Indy Classic

What happened at Boston?

The event is not sanctioned by USATF (per their calendar site). Other than the fact the course maps use USATF's Running Routes system, there does not seem to be any involvement.

ccmike wrote:

What is USATF's association with this race. That is a pretty big smear on their face for this to happen. For such a large sanctioning body (which is housed in Indy) to have their name associated with such an event, you'd think they would have had someone "bird-dogging" the organizer/promoter to keep them on the right track.

Well up until all this hit the fan yesterday, the first thing on the website was a USATF banner. It's gone now.

no USATF involvement wrote:

The event is not sanctioned by USATF (per their calendar site). Other than the fact the course maps use USATF's Running Routes system, there does not seem to be any involvement.

ccmike wrote:

What is USATF's association with this race. That is a pretty big smear on their face for this to happen. For such a large sanctioning body (which is housed in Indy) to have their name associated with such an event, you'd think they would have had someone "bird-dogging" the organizer/promoter to keep them on the right track.

For those runners not in the Indy area reading this message board, don't throw your money away that you spent on airfare and hotels. Just pay a few extra dollars and sign up and run in the Circle of Life/IU Mini. Bloomington is just an hour from downtown Indy (45 minutes from the airport), and you can rent a car for the day down and back and still fly into Indy and keep your hotel reservations. I know the race distance still blows your training apart, but it is better than not running that day at all! The IU Mini is a great race. It runs through the IU campus at a time when there is alot of excitement in Bloomington. It is a besutiful course, well run event, and not crowded at all. I ran it last year for the first time and liked it so much more than the 500 Mini that I almost didn't run in that one this past May. I'm running the IU Mini again this year, and I may not run the 500 Mini any more just because of the huge hassle it is anymore.

Look into it if you are not from Indy. Keep your reservations and come enjoy a great weekend in a place that REALLY typifies Central Indiana's hospitality and beauty

PLUS.......... did you check out the course route for this beauty? The website states the course starts at Meridian & Washington and heads North around the Circle all the way up to 86th St. Then 86th St to Michigan Rd, then Mich Rd to Kessler Blvd. Now anybody that knows even a little bit about Indianapolis road & driving conditions knows that this is just laughable. Those are 3 very major arteries in the Indianapolis road grid, and to shut them down on a Saturday for most likely all morning? No wonder they couldn't get enough volunteers. It would take the Indiana National Guard to get all that roadway shut down. Plus, to jam 13,000 people around Monument Circle just 1 block after the start gun? Man if you were in the middle of the pack you could just plan on walking clear up to New York strett before you ever got the chance to break into pace. Crappy route in my opinion.

Geoffro wrote:

Some parade or festival- I think the conflict was with the convention center? Dunno- give her a call- it was easy enough to get a call back. She did acknowledge there were a lot of rumors floating about- No Shit! If its not a scam- then its a few people way over their head.

I am just fascinated with this story. I just want to note...I can understand another conflicting event. But if you are planning an event for over a year, how do you not know until 2.5 weeks before the race that there is a conflict. If you want to have an event in downtown Indianapolis, you better have your stuff together, and that would include getting a real race director to put on your race, no offense to the lady who is currently in charge.[

Just out of curiosity- if this is an out-of-town operation:

Who is behind the event? Is this a new McMarathon Franchise: What is the connection with Foot Solutions?

What does your past military experience have to do with anything? I think you are using that to try to make people feel bad or something like that, but the fact is that you could be Jesus Christ but it doesn't take away the fact that the whole situation is fubar'd .I don't know a lot about the whole process of setting up a race(that is why I am not doing it) but it would seem that you would have to have all the permits more than 3 weeks out???I think this is why a lot of first year marathons (5k ones and 26.2 mile ones) cap the numbers so that they can be sure they can put on a decent race and not be a "one and done" event.

Sue Bozgoz wrote:

My Name is M. Sue Bozgoz. I am a retired LT Colonel in the United States Army. I've been to war and back and have written several Operational National Defense plans. I am the new race coordinator for the Indy Classic Marathon. I (and several military soldiers and veterans) from out (and in) town volunteered to support the Indy Classic Marathon

God Bless you!

M. Sue Bozgoz

There are people that know the histroy of Buhler and Harger. If I were Buhler I would keep quiet.....

MarathonMind wrote:

Did you all check out the comments at the IndyStar? geez- some of them are pretty harsh- and I like Chris Buhler and the USATF guy slammin' Harger (not).

CHRIS BUHLER Elite Coach

GREG - get a grip and life. A disaster? Talk about overstatements. Floods, tornadoes, hurricanes and earthquakes are examples of "disasters". Postponing an insignificant run cannot even come close to being considered a disaster especially when the community realy does not care what happens to this race.

