The organizers of a three-mile obstacle race in Riverhead scheduled for May 4 will cap the number of race participants at 4,000 unless an application for a mass gathering permit is approved by the county, according to an event spokesperson.
“In the beginning, I was not expecting the amount of people who ran last year,” race director James Villepigue said in an interview today.
Last year’s Survival Race saw some 3,000 muddy participants race 3.2 miles through the 4H camp on Sound Avenue.
“The town board’s main concern was about how many thousands of people this year’s race would attract,” Villepigue said in a phone interview today.
At Thursday’s work session, town officials criticized representatives of the second annual Survival Race for belatedly approaching the town board to finalize plans.
“A race of this magnitude, y’all should have been here six months ago,” Riverhead Town Supervisor Sean Walter told Villepigue and The Survival Race’s creator Dean Del Prete.
Walter said the prospective size of the event could exceed 5,000 people, thus requiring them to secure a state mass gathering permit, administered through the county.
“This is a really large endeavor… We’re looking at your web site thinking you could have 5,000 people come to this event and you’re shaking your head yes,” Walter said. “You can’t. The county requires a mass gathering permit at 5,000 and that’s a 45-day window [to obtain approval] that you have to apply for that.”
Since the date for the race is well within 45 days, Walter said the town would not move forward with allowing the event unless participants were capped at 4,000.
Villepigue agreed to cap the number, but said today they are exploring whether it is still possible to secure a mass gathering permit so more people can participate.
In addition to requiring a cap on participants unless a mass gathering permit is obtained, the town board also eliminated the use of private Terry Farm Road as an access to the event and required the organization to pay for two police officers to provide traffic control throughout the weekend of May 4 and 5.
Villepigue said 4,000 people have already registered for the race and agreed to cap the number, adding he expects only a couple hundred of spectators to attend the event.
Another Survival Race is planned for September 7.
RiverheadLOCAL photo courtesy of Richard Martens
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