The Maggie Valley Moonlight Race, a staple of the WNC running community for 29 years, has been canceled for 2008 due to a lack of money but is slated to return in the future.

The race is put on each year by the Maggie Valley Chamber of Commerce. It typically attracts hundreds of racers — more than 1,000 last year — to dash along the main drag of Maggie Valley at night. This year would mark the race’s 30th anniversary.

But a lack of committed race sponsors led organizers to cancel the race this year. The non-profit volunteer board that oversees the race wanted to do the race justice on its 30th anniversary, and decided not to go forward with the race on limited funds this year.

“The board looks forward to holding the 30th running in the future, and making it the celebration that it deserves,” said Sue Knapko, chairman of the Maggie Valley Moonlight Race board.

Knapko called the Moonlight race “a treasured part of the history of Maggie Valley and Haywood County.” She said the decision to postpone the race this year was a difficult one, but could not in good faith go forward with the race without necessary funding. The race budget was $60,000.

The Maggie chamber hired a professional race management company to put on the race, which included recruiting sponsors. It was the third year the company, Motion Sports Management, was hired to put on the Moonlight Race. The company managed to rebuild participation in the race, which had dwindled over the past decade, hitting a low of 380 runner in 2005. Wendy Johnson of Motion Sports said the current economic climate in the region made it difficult to attract sponsors.