Mountain Adventure Racing (MOMAR) multi-sport race announced that the event was leaving in favour of a new venue in Burnaby.
At the time, MOMAR race director Bryan Tasaka cited challenges in obtaining permits for the various jurisdictions through the race course passed as one of a number of reasons for the move.
Melcher said organizing the STORMY requires written permission from five different authorities the District of Squamish (DOS), B.C. Parks, the Ministry of Forest and Lands, the Squamish Nation and private landholders. He said local officials, especially DOS trails co-ordinator Todd Pope, were doing their best to help him stick-handle through the process before he decided to pull the plug.
"The event becomes more viable if everything is in place and you get the people come up who really bring impact to the city of Squamish," said Melcher, who lives on the North Shore.
Last year, the STORMY attracted 77 individuals and 26 relay teams to its 50- and 100-mile trail running events.
"We want it to bring a couple hundred people per year, and we have sponsors who have been on board since Day 1 that are looking forward to building the capacity of the event as well," Melcher said. "It's just that as it exists, the time was just too short."
Pope on Tuesday (June 7) said local officials recognize that such events led by next week's Test of Metal mountain bike race bring economic benefits and have taken steps to streamline the process. One such step is the recent formation of a committee that includes officials from the district, the pertinent provincial ministries, the RCMP and others to provide input early in the process.
The committee "just gets everyone on the same page, which helps, because this summer we've got something happening every weekend," Pope said.
On trails-oriented events such as STORMY and the Test of Metal, the trails coordinator is assigned to take the lead; with more parks-oriented events, the district's parks department might be assigned as the lead, he said.
In the case of STORMY, Pope said, "The event organizer changed this year and with the changeover, there was a lot of information that wasn't shared or passed on, for whatever reason, so Ryne didn't know going in what some of the processes were all about.
"From our end, we were fine," Pope added. "We had run through the process with him and there was time to get our stuff done, but I guess there wasn't enough time from their side of things to pull it together. It wasn't anything where we were holding up the process from our end.
"It (the process) seems to be moving in the right direction and we're being recognized for our efforts to help streamline the process."
Pope said organizing an event such as STORMY and the Test of Metal, in which the race course is the same every year, is a bit less onerous than is, say, MOMAR, in which the course changes every year.
He said Test of Metal organizers have requested that permitting for events that don't change much be given the opportunity to obtain permits that cover five or 10 years. It's an idea that's being explored, Pope said.
Said Melcher, "If they can work it out where they start gearing towards going to a five- or 10-year situation, that would be great."
