Cancellation of the 2025 Iron Furnace Trail Run
- Michael Owen
- Apr 4
- 4 min read
Hello Runners,
Unfortunately we are making the difficult and unfortunate decision to cancel the Iron Furnace Trail Runs that was scheduled to take place tomorrow, April 5. After receiving feedback from Lake Hope State Park and Zaleski State Forest officials, as well as discussions with other key people part of the event, we’ve determined that the flooding impacts have made unsafe travel for participants, volunteers, as well as emergency/EMS access in cases of potential emergencies during the race. In addition, the state has closed parts of Lake Hope State Park, including law enforcement closing the main St. Rt. 278 leading into the park; even though there are still backways to access the park, we are unable to override official state/county and law enforcement road closures.
Throughout the week we were hopeful to still have the race, and everything was ready to go, but the continued rain and more rain in the forecast has made the decision clear that this is the only option.
Below are the options we are providing because of the cancellation.
Complete IFTR Virtually - we will ship your shirt and finisher award to you or you can pick it up at one of our planned “in-person pickups” (dates and location info. will follow).
Rollover your entry to next year’s Iron Furnace Trail Run (2026 Dates TBD)
Receive race credit (of equal value to your IFTR registration cost) to any SEOTR race in the next 12 calendar months
The first thing you need to do is to select which option you would like to choose at this form:
Please submit your response in the above form no later than a week from today, by 11:59PM, April 12, 2025, so we can start processing all of the credit/rollovers/codes.
Let’s Still Get Together Today!
In an attempt to make the most out of a last-minute unfortunate situation, I’d like to still invite everyone to stop by Ohio Valley Running Company (20 Station Street, Athens, OH 45701) during the originally scheduled packet pickup time (4:30-6:30 PM), then we’ll have a group run at 6:30!
From 4:30-6:30PM we’ll still be at OVRC and will pass out the race shirts and finishers medals - we already have them, so there’s no sense in them going to waste!
At 6:30PM we’ll do a group run, from Ohio Valley Running Company, for anyone who is interested in getting together. This will be a relaxed, easy-paced group run from OVRC - the city of Athens is not flooded, so we can still meet up in town, and at least get a group run in. We’ll have a route planned up to 5 miles in length. Rain looks to be subdued by this time as well….
Virtual Option
If you select the Virtual Race option, you can run IFTR virtually on a course of your choosing, or on the actual IFTR course.
Once you complete your run, you will self report your results via Ultrasignup’s self reporting tool. Runners can access the reporting tool via their Ultrasignup Registration History page.
When submitting virtual race results, you will provide your finish time for the distance you ran and have an opportunity to provide a link to a Strava activity, GPS data, photo, etc. (GPS proof will not be required, and this will be submit-on-faith type format).
Once we receive your Virtual Race results, you will have the option to receive your race shirt and your finisher medal. You will have until April 30th to submit your virtual race results.
In person Shirt/Award pickup
In May, after all virtual results are submitted, we will have 1-2 in-person pickup opportunities in Athens. You can pick up your finisher medal and shirt then. If you do pick up in person, you will also receive a 25% off coupon to any future SEOTR race!
Dates and details for in-person pickups will be provided soon.
Shirt/Award Shipping
If you are not able to pick up your medal and shirt in person, we will ship them to you at no additional cost after the final in person pickup event.
Rollover to 2026 IFTR
If you select this option, we will “rollover” your entry from this year’s IFTR to next year’s race (2026 Date is TBD).
When race registration opens for the 2026 race, you’ll receive an invitation to register for the event with that applied rollover.
Race Credit to Future SEOTR Races
If you select this option you’ll receive race credit of equal value of your IFTR race entry to any future SEOTR event in the next 12 months.
If you select this option, we will set up a coupon code unique for you that will be valid for one year. This coupon code will be sent to you within 10 days of filling out the above form.
Thank you for your understanding and continued support for SEOTR! It pains me more than anyone that we cannot hold Iron Furnace this year - aside from the covid cancellations in 2020, this is the first time in 12 years of directing races that we’ve had to cancel a race due to weather, but it became clear this morning what the best decision was. We appreciate everyone’s support, and if I were to put out any request from a personal-level, it would be to encourage you to select the virtual option; while we aim to make decisions to best serve our running community, we also need to make sure we’re staying financially stable so we can continue hosting our events for the long-haul. “Act of God” events, and the accompanying decision and downstream effects, in the outdoor event world are never fun to deal with, and this is one of those times.
I hope to see a lot of you still this evening at the packet pick-up time, and the group run that we’ll do at 6:30, and if not, at a race in the future.
Michael Owen
Race Director
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