Maggie Valley Moonlight Race Almost 30 Year Old Tradition in Maggie Valley

Maggie Valley, NC and St. Pete Beach, FL (May 1, 2008) Motion Sports Management (MSM), the professional race management company originally engaged in 2006 to oversee the revival of the struggling Maggie Valley Moonlight Race, has been informed by the volunteer board of directors that the event will not be held in 2008.

After a low of 380 finishers in 2005, MSM re-visioned the event with numerous changes such as adding a Health and Fitness Expo, family friendly distances such as a Kids Dashes and 5K, moved the event to the beautiful Maggie Valley Festival Grounds and more than tripled sponsorship revenues. In 2007 more than 1,200 participants registered for the race and it received rave revues from runners and the running media around the country including a featured event spot in Runners World Magazine, a publication with over 400,000 readers each month. Also through the efforts of MSM, Running Journal, the premier Southeastern running publication added it to their Grand Prix series. USA Track and Field awarded the 8K State Championship to the race and the Road Runners Club of America named it their Regional Championship.

Unfortunately due to the current economic climate in western North Carolina, the race committee, an independent not for profit organization formed with the assistance of MSM in late 2006, did not feel that they could raise the sponsorship dollars necessary to fund the event and pay management fees contractually owed to MSM. This would have been the 30th Running of the once venerable race.

“We are very disappointed that our efforts to fulfill our contractual obligation can not be completed but understand the committee’s adversity to incurring further expenses relating to this great event.” said Wendy Johnson, president of MSM. “We are devoted to the region and hopefully will someday be able to produce another race in this beautiful part of the country. It is a prime destination for our many runners around the Southeast, especially in the August – September time frame.”

Motion Sports Management is based in St. Pete Beach, FL with offices in Maggie Valley, NC. The goal of MSM is to produce high quality running events that give back to the community. For more information about MSM, visit www.motionsportsmanagement.com.