The Traverse City Triathlon - scheduled to be held Saturday on Old Mission Peninsula - has been cancelled for this year. Race Day Events, a Wisconsin-based event production company that recently took over the triathlon after merging with Traverse City's Endurance Evolution, acknowledged in a series of emails to Peninsula Township officials that the company fell behind in its paperwork to obtain necessary event permits. Though the company tried to reach a last-minute agreement with the township, citing an expected 450 registered participants, the race was ultimately cancelled.

Ryan Griessmeyer of Race Day Events wrote to Peninsula Township staff last week saying the project manager assigned to the Traverse City Triathlon "dropped the ball" in submitting the necessary permit paperwork for the event, which the company only belatedly realized. Griessmeyer said the employee had been removed from the event and that Griessmeyer was assuming the lead role in planning.  

"While we know this is unacceptable and are willing to suffer any consequences on our end, I am writing in hopes you will consider the participants, hotels, restaurants, and others that this will affect on that weekend," he wrote. "Coming off a year like we saw in 2020, I am sick to my stomach thinking Race Day Events is now the cause of another loss...please, please consider anything and please let me know what, if any, options we may have to recover from the mistake. We are open to anything."

While Peninsula Township Director of Zoning Christina Deeren acknowledged the race "has been a recurring event for the past 10 years on the Peninsula" and generates income for the township, she recommended township trustees reject the race application. Deeren noted that Race Day Events failed to meet several township requirements related to permit fees, liability insurance, public hearings, board approval, and other steps required for large events, and said those requirements had been outlined to a company representative in an April meeting. Following that meeting, "no further communication was received until August 2...that the race was still planned for August 15," Deeren wrote to trustees.

Peninsula Township scheduled a special meeting last Thursday to discuss the race, but then cancelled the meeting before it could take place. Deeren told The Ticker Monday that a large event permit was denied for the race, but that the Traverse City Triathlon could still take place if less than 250 people participated. Race Day Events announced on the race's website that the event was being cancelled outright, acknowledging that the company couldn't obtain a permit and referencing the township's cancellation of its special meeting. Race Day Events is offering registered race participants either a full refund or the choice to defer to August 2022 (the race is scheduled for August 21 next year). If participants choose to defer, they will also receive a free entry into another Race Day Events race of their choosing through 2022.