Please, please do not make a mountain out of a molehill.

Don't you love it when someone like Greg Harger who has an

Olympic development team that scores 1 point in '06 and no points in

'07 at the National meet talks about a scam and a disaster!! He should know.........

Volunteer Support wrote:

I am in the Airforce. How do I volunteer? I want to help? I could probably get 10 or 15 people from my unit. What about more military support? Isn't there a reserve group down town?

If you were really in the "Airforce," you would have written it as two separate words.

Looks like the flooding troll is back, everyone!

YEAH!!! IT'S ABOUT TIME THE ATTITUDE CHANGED. I'M A MARTHONER IN INDY and proud of it! This should be the true "Hoosier" Sprit - to bad it came from out of state.

PROUD TO BE A RUNNER AND AN AMERICAN!! The rest of you crabs need to take advantage of the goodness and the true spirit of our city not the darn bottom line of whose pockets get lined. I'm in for giving support. Hooaaah!

Usually first time races, especially marathons, lose money. It could be that if these people planned on 40,000 people then they planned on and ordered equipment and perks for 40,000 people (t-shirts, timing chips, goodie bags, etc). That plus their volunteer problems would lead to postponement. I hope they get this thing rolling at some point and time, learn from this year and correct problems for next year. I'm all for quality marathons in the state. It would seem they should have the financial backing to make this a success both for the average and elite runner. Their "Indy Classic Challenge" is a great idea and one I hope other organizers copy and expand upon. Can you imagine a pro circuit of races in each and every state? Not just in small pockets like we have now (Example: Louisville Triple Crown of Running, Magnificent 7 in Bloomington, IN, CARA circuit in Chicago, etc), but an overall state-wide lucrative circuit. That could then lead to a national pro circuit and an actual professional running league. Think outside the box.

Alan

No offense, and I'm not "hating". But do you all really believe that these people were planning on having 40,000 runners? As someone earlier said, the well run Indianapolis Marathon only brings a few thousand. Given, this was a downtown event, but for a first year? And taking applications via paypal? I'm still a little skeptical they really had 12,000 registered.

Look at the new fake posts coming in from Sue and the crowd!

Nice try! Everyone already believes you will fail- prove people wrong by salvaging your event- not posting fake positive comments on here. In the face of what has happened in the last 24 hours- your fake posts has to be just about the lowest and most pathetic effort to spit back into the face of reason I've ever seen.

Not to mention- its the same mentality and tone used in the thread locked by wejo.

I'm pretty Sue is the real deal. Go to the link from the news story I quoted on page 3.

I'm pretty sure... (I am not a guy named Sue!)

Sue may be the real deal, and they need new blood...

But either there's someone on the indy classic staff who is trying way too hard and doesn't understand how lousy this tactic actually plays out...

OR... perhaps just as likely...

There's a simple not-affiliated-with-the-race troll out there screwing around who is really trying to make THEIR STAFF look bad.

If it is a staff member, it would have to be a really dumb one.

But that's too hard to work out. What is EASY to work out is that no one from the participant or interested-runner side is buying all the pump-up posts.

I miss the references to "blog".

Though, in fairness, that seems to be a common word used on the indy star boards.

It keeps getting stranger. I was called today by the Embassy Suites - you know, the host hotel. They wanted to let me know the event was postponed and asked if I wanted to change my reservations to the new date. I missed the call, but I called back tonight. I canceled the room (I had two nights). Then I asked if they were having a lot of cancellations. The girl said no, but she expected they would start coming in. Then I asked if she knew how many reservations there were for the marathon. She didn't know how to determine that, but she said there were plenty of rooms available for Friday Sep 7.

This hotel only has 360 rooms. Doesn't it seem odd that the host hotel for 13,000 runners would not even be close to full just 19 days before the race? Posting preposterous lies can't cover up facts. Perhaps some local "blogger" might want to follow up with the hotel, maybe check with the manager, to find out some exact numbers...

Try a Tri wrote:

PLUS.......... did you check out the course route for this beauty? The website states the course starts at Meridian & Washington and heads North around the Circle all the way up to 86th St. Then 86th St to Michigan Rd, then Mich Rd to Kessler Blvd. Now anybody that knows even a little bit about Indianapolis road & driving conditions knows that this is just laughable. Those are 3 very major arteries in the Indianapolis road grid, and to shut them down on a Saturday for most likely all morning? No wonder they couldn't get enough volunteers. It would take the Indiana National Guard to get all that roadway shut down.

From the Circle to 86th is just about ten miles. In all that distance on Meridian Street, other than the I-70 overpasses, are there any over- or underpasses that an emergency vehicle could use to get across this course?

Just askin'.

I too have some doubts about the feasibility of this course.