Boston Marathon not allowing or transporting bags on race day

Sweet, hopefully with whiny bitches not running that it will be easier to qualify. BOSTON HERE I COME!

Ever think this might be one way for Boston to cut down the size of their race? For years, on this forum and elsewhere, we've heard that Boston has gotten too big. What are they, like 27,000 entrants this year or something in that range? If they continue with the "no bag" policy, a certain number of runners are going to take their business elsewhere. Let's say that's 5000 runners, is that a bad thing?

I ran Boston 10 times, so I know all about the early bus ride out to Hopkinton, the hanging out in the athlete's village, the walk down to the corrals, all that fun stuff. I've been there in good weather years and lousy weather years. I always brought a backpack to put my sweats in so I'd be able to get them back at the finish, but the only thing I can think that I'd really be concerned about, under the new set up, would be dry shoes/socks. Sweats, I tossed many sweatshirts that I wore down to the corrals, so no big deal there.

The new policy, while certainly not as convenient as how it used to be, doesn't seem like that huge a deal to me. Unfortunately the tragedy last year was a total game changer in terms of how a race like Boston has to operate. You want to do their race you gotta play by their rules. You don't like their rules, there are hundreds of other good marathons to go to.

d2xccoach wrote:

You want to do their race you gotta play by their rules. You don't like their rules, there are hundreds of other good marathons to go to.

Accurate, but that's not the point here.

nation of tards wrote:

d2xccoach wrote:

You want to do their race you gotta play by their rules. You don't like their rules, there are hundreds of other good marathons to go to.

Accurate, but that's not the point here.

it actually is the point. no bags is much to do about nothing.

haha wrote:

nation of tards wrote:

Accurate, but that's not the point here.

it actually is the point. no bags is much to do about nothing.

It's a major inconvenience and pointless looking at it rationally. Yeah the bomber used a bag, but there are countless other covert methods with which to inflict destruction. People like to have things to carry their stuff in, especially when they are participating in a day-long athletic event, and those things are called bags. Just another example of irrational policy as a substitute for incompetence.

nation of tards wrote:

d2xccoach wrote:

You want to do their race you gotta play by their rules. You don't like their rules, there are hundreds of other good marathons to go to.

Accurate, but that's not the point here.

So participants in this year's race can opt out and get their money back?

nation of tards wrote:

haha wrote:

it actually is the point. no bags is much to do about nothing.

It's a major inconvenience and pointless looking at it rationally. Yeah the bomber used a bag, but there are countless other covert methods with which to inflict destruction. People like to have things to carry their stuff in, especially when they are participating in a day-long athletic event, and those things are called bags. Just another example of irrational policy as a substitute for incompetence.

I wonder if runners would be allowed to carry their items in a pressure cooker. You could just leave the pressure cooker at athlete's village when the race starts. They didn't mention it specifically so I guess it is allowed.

I've never had this problem at a track meet.

Boston is allowing gear check in clear plastic bags that they provide. Chicago did the same in 2013 and it worked fine. This is not a big deal.

We are paying attention.

Yes, Boston is allowing gear check in clear bags at Boston Commons where the buses from downtown depart. That means that runners can't bring anything with them to the start line where they have to wait 2-3hrs before the race starts. If it is raining, cold, etc. it will be miserable for runners to have to sit in their racing kits and shoes for a couple hours before the race. Additionally, many runners don't take the buses from downtown, so in that case they don't even have the option of a gear check.

This sucks. Big overreaction and mistake on Boston's part. Plus it is going to be a mess with 38,000 runners checking their Goodwill bought warm ups in Hopkinton. Hopefully the race reconsiders this policy.

Stevarino wrote:

We are paying attention.

Yes, Boston is allowing gear check in clear bags at Boston Commons where the buses from downtown depart. That means that runners can't bring anything with them to the start line where they have to wait 2-3hrs before the race starts. If it is raining, cold, etc. it will be miserable for runners to have to sit in their racing kits and shoes for a couple hours before the race. Additionally, many runners don't take the buses from downtown, so in that case they don't even have the option of a gear check.

This sucks. Big overreaction and mistake on Boston's part. Plus it is going to be a mess with 38,000 runners checking their Goodwill bought warm ups in Hopkinton. Hopefully the race reconsiders this policy.

My understanding is that it's less about security and more about the lack of space to accommodate and reliably transport 34,000 gear bags in Hopkinton. As someone who has run there in recent years, I think you would agree that there aren't many places in the vicinity of the school to stage a 20% increase in the number of buses.

I normally bring sun screen lotion, Vaseline, TP, Someting to drink and snacks and something to lay on so I am not sitting on wet grass on to the start. I guess I will have to find something with very large pockets to wear and then toss at the start.

This policy is a knee jerk reaction and probably unnecessary and won't change the security risk by any reasonable amount. But, I get why the BAA feels they need to do it (public relations pressure, insurance provider pressure, operating cost pressure, whatever). Just accept it and move on.

Well if it's the 38,000 runners your worried about I have a way to fix it:

1. Limit the filed to 15,000 runners.

2. Allow only qualified runners... this means NO charity runners.

3. Change the qualification times to the following:

M 18-34- sub 2:50 W: 3:10

M 35-39- Sub 3:00 W: 3:20

M 40-49- Sub 3:15 W: 3:30

M 50-59- Sub 3:30 W: 3:45

M 60-69- Sub 3:45 W: 4:00

M 70-70- Sub 4:00 W: 4:30

M 80 plus sub 4:30 W: 5:00

4. Return Boston to the race it used to be and not a race for the bucket list morons of this world.