An upcoming half-marathon in Greenville could have people running… in the other direction.
Several local runners called 9 On Your Side when they suspected a marathon company coming to town this Spring is not legitimate.
So we dug deeper to uncover the truth.
Just one quick Google search pulled up article after article, and countless runners’ blogs warning people to stay away from Reinke Sports Group and its CEO, Dean Reinke. They claim he cancels or reschedules races at the last minute, then makes off with your money.
“We want to make sure that people know that he’s not legit,” says Bethann Wilkie, an avid runner from Greenville. “It’s not a real race, they’re not going to run a half-marathon, and that he’s going to take their money and run.”
Reinke’s company organizes half-marathons across the country and plans to come to Greenville on April 28th.
But our research uncovered a long list of complaints from town leaders and runners alike, earning Reinke Sports Group an “F” rating by the Better Business Bureau for failure to respond to those complaints.
Marathon runner Tyler Pake told us he is heeding a warning that came from Hal Higdon, a contributing editor to Runner’s World magazine.
“If I hadn’t already registered for your race in Worcester, I would keep my credit card in my pocket. Dean Reinke has a long history of failing to deliver on promises made,” Higdon said.
Reinke’s website lists “initial major sponsors” as the “Greeville Convention Visitors Bureau with Beasley Radio Broadcasting and The Reflector Newspaper.” But 9 On Your Side investigated and found out the three organizations never officially agreed to sponsor the event and most didn’t even know they were listed until we told them.
Since we talked with them today, the three initial sponsors listed on the website have contacted Reinke asking him to remove their names.
“He doesn’t know our community,” Wilkie says. “He is misrepresenting our community in every way possible. People that he’s claiming are sponsoring are not and I just think that’s fraudulent. I think that there’s something wrong with that and something should be done about it.”
Reinke did not return our calls Tuesday, so we sent him an e-mail explaining our story and that we had questions for him.
This was his response:
“Sounds great but on a plane to west coast for our event this weekend and site visits. Next week better as I am back in my office thur. Check out usrahalf.com in meantime as we are growing from 16 to 28 Events in 2013.!
Dean”
Greenville police told 9 On Your Side they cannot discriminate against specific groups that want to hold events in the city. And since Reinke followed protocol to apply for a permit and paid the up front costs, the race will go on as planned… for now.
After hearing about our 9 On Your Side investigation, Greenville Mayor Allen Thomas told us he’s going to look into the situation to determine the legitimacy of the race and will act accordingly with the police department and city manager to protect our community.
In the meantime, 9 On Your Side will continue to bring you all the latest details as we uncover them.