PSA to race directors - mark your courses!

Your Choice wrote:

Don't run those races then.

Problem solved.

This entitlement generation where no one takes accountability for their own actions is sad.

That's not realistic. For one thing, I could have looked up and memorized a course map of a race where the RD is a numb skull and posted the wrong course map - how would I know that in advance to avoid this race? For another thing, one of the most basic jobs of the RD is to provide a course for the race. Since I'm paying an entry fee, I expect that job to be done in a way that is at least moderately competent. Part of that competence involves marking the course. If the RD doesn't do that, I'm going to be frustrated by that - it's a natural response. It's not entitlement unless you are saying I feel like my entry dollars entitle me to an expectation that the RD do the job, in which case I would argue that's a basic tenant of society (i.e. if you take my money under the premise you are going to do something, I have the right to expect you to do it).

If you want to skimp on your race duties, how about you give me a free entry or charge me $1 - then you'll never hear a complaint from me if I run off course because there are no signs. $20? $30? $40? $50+? Yeah, I'm going to complain with a volume commensurate to your entry fee.

Longtime RD wrote:

How about you learn the freaking course dumba$s loser. You should never really on volunteers who can be wrong (they are volunteers have you ever volunteered) or markers that locals can change etc.

Either do your homework or stay the f home.

How about for people from out of town? Do you just want your race to be so shi7 that no one would ever bother travelling to it? Even if I live just 30 mins away I'm not going to drive that far to run/drive your stupid course that cuts through a park so I can neither drive nor run it. Mark the course you lazy fatso.

Pssst wrote:

PSA to runners. Know the course.

What an idiotic post.

If I drive two hours on a Saturday to run a local 10k or half marathon in an unfamiliar city on Sunday, I can review the course map and the turn-by-turn directions (if they are provided). I can even go jog parts of the course the night before.

That still doesn't mean that 10 miles into a PR-effort, running flat out through a park, I am going to know if I should take a slight left or a slightly more left turn at a multi-direction junction (for example). The race is worth the price of admission precisely BECAUSE you can focus on running hard, not orienteering. At least that's the idea.

As a runner who is decent enough to be ahead of the crowd but usually not right behind the lead car or bike, I am always getting to turns before the volunteer course marshals are paying attention (or even there). It sucks, and it is stupid because by the time they set up and the 90% comes through, all those runners have someone to follow anyway.

My minimal expectation going into any race is that the course is marked well enough so people don't get lost if they are in the lead or caught alone. But I can only rely on 2-3 race directors around town to meet that expectation. Meanwhile, prices keep going up and I can't rely on an accurate or well marked course. $40+ for a 5k in which it probably will be a circus really is too much to ask.

Just in the past year, here are some experiences:

-Half marathon turns were only marked with tape/paint on the pavement, so I only knew where to turn when I got to the turn. Some turns had signs or volunteers, some turns did not, and I could not see anyone in front of me. So I would go halfway through the intersection and then realize I had to turn, or have to slow at each intersection to know if there was a turn. Oh and the lead pack missed a turn as well.

-At the largest half marathon in the city, i was spectating at a turn and the leaders were not being directed to turn, so multiple groups went straight and then had to turn back. This is the premier city event.

-At a 5 mile race, the lead person on a bike did not know which block to turn on and the leader turned a couple blocks too early. Luckily, I was with a guy that ran the race in previous years and we kept going the right way. Not to mention that this race was an out-and-back mixed 5k/5 mile, and I had to fight through packs of 5k runners on the way to the finish.

-Neighborhood 5k. Course was changed in the morning due to construction, so course map was useless. Luckily was not a problem.

-Major race with thousands of participants. Course was updated but course map was not. Luckily it was a closed course race, but definitely made things a bit confusing during the race and race planning went down the tubes.

-Most races do not have course maps posted or available the day of the race.

-It's the exception rather than the norm that the course layout, marking, navigation, etc. is accurate.

After a year of this nonsense, no wonder that every 5k is won in 18/19 minutes. If you want to run fast, you can't expect the local road races to provide an accurate, well marked course at $40 a pop.

Let me give you some feedback from someone who has a 40+ year history of organizing races from the hometown 5k to the Olympic Games:

1. It's a terrible situations for everyone when runners go off course.

2. Signs and cones don't always work. At many of my races I personally erect large red and white arrows at all the key turns + all of the mile markers. But there have been a few races where people living on the course took them down because they were upset that the race would block their house. And in regards to painting or chalking lines or arrows - not possible in some municipalities. Some races place tape arrows on the ground....great idea. Try it in the rain!

3. Nearly every race (including the Olympics) is dependent on volunteers. Volunteers are human and sometimes leave their posts.

4. Even if you train someone, stuff happens. Maybe he/she can't make it and the job is handed off to someone the last minute who doesn't fully get it.

5. It even happens at the Olympics!!! In Rio, I helped set up the marathon course about 3 hours before the race - hand placing every cone and barricade. For the race I would normally ride on the lead vehicle but about an hour before the start I started to get a bad feeling so I got a motorcycle (with driver) and we drove the course. I found several spots where the police or volunteers had moved things which included km signs. When we got back to the finish area, I found the 42 km point about 30+ meters off. So there I was dragging the 42 km marker to it's correct location as I see the winner heading down the final straight.

The bottom line- It's not as simple as most people think and stuff happens. When it does, it sucks, but try and make the best of it, work harder to prevent it from happening again.

There's a lot more toxicity in this thread than I would have imagined.

I think you should do everything in your power to know the course ahead of time, but you're also justified in being angry at the race director and volunteers if they don't do their job to direct runners, especially in a race as short as 5k. There's really no excuse.

That's my hometown baby! Warren - OH!