It's official: Minneapolis Marathon is canceled

The Minneapolis Marathon won't be run after all.

After a week in which race organizers tried to move the event to Dakota County, officials from the Team Ortho Foundation on Wednesday called off the June 5 race and related events.

"Thank you again for your patience as we have tried to identify alternative courses for the Minneapolis Marathon," said an e-mail from the Minneapolis nonprofit to the 2,400 registrants. "After much effort by our team and dedicated public officials, we have realized we cannot establish a new marathon and half-marathon course by June 5."

The race's fate has been up in the air since the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board last week denied a permit request because the proposed route took the race along roads that were closed or under construction. The foundation floated the idea of holding the marathon in Dakota County, but the route it suggested also had problems. Part of the route traveled along gravel roads and on property owned by the University of Minnesota.

"The marathon folks called and we agreed that it was not suited for a marathon," said Tim Busse, a university spokesman. "With that in mind, two weeks was not enough time to pull it together."

With only 10 days remaining before race day, organizers pulled the plug and gave runners the option of having their $95 entry refunded or applying it to future races and receiving a $20 gift card for Team Ortho's gear store. It also offered a 25 percent discount on future races through January 2017.

Over the past five years, more than 265,000 people have run in one of 61 Team Ortho Foundation races, according to the foundation's website. But it also has canceled some, including a duathlon last August and the 2014 Minneapolis Marathon with runners already in the start corrals because of a forecast of lightning. In 2013, some races held in Chicago were shortened and start times moved earlier with little notice.

The Better Business Bureau of Minnesota and North Dakota gave the Minneapolis-based nonprofit an F, citing 12 complaints filed against it over the past three years. Most of the complaints had to do with changes to racecourses or starting times at the last minute. Of the complaints, eight have been closed with no response, two were unresolved and one was resolved to a satisfactory resolution, the consumer organization said.

Tim Harlow • 612-673-7768