Indy Classic

I would suggest running the Indianapolis Marathon this weekend in Lawrence if you plan on running a marathon this fall.

I still cannot fathom having a marathon on that course. Michigan Rd and 86th St have lots of traffic, even on Sunday mornings. There are several huge churches along the route.

Doing the math quickly...

20,000 runners

Too lazy to look up what entry fee is so assume 70.00 max

20,000x70 = 1,400,000

x15% = 210,000

Max to be paid out = $500,000? This doesn't add up too well. Would a first time marathon have half a million to put up for prize money or even 210,000?

does anyone know about how specific the permits are? their permit with the city lists the setup time as 6 AM on 11/3, that's only an hour before start time for 20k people!?! Also no toilets or trash cans listed either. who wants to bet they haven't planned that part yet? any word on there expo?

http://www2.indygov.org/SEPERMITprod/servlet/FullFinal?typdex=

!NOO!8306!vas!!!!

"ICM is offering a $250.00 cash prize for the first ten finishers, five men, five women, of INShape members who complete either the full or half marathon."

What exactly does this mean? either the full OR half marathon... I would assume the first 10 finishers would be in the half marathon, since they are only running 1/2 as far. Why doesn't it say the top 10 in both the full AND the half.

Shouldn't they know where their expo & packet pick-up are going to be 2 weeks before the race?

http://www.indyclassicmarathon.com/HealthandFitnessExpo.html

Doug E. wrote:

Shouldn't they know where their expo & packet pick-up are going to be 2 weeks before the race?

http://www.indyclassicmarathon.com/HealthandFitnessExpo.html

Cost of a booth: TBD.

But: "Payment in full must be received by Oct. 15, 2007."

Sure, here is my blank cheque. Just fill in the amount when you've decided what to charge me. Please let me know where I should set up my booth sometime before December.

Doug E. wrote:

Shouldn't they know where their expo & packet pick-up are going to be 2 weeks before the race?

http://www.indyclassicmarathon.com/HealthandFitnessExpo.html

The answer is of course "yes".

When one of you who is registered receives the confirmation brochure (it will be mailed 2 to 4 weeks before the race per

), please let us know. Its contents should answer a lot of the questions.

Interestingly, according to

, the booth prices are TBD and they want packet inserts for 15000. I guess some participants won't receive inserts since their web site says they had 15000 registered before they reopened registration last week.

Uh-oh, looks like this one may be over...

http://www.topix.net/forum/source/indianapolis-star/TKNN4NBDEEMR50PG1

It says the message the guy got with his refund is that they'll let him know if they get enough volunteers so everyone can run for free ... Uh, what?

Oh, here it is, in their News section (not on homepage):

Special Announcements:

Dear Registrants who have been given a special message to refer to our News section for clarification: (this message applies to ONLY those who have been given directions to come to our News section)

As of date ICM is in need of thousands more volunteers to man key spots in the marathon. We will continue to resolve these issues in hopes of getting enough volunteers to work at each event.

In the meantime, I have decided to issue a full refund while we resolve the volunteer issue. Once the issue is resolved you will be notified and be allowed to run this event for free, this year only.

We are making this gesture to insure everyone that ICM does not intend to keep your money without giving you the type of marathon you should expect.

Please continue to check this website for updates.

Sincerely,

David Williams, Chief Investment Officer

So they're offering full refunds to some runners, but not others? What were the criteria for that?

Is the Classic in its death throes? Stay tuned kids...

Well, I think it is a good thing that they're coming clean and giving the money back. I think that everyone's fear originally was that this was a big scam and the money would never be returned. So good for them on that count.

However, the site also says they still need "thousands" of volunteers (i.e., ain't gonna happen). And, by pulling the plug on the official event, they avoid having to tell the truth about registration numbers and having to organize an expo.

It almost sounds like they do not have enough volunteers for the MARATHON, but think they do for the shorter races.

The posting on the website is very confusing, but it does say they don't have enough volunteers to man key points in the "marathon."

The website also says this is a Boston Qualifier, which means that it needs to be certified. I checked the USATF website and the race is not listed as being certied -

http://www.usatf.org/events/courses/search/searchResults.asp?courseID=&distance=26.2&distanceUnits=mi&distanceComparison=%3D&city=&state=IN&courseName=&courseStatus=A&courseType=R&drop=&dropComparison=&separation=&separationComparison=&certificationYear=&lastName=&queryType=basic&format=view&submit=Search

In my opinion, their website is confusing. I just don't see this marathon coming off.

Dr. Smith wrote:

However, the site also says they still need "thousands" of volunteers (i.e., ain't gonna happen).

And they are TWO WEEKS from race day, yet they need 1000s more volunteers.

Since they are giving back money to some runners, my guess is they will be pulling the plug on the marathon, but trying to run the other events.

IF that is the case, they need to let those runners know as soon as possible as some of them could be coming from a great distance and may need to try and cancel flights, hotels...FOR THE SECOND TIME.

The race seems to leak out information in drips and drabs, which makes the whole thing look shady. The reputation is now so bad I wonder if they could ever make a go of this in the future.

Putting on a race seems harder than it looks.

These guys are an embarrassment to Indianapolis! They charge the same price as well organized major marathons, but do not deliver an equivalent event with respect to organization and staffing (or any event for that matter). What is up with that? I wish they had been smart enough to ask for professional help with this event, but instead have twice bitten off more than they could chew but don't know when to spit it out. They could have been bailed out by allowing another organizer take over, but they didn't. By burning enough runners by having them faithfully prepare for a big event, adjust to a change of date, not deliver the goods and then bail out last minute, they have ensured that the Fall Indy marathon held in Lawrence will be alive and well for long time to come. Truely dissapointing!

wantarun wrote:

These guys are an embarrassment to Indianapolis! By burning enough runners by having them faithfully prepare for a big event, adjust to a change of date, not deliver the goods and then bail out last minute, they have ensured that the Fall Indy marathon held in Lawrence will be alive and well for long time to come. Truely dissapointing!

First of all, it's an embarassment to the "organizers" of this miserably failed event, not to Indianapolis. As you said, this ensures that the "original" Indianapolis Marathon, in Lawrence, will continue to be the premiere Central Indiana fall marathon. I would hardly call that disappointing!

Jed Babbin wrote:

Putting on a race seems harder than it looks.

I've helped out with small local races of a few hundred people and yeah, even on a loop course run on bike paths (no streets to close, cops to hire) it takes lots of people and a lot of planning to pull it off properly: registration, timing, course/split marking, timing, scoring, start and finish set up, obligatory post-race food set up, ...

It looks like NONE of the races are certified, at least according to the USATF site.

No one will be getting a BQ at this race.

How mad would you be if you finally qualified for Boston at the Indy Classic, only to be told the qualifier does not count since the course is not certified?

And this after the Indy Classics's website said it would be certified and a BQ'er race.

eagle creek runner wrote:

I still cannot fathom having a marathon on that course. Michigan Rd and 86th St have lots of traffic, even on Sunday mornings. There are several huge churches along the route.

Not to mention having Meridian (a federal highway, US31) locked up for ten miles. IIRC there are no overpasses nor underpasses in that entire stretch, apart from the I-70 overpasses.