A lack of last minute volunteers for the North Pacific Cannery Road Race forced the Rupert Runners to cancel the 12th annual event originally scheduled for Saturday.
The cancellation notice came late Wednesday night and organizers offered a full refund to anyone who registered for the run, or a partial refund for anyone looking to keep their event T-shirts.
"There were some essential things [missing] because you needed to have a couple medics on site and that type of thing, so it was about safety issues like that," said organizer Rosa Watson.
Last year, the race drew 162 participants and featured prizes donated from individual and corporate sponsors from within the community that were awarded to the winners.
"We did find one [medical] volunteer for that, but we couldn't find a second one," she added.
"Some [volunteers] said they could tell us [if they were helping out] by [last] Thursday or Friday, but that's just too late. We have people travelling in from Kitimat and Terrace and that's not enough notice for them."
The Cannery Road Race is the signature end-of-season event that typically draws a lot of runners from out of town due to the beautiful route that the race takes place on in Port Edward.
From last Wednesday night through to the weekend, organizers were contacting participants who had already registered and answered questions and distributed refunds at Cowpuccino's on Friday evening.
"It's a great family event ... We feel really bad about having to cancel," said Watson.
Rupert Runners are planning to host next year's Cannery Road Race on schedule.