Cyclists, don’t start: Organizer says L.A. Marathon Crash Race is off

So is the predawn bicycle sprint down the route of the L.A. Marathon off or on on Sunday? Looks like it’s more off than on.

Never officially sanctioned by the city of Los Angeles, officials kind of went along with it for the last few years that Don Ward and his group, Wolfpack Hustle — which organizes bike rides and races — put together the increasingly popular Marathon Crash Race, as it was called. The Police Department, according to Ward himself, did a great job working with him to keep the streets safe for racers, drivers and the “fun ride” participants who set off right after the racers got going. The problem is that not all the streets for the marathon route are closed off yet at the early hour of the bike race.

On Tuesday, the L.A. Department of Public Works sent Ward an official notice saying: no permit, no race — and face penalties if you put it on anyway. But Thursday afternoon, officials from the mayor’s office, the city attorney’s office, the Department of Public Works, LAPD and Homeland Security huddled with Ward to see if they could work something out. And by Friday, they had: Ward got a permit for the fun ride part of the race.

But at what cost? Ward says he doesn’t know. He said the city estimated the cost at $300 (incredibly low for a special event requiring street closure and police help). But he has no idea if — and how much — that will increase after the fact. Ward has put on much smaller bicycle races that cost way more than he expected, he says.

“I’ve done this permit process three times with the city, and every time I get gangstered,” said Ward. “I did a race on the 6th Street bridge last summer. I worked really hard to make sure everyone gave me their estimate.” He paid $5,000 in permit fees two weeks before the race. In February, he says, he got a bill for $2,000 for LAPD involvement.

Ward does get registration fees for his races, and he has some corporate sponsorship for various races. In the case of the marathon bike race (which has no sponsors), about 800 people have already paid nonrefundable registration fees of $5 to $20 to be in the race or the fun ride, according to Ward.

He’s also worried about how much liability he will have to assume if he signs the permit, although he had already arranged insurance for the race.

As we said on the editorial page Friday, the city should have discussed all this with Ward sooner. Still, it was nice to see the city scramble to try to get him a permit at the last minute. But it may turn out that it’s tougher than Ward realized to be a legitimate organizer of this race. This is no walk (or ride) in the park. Yes, there’s liability, and there are apparently hidden fees — although it would be outrageous for the city to charge Ward $300 for a permit upfront and hit him up for thousands later. It’s unfortunate that the city and Ward couldn’t have hashed out all these details in advance.

And even if the race remains canceled, riders are threatening to show up anyway. Permitted or not, Ward and the police spent a lot of time planning how it would run each year. (He also consulted with Santa Monica police because the race finishes in that city.)

As cycling advocate Damien Newton wrote on Streetsblog LA when the city told Ward to cancel the race: “The only question remaining is whether or not instead of a well-organized race the city will be faced with an unorganized mob.... All the city did was remove the organizing to make the ride safe.”

It’s a dangerous enough ride with Ward and the cops out there. When I asked him Friday afternoon what cyclists should know about the ride, he reiterated what he’s been saying for the last few days: “It’s canceled. Don’t show up.”

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