DNS Melbourne Marathon Festival

My very first DNS (Did Not Start), was due to being ill for a Spartan event in 2014.

This time, my DNS was intentional, even though I never intended it to be.

Every year I give a birthday present to myself. This year it was an entry into Melbourne Marathon, doing the full distance of 42.2km.

I ordered merchandise and the whole kit kaboodle.

Red Flag #1

There was no sizing chart for merchandise. On a whim, I ordered a grey men’s tank. I didn’t like the female design or colour. I had to guess my size though because no size chart was included.

The training was going fine until I got sick. Right at the pointy end of long-distance training.

A few weeks went by and I was still exhausted with minimal energy.

So I made the decision to downgrade to the half marathon.

Red Flag #2

I was charged $10 to downgrade!

Then was informed that I will have to pick up my race bib as postage for bibs was no longer available.

Red Flag #3

The Marathon bib comes in the mail.

Thanks for the reminder of what I’m not doing MMF.

Red Flag #4

I was charged another $10 for merchandise postage.

Why they didn’t charge me for postage at the start, no idea.

Red Flag #5

The merchandise that I had ordered, was now no longer available. I had two options:

Pick up an alternative colour on the day
Get a refund

By this time, I really felt like the universe was trying to tell me something. I chose to get a refund.

Red Flag #6

The $10 for merchandise postage gets refunded, but not the merchandise.

Red flag #7

Event day email comes, it advises that bib collection is not available on the Sunday aka Race Day.

I send them an email with the following:

Hi,
I downgraded from the Marathon to the half and was advised that I would have to pick up my race bib. That’s fine. But I’m coming from rural victoria so I won’t be able to pick up my bib until Sunday, which according to this email I won’t be able to do.
And NO, no one else will be able to pick it up for me.
Please let me know the alternatives.
Matilda

Their response:

Hi there,

It is preferable if you can nominate someone to pick up the bibs on behalf of you, they will just need your confirmation email and QR code.

You can come on the Sunday but it is strongly discouraged as there is likely to be very long ques and potential delays. Additionally, we will not be held responsible for any missed events due to these delays.

Thanks,
MMF Customer Service

Well, this was just the icing on the non-existing cake for me.

Just like that, I was done with MMF. I chose not to go. I gave away my entry. Sure I lost money, but at the end of the day, this event was not bringing me any joy or excitement. If anything it was bringing me stress, and anxiety, and just made me want to cry.

So, I pulled the plug.

My whole experience with MMF hasn’t been ideal, and I’m choosing not to do ANY of their events in the future.