The following email was sent to all participants registered for the 2020 Typhoon Texas Kids Triathlon on March 28, 2020 at 3:55pm.

Good afternoon, I wanted to take a moment to address some of the emails, questions, and comments I’ve received over the last 28 hours and to provide updated options for participants that were not able to process a deferral yesterday.

But first, I wanted to let you know I have been able to get the add-ons refunded as mentioned in yesterday’s email so you should see a credit in the next few days for any add-ons you purchased when you registered.

If you are not interested in an explanation you can scroll to the bottom of this email to see the UPDATED OPTIONS section to see what options I’m making available.

My name is Tony Sapp, I am the owner of Negative Split Productions. Negative Split Productions owns and operates the Typhoon Texas Kids Triathlon and provides event production services to many Houston-area events. I am not a weekend race director or have the backing of large corporation or have another job. I am a one-person business that does this for a living and to provide for my family. I have attempted to keep my business separate from me personally and not be “face” of the business which is why you may have seen or noticed a lot of “we”, “our”, “us”, etc. in previous messages. Truth be told, it is just me.

I pride myself in being communicative. If you have ever emailed the race, you have received a reply from me within 24 hours at the absolute most. In most situations it is an hour or less. I am 100% hands on and want to be as open and honest as possible with those who trust me with their business. Like many of you I’m trying to adapt not just my personal life but also my business which happens to focus on creating events that bring many people together to pursue a collective goal of being healthy. COVID-19 has taken that away. In the past two weeks I’ve watched my peers in the industry scramble to salvage their livelihoods in race production and the industry as a whole. I’ve been in this business for nearly a decade and this is the first time I’m fearful for the entire event productions industry. Overnight, everything has been put on hold and there is no end in sight. I’m confident the industry and I will get through this but only with the support and patience of participants, like you.

I love talking about this industry so if you have any other questions about me or this business, feel free to reach out but for now, I’ll be explaining the decisions I’ve made over the last few weeks.

COULD I SAVE THE RACE?

Before the water park informed me about their choice to push back the open date on a phone call yesterday morning I sat and thought about the kids. What if the park allowed me to have the race? What could I do to add extra health precautions to ease the minds of the families? Would those precautions be enough? How would my team of coordinators and volunteers feel about helping again this year? Would they be safe? Those “what ifs” didn’t matter now the park has close, not opening until Memorial Day at the earliest.

WHY DIDN’T YOU POSTPONE THE RACE UNTIL LATER IN THE YEAR?

I had several conversations with waterpark management about the possibility of postponing the race. They have been amazing to work with and were extremely understanding and flexible with where the race is. They are true partners with the race and it, obviously, wouldn’t be possible without them. The bottom line is, we have no idea how long this is going to last. By most accounts this will be going on into summer. And let’s be honest with each other, even if they decided to open restaurants and some other things in May would you be comfortable at an event with nearly 8,000 participants, spectators, crew, volunteers with the threat of COVID-19 still lingering and no vaccine available in August or early September?

That is why we chose not to postpone the event and decided to offer the virtual option.

WHY A VIRTUAL RACE?

I hoped the solution to convert the Typhoon Texas Kids Tri into a virtual race would create and alternative to complete cancellation. I was hoping to create a personal event you and your children could do together in a safe environment while earning what I think is a really nice shirt and finisher’s medal.

A virtual event may not be the same experience, but it is the right alternative as we are being asked to social distance.

WHY DID YOU LIMIT DEFERRALS?

This event has a capacity of 1,200 registered participants in the triathlon. The venue has offered to open that up (the waterpark can accommodate tens of thousands), but my goal is to ensure safety while providing the best experience possible for every athlete. In the first year of the race we started with a cutoff of 1,000 and have slowly increased the number of kids taken each year. When it hit 1,200 I made the decision that was the limit for a single day event.

With 300 deferrals, that makes up 25% of the available registration spots. This mean 25% of the expected event revenue was brought in during the 2020 event registration period. For the 2020 event, race items have already been purchased, non-refundable deposits for rentals have already been paid, timing chips have already been purchased, etc. Over 75% of event expenses are incurred 8+ weeks before the race. These expenses do no roll over to next year’s event. We have to cover all those costs again for all participants their defer their entry. In order to ensure the future of the event, I had no choice but to limit the number of deferrals .

I hoped the deferral option would be to accommodate those who could not participate in the virtual race. Yes, I know some of the children compete for the experience but the idea of deferrals came from some participants who are out of the country or those working in essential businesses whose scheduled have been chaotic and unpredictable. I wholeheartedly support those participants who are experiencing upheaval of COVID-19 and wanted to give them a solution. The 300 deferrals that were allocated for next year was for them. Instead, the allotment was used within two hours of announcing the availability when the expectation was that it would accommodate anyone who had been directly affected by the ongoing pandemic. I honestly expected deferral spots would be available well into next week.

WHY CAN’T I GET A REFUND?

Over 75% of race expenses have already been spent covering race items, non-refundable deposits, etc. Like me, my vendors are unable to refund deposits or take back event shirts that have already been printed. Actions like that would also put them out of business, they are mostly small businesses too.

DON’T YOU HAVE EVENT INSURANCE?

Short answer, of course we do but event cancellation insurance doesn’t cover pandemics.

Why doesn’t it cover pandemics? Think about how event cancellation insurance would normally pay out. Most things that would cancel an event are localized to a small area within the US. think Harvey or Imelda basically shutting down parts of the greater Houston area, but Texas and the rest of the US was unaffected. Now think about the effects a pandemic is having on your daily life and think about all the races occurring in the US over the last few weeks. The insurance companies wouldn’t have the money to cover every cancelled event in the entirety of the US.

That covers the bulk of the questions I’ve received but feel free to reach out with any additional questions. Now on to the available options.

UPDATED OPTIONS

There are two options that are available to all participants:

  1. Participate Virtually. You can choose to participate in the event virtually and earn your finisher’s medal and race packet that will be shipped to you. See the VIRTUAL RULES & INFO page for more details.

  2. Partial Deferral of Your 2020 Registration. This option will allow you to register for the 2021 event for $20. You are not being charged anything now, the 2021 registration fee will be owed when you decide to register. For more details on a partial deferral is being offered, see “WHY DID YOU LIMIT DEFERRALS?” section above.

To make your selection please click HERE <form deactivated>. You have until Friday, April 3, 2020 at 11:59pm to make your selection. Anyone who has not made a selection by that time will be automatically placed in the virtual race.

If you selected to defer your registration yesterday, you do not have to do anything at this time unless you would like to change your selection and participate in the virtual race.

This is an extremely unfortunate situation that I could in no way predict. The Coronavirus has impacted our lives in so many ways and the best thing we can do is adapt.

I appreciate your support and hope this information clarifies my decisions.

Tony Sapp
Co-founder & Race Director