Maryland transportation officials decided this week to scratch the May 4 Bay Bridge Walk and the accompanying Governor's Bay Bridge 10K run, citing heightened security concerns.

In a statement published by The Capital newspaper in Annapolis, Thomas L. Osborne, executive secretary of the Maryland Transportation Authority, said "although it is difficult to predict what the public safety staffing may be in another few weeks, we needed to make the decision at this time so that our partners in this event and the general public would be able to plan accordingly."

The Capital also reported that Henry Falwell, spokesman for Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., said "with the nation's threat alert at the second-highest level, it didn't make sense to divert the more than 300 law enforcement personnel from other tasks to provide security."

Race director Charlie Muskin of the Annapolis Striders and club president Ron Bowman were unavailable for comment. The Annapolis police, however, confirmed yesterday that the walk and 10K race over the towering Chesapeake Bay Bridge were canceled.

The afternoon walk attracts more than 50,000 people, while the morning run recently closed out with 3,000 entries. This is the second year in a row and second time in the race's 19-year history that the events were called off.

Last year, dense fog and high winds caused both events to be canceled.

On the race entry, it states that "Officials of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge and other State of Maryland agencies have authority to cancel the Run for public safety reasons. The Annapolis Striders and its sponsors have no impute or control over their decision. The Striders and its sponsors cannot be held responsible if the run is canceled. In the event of cancellation prior to the first day of packet pickup, each entrant will be sent a premium. There will be no refunds."

Also called off last week was the Clarendon Run for Kids 5K, scheduled for May 3.

The race was canceled because of insufficient police resources in light of the current security situation, according to Bob Platt of RacePacket.