Road racing has been "covered" by TV since NYC 1980. This is TWENTY-SIX years later, to reasonably EXPECT some halfway decent coverage of a so-called major race. A tape delayed broadcast a la "Running & Racing" like it was done 15-20 years ago would have been better than this. NYRR, you lose on this one.
"You have to realize, it was impossble to get closer than 50 feet away. One side of the street had a huge traffic jam, the other side, the side I was on, was 50 feet away from where the runners were, as they decided to run right at the center of the road. Further, the numbers were tough to see. Even in pictures of the race, it's very dfficult to tell what number someone has on. When I took the gig, I did it more for my running club than for the NYYRs, and I had no idea I was being set up to do an impossible task. And if I recall correctly, I don't remember much of an entourage when the lead women passed through. Only a couple of motorcycles. Except for the mats at 5K, 10K and 15K, they relied on spotters to get split times of the lead women. Who knew it would be so difficult....."