McALLEN — Due to severe rain and lightning throughout the Rio Grande Valley the McAllen Kids Marathon Kickoff was canceled Friday just hours before the event began. It has not been decided if the marathon will be rescheduled, a McAllen ISD official said.
Brian McClenney, Athletic Director and PE Coordinator for McAllen ISD, is on the committee for the kids marathon and said he was disappointed that the event had to be canceled but is glad that they were able to keep the community safe.
Early Friday afternoon, McAllen and several other parts of the Valley were put under a flash flood warning by the National Weather Service.
Soon after, the flash flood warning became a flood advisory. McClenney said at that point a decision had to be made quickly before elementary students got out of school at 3:30 p.m.
He said many parents and community members called McAllen ISD throughout the day Friday to confirm if the event had been canceled.
McClenney said the severe lighting was the deciding factor to cancel the event.
“The lightning kept us from even setting up because once you have lightning within eight miles you have to wait thirty minutes,” McClenney said. “So, anybody that would’ve been setting up would have had to take shelter and all that.”
The reason the event was scheduled to take place at night was because the committee wanted to do a Friday night lights theme, since all of the football teams were off Friday night.
“We were excited because it’s usually a little bit cooler than it is on Saturday mornings,” McClenney said.
The event would have been the eighth of its kind and was scheduled to take place from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Veterans Memorial Stadium as the opener of a season-long challenge for elementary and middle school children from all communities.
During the event children run one mile and then log the rest of their 26 miles with help from their PE coaches during the fall. The students then meet up again to run the last mile together.
Last year’s event was done virtually with children encouraged to run on their own.
A committee made up of McAllen ISD, the city of McAllen and several public and private entities have not yet decided if they will reschedule the kick-off mile, according to McClenney.
Despite the setback, the final mile of the McAllen Kids Marathon is still scheduled for Jan. 16 at the McAllen Convention Center.
