Reinke Sports Group Race Reviews
A blog committed to chronicling the negative reviews and race failures of the USRA Half Marathon Series, the Reinke Sports Group and the elusive Dean Reinke in a place where they cannot be deleted or altered.
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Traverse City pulled the plug on this race citing “concerns with Reinke Sports Group’s events in other communities across the nation” and “problems with Reinke races elsewhere.” Here is a link to the news story on Traverse City Record-Eagle, http://record-eagle.com/breakingnews/x2137252658/TC-pulls-plug-on-proposed-half-marathon.
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springfield ma half marathon 2011 cancelled due to hurricane Irene. Not postponed, CANCELLED WITH NO REFUNDS, then on website he has the audacity to post that we will receive an email when registration opens for next year’s springfield half marathon with a coupon code to receive 20% off registration fee. Unbelievable.
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Reinke owes my company $12,000 for race t’s and has not paid. He is months behind.
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I participated in the Yakima Half Marathon in Yakima, WA on Sunday the 24th of July. Communication was SO poor leading up to the event, and the event itself was terribly organized. The event’s website was down for weeks leading up to the race, and at the event itself, there were not nearly water stops! It was 95F that day and the course was fairly hilly; I felt like I was going to pass out around mile 9 (due to a lack of water) and had to stop running. I wrote an e-mail to Reinke Sports Group trying to express a balanced review, mentioning first that volunteers at the event were helpful and friendly, and then going on to express my frustrations with its lack of organization and communication. No one ever responded, and the positive part of my e-mail was quoted in marketing material that Reinke Sports Group sent out after the event!!! I wish I hadn’t wasted $70 on running this event.
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Due to circumstances beyond our control relative to the course, we have been asked by our host partners in Butler County and the City of Zelienople to reschedule the Butler County Half Marathon to April 15, 2012. Your entry will be transferred or you can transfer to any USRA Half Marathon Series event (see schedule below) in 2011. We ask that you complete this by May 31, 2011.
We are sorry for the inconvenience but safety is of utmost importance so we appreciate your understanding.
Thank you for your understanding and we’ll see you on the roads! Regards,
USRA Half Marathon SeriesCity of ZelienopleButler County -
So we’ve been watching the Bentonville Half Marathon, the race which has created the most recent drama for the Reinke Sports Group. As of the other day, we noticed a headline which read that the “Half Marathon [is] Fully Gone!” Before we go any further we have to commend Tabatha Hunter, the author of the article, for her incredible use of pun in it’s title…. *sarcastic voice*
Anyway…….
Earlier in the week, an email was sent to all of the people who had registered for this year’s race with the subject: “IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT FROM THE BENTONVILLE HALF MARATHON” Someone knows how to use the cap lock key!
Anyway, the letter goes on to claim that the city of Bentonville stole everything about last year’s race:
“The Bentonville Half Marathon has been taken over by the April 2 Bentonville Running Festival utilizing virtually the same course, organization, logo, packet pickup, expo and pasta party format and other aspects of the event. If the Festival will not honor your registration, the USRA will be happy to provide you a free entry into any USRA Half Marathon Series event in 2011. Deadline for this is April 1, 2011. Go to USRAHM.com for schedule.”
We are not going to respond to Dean’s claims that the city has stolen the race. Instead, we’ll let the city speak for itself.
That said, we do have a few questions. For example: where is the closest USRA-sponsored race to the city of Bentonville? It turns out, the nearest race is the one in Clarksville, TN (see map) which is (supposedly) set to take off in October; only 7 months away! But who’s to say this one won’t be canceled too? Looking on the bright side, I guess that does give you extra training time, not to mention all the time you have to earn the gas money to drive the 514 miles to make it to the starting line!Also, is Reinke Sports Group appears to be taking advantage of the Bentonville Running Festival’s policy which states that all runners who have registered for the RSG’s race gain free entry to their race? Can we assume then that the Reinke Sports Group is just keeping the money which they received for the registrations for their Bentonville half? As has been mentioned before, there is a strict “NO REFUND” policy listed on their site… What if someone doesn’t want to run the City of Bentonville sponsored event and instead wants to run the event for which they registered?
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Here’s a great way to read what runners are saying around the country about the Reinke Sports Group’s races: The Runner’s World community forums!One poster states that the Reinke Sports Group got a big ol’ “F” from the BBB. We checked it out. See your yourself! 9 complaints have been filed in the last 3 years which you are welcome to read about.
Come on Dean!
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I own a fairly successful event production company and have been producing and directing triathlons for 20 years. Back in my early days of race producing, Reinke hired me to produce a triathlon that was going to be part of an 8-10 race national series.
I did my part and Reinke flew in for the race. Right after the race and before he headed to the airport, he wrote me a check for my fee ($2,500 I think?). A couple of days later and my bank tells me that Reinkle had put a “stop payment” on the check. After numerous calls to his office in Florida and NEVER getting through to him, his receptionist continually tells me that I’ll be getting my check. Well, never did. I came very close to driving to Florida, but never did.
If I ever run into him again, I’m going to deck him with one punch. I’ll make sure there are no witnesses.
(Source: letsrun.com)
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Here we see runners on the active.com community forums trying to figure out what happened to the City of Sparks Half Marathon (an event in a small town which was promoted by the Reinke Sports Group and USRA)…
“speedy18” writes:
Event postponed from Father’s day, and not canceled altogether. Reinke sports (half marathon race series event promoter) happily took our money and won’t refund it FOR AN EVENT THAT IS NOT TAKING PLACE! Shady operation that Dean Reinke is running. Hope he still runs fast, because this style of business is not ethical. BBB complaint filed in FL where his business is located—shockingly not response to me or them!
“spiritedwalking” writes:
Not sure this event is going to be held. Per the City of Sparks website … Please note effective 9.3.10: On behalf of the City of Sparks Parks and Recreation Department, the Sparks Half Marathon event to be produced by Reinke Sports Group on Sunday, October 3, 2010 has not and will not be approved by the City of Sparks. (http://www.ci.sparks.nv.us/visiting/events/) Also emails to the event organizers have gone unanswered. Just wanted to give folks a head’s up.
The event never took place. No word on if the people registered received a refund…
