Purported new Salt Lake marathon owner has ties to Chris Devine
By Lya Wodraska
and Michael C. Lewis
The Salt Lake Tribune
First published Feb 15 2012 11:36PM
The purported new owner of the Salt Lake City Marathon looks a lot like the old one.
Documents, news reports and websites show that the company that supposedly is buying the race from embattled owner Chris Devine is actually closely connected to him, and city officials said they’re looking into those relationships as they consider whether to issue a permit for the April 21 race.
The company that purportedly is buying the race from Devine is U.S. Road Sports, which operates the Miami Marathon, the Chicago Half-Marathon, the Georgia Marathon and the New Jersey Marathon, among others.
Its owner, Peter Handy, is listed in documents discovered in a search on the Westlaw online legal research system as a director of Marathon Media Inc. — a company owned by Devine, who has a long and well-publicized history of financial troubles.
What’s more, the man who spoke to the Deseret News as a representative of the new owners is Hank Zemola, who was appointed a co-race director of the Devine-owned Palm Beaches Marathon in Florida by Devine himself just four months ago, according to the Palm Beach Post.
And according to its terms and conditions, the website of the New Jersey Marathon is provided by BDO Acquisition, a company whose initials Devine told the Palm Beach Post two years ago stand for its partners’ initials — Devine, Bruce Buzil and Dan O’Donnell.
City officials, who said they were encouraged by talks with U.S. Road Sports representatives on Monday, were unaware of the connections until Wednesday. Mayoral spokesman Art Raymond said city officials were discussing the connections, but is unsure what steps — if any — will be taken.
"We’ve recently become aware that the company presented to us as a new organizer has connections to the past owner, and that raises some concern," Raymond said. "We haven’t had a chance to talk to this person who has been presented to us as a new owner or ask him about his previous or current connections to Mr. Devine, but we will be asking about that connection."
Devine refused to comment on the supposed sale of the marathon when reached Wednesday night.
"We are all finished with The Salt Lake Tribune," he said, apparently unhappy with the newspaper’s reporting of his business dealings.
Pressed for answers to questions about the sale, he said "we will probably provide those answers to the Deseret News."
Handy did not answer calls left on his cellphone.
Even before Wednesday’s turn of events, there was concern everything could be put in place in time for the race to be held as scheduled on April 21.
Now the race’s future seems even more tenuous, particularly since vendors and contractors are hesitant to support the race because Devine has a long history of failing to pay winners and vendors promptly, if at all.
Carol Atherton, who along with her husband, Jon, owns the timing company that has supported the race in the past, said their company AA Sports is owed $75,000 from Devine.
"I just want to get paid," she said. "We were loyal to that event and heard so many promises that we’d get paid and haven’t.
"It bothers us he still owes us money. Isn’t the city concerned about that?"
Raymond said the outstanding debts accrued by Devine is a concern, but said the city can’t act as a third-party negotiator in such cases.
In addition to determining what their next step might be, Raymond said officials will look further into the connection between Devine, Handy and other events.
"We’re extending inquiries to other groups and cities where they’ve put on events," he said.
Devine’s supposed sale of the race followed the departure of its entire Utah-based staff in recent months who were following longtime race director Scott Kerr. Kerr resigned because of his concerns about how the race was being administered.
mcl@sltrib.comlwodraska@sltrib.com
