Indy Classic

I know that it wasn't Marty Day, and he is the Champion Chip guy for the area.

That has been what I have been wondering. If you need to get from one side of Meridian to the other it is going to be a nightmare! I can already see the letters to the editor the following week. If the course isn't certified, what is the over/under for how far off this course actually is? Anyone think there is a chance the course ends up being like 24.8 miles or something like that?

Wolfgang Grajonca wrote:

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.

Confusing is right...that is the BEST word to describe the entire website.

My favorite part about the new announcement is this:

"(this message applies to ONLY those who have been given directions to come to our News section)"

So shhhhhhhhhh....don't tell anyone about this "special message..."

I can't even begin to imagine the amount of law enforcement manpower that will be needed to monitor/control the number of intersections on this course. After doing a quick count looking at a map, on Meridian alone there are ~60 intersections between Washington Street downtown and 86th street.

There are also 4 large churches between 38th street and 86th street that likely have an 8:00 or 8:30 service - right when the runners will be coming through...

But it appears that it might not matter considering that the marathon distance appears to be in doubt.

So if we look at the 1/2 marathon, they are only going up to Kessler and back essentially. If you call that "halfway" to 86th street, you are looking at roughly the same number of intersections that are need to be covered (although south of 34th street they "reuse" Meridian on the way back). Church count is 2 major ones on Meridian between 38th & Kessler...

A cluster in the making!

One more thing...

The signature of that latest news update says it all:

"David Williams, Chief Investment Officer"

Chief INVESTMENT Officer? WTF?

But it does give us another name to tie to this event. Anyone know this guy? Unfortunately the name is too common to bring up anything on Google, but for those of us in the running community - anyone heard of this guy?

Here's some more big news...

Indy Classic Marathon is proud to announce the presence of these dignitaries at the Marathon on November 3, 2007.

SMA Kenneth O. Preston, Army

CSM John Gipe, Army National Guard

CSM Leon Caffie, Army Reserve

CSM Ian A. Toney, Army Finance Command

CSM Joseph R. Allen, XVIII Airborne Corps and Ft. Bragg

This might explain some of the communication problems:

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

"Career Opportunities Available at ICM

* Public Relations

* Spokesperson"

I saw on another website that a guy received a refund for the HALF marathon.

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

It looks like the plug has been pulled on the HALF and Full marathons.

If that is the case, the race organizers have still not posted this on the website of the event.

What are the chances that a large percentage of the runners registered for the full and half still think this event is going on?

If I had registered, then had the date changed, kept up my training in the hopes of salvaging my one marathon a year, only to have these jokers cancel it a second time, I would be very pissed.

Marathons take a lot of time and training to get ready for. Many of us do only one a year for that reason. These people may well have screwed a whole lot of runners out of their 2007 marathon.

I think if they had spent less time posting under DOZENS of different names on letsrun (in the original thread on this as well as this one) telling us how great the event was going to be and more time organizing the event maybe they could have actually had a race.

Original goal: 40,000 runners

Result: 0 runners ??

You are talking about me. I signed up in July for my very FIRST marathon. I added the 8 weeks of training after the date change and now only to find that it isn't going to happen. I am devastated. I really don't know if I will train for another or not because I am so disappointed in how hard I have worked for nothing! Anyone want to do 26.2 with me on Nov 3? I am afraid it may be my only shot.

Indy Guy wrote:

I can't even begin to imagine the amount of law enforcement manpower that will be needed to monitor/control the number of intersections on this course. After doing a quick count looking at a map, on Meridian alone there are ~60 intersections between Washington Street downtown and 86th street.

There are also 4 large churches between 38th street and 86th street that likely have an 8:00 or 8:30 service - right when the runners will be coming through...

The race is supposed to be the 3rd, which is a Saturday. Not sure the churches are an issue, then. Don't forget race starts at 7am, and sunrise isn't until 8:15. Have fun running up Meridian in the pitch dark with cars whizzing by you at every intersection because they have no volunteers to police the large number of intersections (thanks for counting them).

