Boston Postrace Shitshow

Is 10% a high number or about what they get each year?

I guess gear check could be done by name, but that seems like a lot of organization. Numbers are easier (having done gear pick at a few events).

People shouldn’t be kept from their warm clothes, so they should use a system to efficiently dispense the bags. I’d go by names, but perhaps something else would make sense instead. Numbers is idiotic because people with the same numbers are most likely to finish at the same time. There seemed to be plenty of volunteers and they were doing a good job: this is squarely on the organization, not the workers.

From what I’ve read, 10% is crazy high and most had hypothermia. You don’t typically get hypothermia while running though. Those affected hot chilled waiting in the elements before and after the race itself. Why not some goddamned tents ffs?

I agree with you 100%. Who would have thought putting up some tents would have been so hard to think of in the days leading up to the race? I was very fortunate to finish without hypothermia and was able to get into warm clothes before the lines started backing up. And the lines started to develop quickly due to the single tent that was divided into half tents for men and women to change. Many men changed in the women’s tent before the women started finishing. The volunteers working the gear check stations of the highest bib numbers were turning away runners with fast finishes who were looking for a dry spot to change when the changing tent became full. These tents were completely underutilized, because the runners who had gear bags in those tents probably still had 2 hours before they were scheduled to finish. The building with heat had a line wrapping around the corner and the 3 buses that were there for heat were parked at the far end and were jam packed fast.

After I was dressed and saw my surroundings I tried to help a few guys out but then realized I needed to get out of there to have one less athlete in the area.

The race was hard, but the post-race was a mismanaged cluster. The volunteers demonstrated effort but you could tell they were instructed to do “their assigned jobs” and not critically think.

Luv2Run wrote:

Is 10% a high number or about what they get each year?

I guess gear check could be done by name, but that seems like a lot of organization. Numbers are easier (having done gear pick at a few events).

So...here's my idea.

Since Boston does bib numbers by seeding time, and that's not going to change, why not append a letter to each bib #. Rotate A-Z.

So you'd have bib 2001-A, bib 2002-B, bib 2003-C, and so on.

Then have 26 tents, marked A-Z.

You'd have close to even distribution of finishers among the tents that way.

My hotel was a mile from the finish, and honestly I could have walked there faster than the time I spent waiting for my bag.

The logistics of security likely prevented them from just throwing up a tent city on short notice.

Restaurants and hotels opened up lobbies for runners to change in. They were announcing that at gear check pick up bus area for 3hr crowd. That was a lifesaver and a good example of marathon org working quickly with businesses to probably keep hundreds of people from needing medical attention for hypothermia.

Thumbs up to Santander bank and I hope to God that their surveillance cameras were not working around 2pm yesterday.

Thumbs down to the jackasses at Loews hotel on Stuart street. who turned people away. Overall things could have been much much worse.

The race has been going on for over a century. What “short notice”?

I think I have a gear check solution that solves the similar number/finish time rush.

Divide the groups by the last digits of the bib number, not the first.

So instead of 1XXX, 2XXX, ... 30XXX; you have XXX10-19, XXX20-29, etc.

This will spread out the runners a lot more evenly as they finish. This helps everyone get their bags quickly, from the fastest to the slowest.

ClusterForkAlso wrote:

The race has been going on for over a century. What “short notice”?

They probably thought the same about runners knowing how to better prepare.

ClusterForkAlso wrote:

The race has been going on for over a century. What “short notice”?

Did you see a good close spot for your Bivouac to be set up?

Running boom is old wrote:

ClusterForkAlso wrote:

The race has been going on for over a century. What “short notice”?

They probably thought the same about runners knowing how to better prepare.

I coulda gone to Coachella, party in the desert, but went to this sh*tshow instead cuz I trained hard.

I got directed to the "heating" area where they made you walk to the basement of a building and wait in line in a hallway while other runners got massages; There was no heat. I guess because I was still on my feet I was doing too well for the medical tent. Volunteers were great, but organizers knew the weather report far enough out where they could have prepared better. A tent with space heaters would have been perfect. Also the busses drove past the athlete's village entrance another half mile down the road for no apparent reason.

It's still better than NYC where they make you walk a mile and a half before dumping you into the street. Big city marathons are the worst.

Runners were essentially not ALLOWED to prepare. Personally, I was okay because I did not have to rely upon gear check and instead had family waiting just across the barrier with my clothes. I avoided Athlete’s Village entirely and went straight to the start. Gear check was only from 5 am and 8:45 am and only the runner could drop the bag. Everything brought to Athlete’s Village had to be run with or thrown away. One could bring only a gallon ziploc of stuff to Athlete’s Village. One could not run with any kind of backpack. What “preparations” could have been made by all runners that would have saved them from hypothermia? Although I had nowhere to put on my dry clothes, I at least managed to get shoes on and after hobbling a block and a half in the downpour, ducked into a lobby with other runners and changed there. While some were asking for hypothermia by underdressing, the rules didn’t allow runners to have what they needed. Even with a personal support crew and waiting car, it was touch and go.

There weren’t even hot drinks anywhere that I could see. Maybe in the medical area, which I was fortunate not to have to visit. I even read that they were only allowing the most severe hypothermia cases into warming areas and then giving them only a few minutes. 80 people were hospitalized.

I know everyone here hates the RNR marathons but they have gear check down to a science. Tons of UPS trucks divided up by last name... They even split up more common letters into multiple trucks.

Almostsbs wrote:

I know everyone here hates the RNR marathons but they have gear check down to a science. Tons of UPS trucks divided up by last name... They even split up more common letters into multiple trucks.

Only downside is they can't say when between 8am and 6pm your clothes will arrive at the finish line, if they make it that day at all?

RNR has to worry about selling an experience. Boston knows if tradition included a punch in the face at the finish, people would obediently line up for it.

Very good idea re the number-letter designation, which would evenly spread the finishers among the 26 separate baggage locations.

What are you guys complaining about?

I finished just under 2:40 and had no issues.