Good Morning! I’m afraid I have some not so great news for all of you 8 Tuff Miles Race enthusiasts today. Last week, Peter Alter, organizer of the annual foot race across St. John, made the difficult decision to announce the cancellation of the 2022 event.
The 25th annual race was originally scheduled for February of 2021 and, after canceling due to COVID-19, was rescheduled for February of 2022. On Friday, the following was posted to the 8 Tuff Miles Facebook Page, postponing the event for yet another year:
With approximately 6 months until the end of February, the decision to once again cancel 8 Tuff Miles is being announced today. It is not fair to keep those trying to plan a vacation around the annual St. John event, in the dark, any longer. Most of you knew but this will make it official, there will not be an 8 Tuff Miles Road Race on the last Saturday of February 2022. The main reason, the only reason,
is Covid and its variants. For those of you who have ever been around event planning, ( a birthday party, a marathon, a day at the beach with more than three people ) you know well that it is all about, “the planning”. One of my favorite sayings, regarding 8 Tuff Miles is, failure to plan is a plan to fail. 8 Tuff Miles was wildly successful for many years because there were normally 10 or more months of planning and here we are, 08/13/21 & well behind schedule. Please don’t ask about a virtual event, that idea only makes my blood pressure hit the ceiling. As far as I’m concerned, it is one of the stupidest ideas anyone has ever had. Sorry for the negativity in my writing. Stay well and I’ll continue to post when one of the younger 8TM runners contacts me regarding their college scholarship funds. That part is always positive!
If you were planning an annual excursion for this race, I am sorry to be the bearer of this bad news! Trust me when I say, the St. John Community comes ALIVE for this event every year and we, too, are deeply saddened by the cancelation of one of our favorite island wide celebrations. My thoughts are with Peter and all of the supporters and organizers of this great event tasked with the duty of making this difficult decision with the health and safety of our community and visitors in mind. Here’s hoping we can do it again in 2023! Follow along on the 8 Tuff Facebook Page for updates on future events.
This is such a great race. Peter puts so much work into organizing this race so that everyone has a great time.
A spontaneous run that day is always good too!
I completely understand ! Tough but correct choice. Love the event and hope to participate in a future one. I’m involved with an annual event in Pittsburgh and have an idea of what is involved. Thanks for everything you do – Paul
I couldn’t run to catch a bus so it’s ok with me.
Sorry tho for the people that really loved this event.
Everything about this damn pandemic is just so sad. Will it ever end?
If we are waiting for a year of no virus..it will never happen. Ever.