You are talking about me. I signed up in July for my very FIRST marathon. I added the 8 weeks of training after the date change and now only to find that it isn't going to happen. I am devastated. I really don't know if I will train for another or not because I am so disappointed in how hard I have worked for nothing! Anyone want to do 26.2 with me on Nov 3? I am afraid it may be my only shot.

I'm considering this one as an alternative - it gets good reviews on marathonguide.com -

[quote]ajcox wrote:

Pick another one. One in Grand Rapids Michigan next weekend - though I think they maybe closed surely they would have some understanding of your position. Philly is coming up on the 18th of November. Huntsville Alabama is supposed to be pretty fast and well run. Don't let these folks mess you up any more than they have. You've done the prep - even if you have to travel.

I emailed the RD about the prize money breakdown again and no response. Sounds to me like it's not going to happen (at least the money part of it).

Does anyone have better information?

I've run the Rocket City Marathon in Huntsville, AL. Very well put together race on a pancake course.

About the ICM....this is what happens you try to plan a big race without help from the local running community. Very little turn out, very little volunteer support. A lot of volunteers come from local high school sports teams who have contacts within the various running stores. If you don't involve these stores you get nada. Even 5ks don't run well without this kind of support.

Alan

Runningart2004 wrote:

About the ICM....this is what happens you try to plan a big race without help from the local running community. Very little turn out, very little volunteer support. A lot of volunteers come from local high school sports teams who have contacts within the various running stores. If you don't involve these stores you get nada. Even 5ks don't run well without this kind of support.

Alan

Isn't that the truth. This thing could have been righted at any time by getting Don Carr or Ken Long aboard. I worked with Don Carr once on a race, and he had the answers to everything. It went very smoothly. I imagine Ken Long to be equally qualified. But no, the IndyClassic apparently tapped someone named Sue Bozgos from George to organize a local race. I'm not as plugged into the local scence as I used to be, but no one I know has ever heard of any of these people....

It seems the best thing that can happen is this event is cancelled, and the organizers publicly roasted by the Indy Star (for the love of god...star writers...write a real investigative piece on this thing). If it actually happens, I fear for someone's life..

If they haven't organized an expo yet, and no one has received a confirmation, it must be dead. That can't be done in two weeks time.

BTW, the "real" Indianapolis Marathon was yesterday and looked to be extremely successful. I surely hope the classic hasn't tarnished their reputation at all. I know some people have confused the two.

I sent ICM an email at midday today asking for a refund of my $90. The money was back in my Paypal account by 6.45pm.

So my advice is - don't wait - send an email requesting a refund - before the well runs dry.

Southside Redneck wrote:

If they haven't organized an expo yet, and no one has received a confirmation, it must be dead. That can't be done in two weeks time.

The website still says the location and date of the expo are "TBD." Packet pickup appears to be supposed to occur at the Expo.

Here is a link to the Expo info:

Here is what it says:

"Dates and times for the 2007 Expo and Packet Pickup Dates:

TBA 2007 at 9:00 am to 8:00 pm.

TBA 2007 at 9:00 am to 6:00 pm."

The website does not even tell the runners where or when to pick up their packets.

No chance this race comes off.

Best case scenario, they run the 5k.

If the decision has been made to bag the race, there is no excuse for not putting it on the website NOW and letting runners try to cancel hotel rooms. The longer they wait the harder it will be to cancel hotel reservation, rental cars, plane tics... It also lets the runner try and find a new marathon before other races close.

I had a vague memory that the organizers originally said they had FOUR Million raised to put this thing on. I tried to find a link to it, but could not. Old articles about this have been taken off the Indy Star's website. I did find this cut and paste on letsrun:

--------------------------

From today's Indianapolis Star sports page..

Indy Classic Marathon

Questions mount on upcoming race

By Mark Alesia

mark.alesia@indystar.com

August 23, 2007

Soon after announcing the creation of the Indy Classic Marathon last winter, organizers talked about big plans -- up to 40,000 runners, $750,000 in prize money, $4 million raised to run the event.

