The past two weeks have brought encouraging news regarding two COVID-19 vaccines potentially becoming available starting sometime in December for the most vulnerable of the population, with wider availability to the general public possibly by April 2021. Those same two weeks have also brought devastating news that the pandemic is taking its firmest grip yet on the United States with parts of the Bay State beginning to lock back down for the winter.

Regardless of a vaccine’s availability, it won’t be rapid enough to curtail the pandemic in the early months of 2021. That reality led the Trail Animals Running Club (TARC) today, Nov. 18, to announce that its first ultramarathon of the new year – the TARCtic Frozen Yeti 30-Hour Ultra in February – will not take place.

The announcement was made by co-Race Director Josh Katzman on the TARC Facebook page and the Frozen Yeti event Facebook page.

Decisions regarding other 2021 TARC races have not yet been announced as the club monitors the evolving situation.

In 2020, the Frozen Yeti was the only TARC race that took place before the nine remaining races on the calendar gradually canceled as the pandemic continued to spread.