My race this morning had chip timing but didn' t use a start mat. Race started 6 or 7 minutes late. The 1st mile marker was off by 10 seconds and the second mile marker about a minute. The clock at the finish and everybodies time was off 1 minute. The overall course was accurate, but those problems shouldn't happen at a race as large as this one was.
Was at a race this morning. We lined up and were ready to run at the advertised starting time, only to be subjected to 10 minutes of announcements and thanking of the sponsors.
NO ONE CARES ABOUT ANY OF THAT!!!! JUST START THE RACE!!!
One of the major annoyances of running road races, particularly when the temperature is rising about 10 degrees per hour and you really, really want to get it done ASAP.
Earlier this year I did a local 5k where we were told to line up. National anthem played, speech given, and everyone was ready to go, waiting for the command to run.
All of a sudden there was music behind us. They'd asked a local marching band to kick things off and asked everyone lined up to step to the side to let the band march through. Totally ruined the pre-race vibe, never mind the delay.
I complained to the RD afterward and he was legitimately shocked to hear that anyone was bothered. Unbelievable...
This problem just keeps getting worse. I am legitimately shocked when a race actually starts on time. Race directors are just so disorganized these days.
ObviousAnswer wrote:
Most race directors have never finished a 5k at a pace faster than 12m per mile.
Untrue