On message boards dedicated to running, skeptics scoffed at those claims. And when the Sept. 8 marathon was postponed Tuesday because the city was concerned about staffing and safety issues, it created a backlash of anger from runners who trained for the event, questions about refunds and charges of incompetence.

"This thing is a disaster and a disgrace for our sport and our community," said Greg Harger, president of the Indiana Invaders, a local track club.

Said Weldon Johnson, who operates a popular Web site called letsrun.com: "Everything I know about the Indy Classic Marathon seems unusual." Of such a late postponement, he said, "I have never heard of this happening before."

Those sentiments were echoed in numerous postings on letsrun .com and IndyStar.com.

There are 13,000 entrants for the marathon, half-marathon and 5K, said Brian Meyers, vice president of public affairs for the marathon, which is rescheduled for Nov. 3.

Meyers disputed that a lot of people are angry.

"There's not a lot of angry people out there. There are a lot of people disappointed that the race did not take place on (Sept. 8)," he said. "But there will be a race. Most of the comments we've been getting is that it would have been too hot."

Organizers are offering full refunds for the entrance fees, which are $30 for the 5K, $45 for the half-marathon and $90 for the marathon. People will not be compensated if there are any charges connected to changing hotel or airplane reservations.

A bigger issue to many runners is the intricate training schedule they followed for months preparing for a 26.2-mile run Sept. 8.

Marathon entrant Robert Lopez, Seattle, said he will lose money on charges for changing his hotel and flight.

"Whoever is doing this event should have tried for something smaller to start," Lopez said. "Instead, they are (hurting) people like me really badly."

Meyers said only eight people have asked for refunds. He said the race received 100 new entries because of the later date.

DeAnn Milliken, manager of the special events permits office for the city of Indianapolis, said she wants the marathon to succeed, but the city wasn't confident the setup was "100 percent safe."

"They had a lot of people who were going to help them who ended up backing out, which raised a red flag," she said. "We were concerned they wouldn't have adequate staffing."

Milliken said that in a meeting Friday she asked marathon organizers to provide names of off-duty police officers and medical personnel, not just numbers of people. It is incumbent on race organizers to line up such support.

Meyers acknowledged that the marathon had lost important personnel. But he said the organizers had recovered and were prepared to stage the event.

"We thought we were good to go," he said.

Milliken said the events advisory board receives input from Wishard Emergency Services and the Indianapolis Fire Department on medical standards and practices.

Ken Long, whose Greenwood company operates running events, said he negotiated with the marathon but a contract wasn't signed. He described organizers as "very inexperienced."

"I don't think they did this on purpose," Long said. "I don't think they knew how to put on a small race let alone a marathon. I think they thought that you put a white line on the street, fire a gun and that's it."

Meyers said that's sour grapes from a competitor. He said Indy Classic Marathon Inc. hopes to run other events.

Matt Ebersole, an owner of Athletic Annex, a running store in Indianapolis, and someone well connected in the sport, said the organizers' claims didn't ring true to him.

As the owner of a running store, he said, he was able to personally verify that Nike was not a sponsor of the marathon after a marathon organizer made that claim in The Star.

"From the beginning there were all sorts of red flags," Ebersole said. "I'd have been surprised if it had been run."

Hal Higdon, Long Beach, Ind., a well-known author on marathons and running, said he advises people to stay away from first-time marathons unless they live in the area. He described the Indy Classic Marathon's $90 charge as "high for a first-time marathon."

Call Star reporter Mark Alesia at (317) 444-6039.

-----------------------------

If that is the case and this does not come off, where did the 4 million bucks go?

Thanks for the suggestion on the Rocket City. I am very familiar with the area. I used to live in Cullman, AL. That would be a good option and the reviews are very good on the race. Weather should be decent. Thanks.

No problem. Also, in the past they've given a comped entry and hotel room for 2:30-35 guys. They seem to be really good to the "developing" marathoner. They also have awards for top "husband and wife" teams and "parent and child" teams. They used to give age graded prize money as well...I think that is out this year. Weather should be great as long as it doesn't rain or get bitterly cold.

www.runrocketcity.com

Alan