With a heavy heart, we are canceling the 2020 Portland Bridge Swim.
Like everyone else we’ve spent the last month watching the news, washing our hands, worrying about our families and communities, and rarely sleeping through the night. Three weeks ago we were pretty sure we’d cancel this year’s race, two weeks ago we knew we’d cancel but wanted to wait until mid-April to call it, then last week it was a matter of figuring out the mechanics of the cancellation.
This was a decision that made itself, but it’s still hard to think about all the people who make this happen, all the swimmers, and all the excitement we had for this summer. We are canceling because even if travel restrictions are lifted by July, swimmers need enough time to train. We also fear that at least some of them are going to need as much of their entry fees back as they can get.
We are refunding all the money we can. Entrants will be receiving checks in the mail in the next couple of weeks, as fast as we can write them. We know how hard swimmers were working to prepare for this race and so we’ll be giving them first options to enter for 2021.
2020 is our 10th anniversary year. We are sad and disappointed that we won’t be able to celebrate and see all our swimmers arrive at Cathedral Park. We will miss them, and all the volunteers who take such good care of them.
Please stay home, wash your hands, give love to your community, and be well. We will be back.