Will A Couple Hundred Thousand Turn Out for the Olympic Trials at 7:30 am?

I'll be there. I'm a friend of a runner who currently has a lengthy thread on page one dedicated to him. I digress...

Maybe the number isn't that far off. Let's say only 40,000 show up and half of us decide to race across the park during the 5 laps to see the field 10 times. That would be 220,000 sets of eyes viewing the runners during the course of the race.

By the way...how in the world would they plan on counting everyone? They've probably already got the "official" number in print somewhere waiting to be released during the broadcast of the NYCM the next day.

Trials C Qulaifier wrote: I'm a friend of a runner who currently has a lengthy thread on page one dedicated to him.

Kobe Bryant or Joey Bishop?

Trials C Qulaifier wrote:

Maybe the number isn't that far off. Let's say only 40,000 show up and half of us decide to race across the park during the 5 laps to see the field 10 times. That would be 220,000 sets of eyes viewing the runners during the course of the race.

That's almost half a million eyes, if you count each one separately. See, you just gotta know how to beat up the numbers till they tell you what you want to hear.

Rough maths:

Let's say each person takes up 2foot x 1 foot while viewing, that's roughly 2600 people per mile times both sides equal 5,200 people permile one deep.

Call it 2 miles of city streets and a 6 mile loop in the park that is 8 miles of 'grandstands'if you will.

8 miles times 5,200= 42,000 fans one deep 80,000 two

deep 120,000 three deep,160,000 4 deep and 200,000 five deep.

How can the crowd size estimate be enlarged? The buildings on the city streets over looking the park would give a group of folks a passive view of the race should they look out the correct window. (Please note this when estimating NYCM crowds also). People walking to work, sight seeing, shopping and dragging home from an all-night party might catch a glimpse of the race in the mid town area.

CONCLUSION ; FOUR DEEP EVERY STEP of the way BOTH SIDES of the course and adding 40 thousand passive views(they ran by a person who had no idea that those guys in shorts were racing for an Olympic berth) would total the 200,000 folks Ms W. promised.

Assignment; A-Count how many ranks of viewers actually appear at dawn.

B- Identify and quantify places along the course with more/less than 4 deep.

C-Prepare you own estimate and submit it to the this thread no later than noon.

How many trees are there?

NY sub elite wrote:

Once again, I sit here amazed at the lack of sophistication of people at this board and in general those who don't live in New York.

The words of a true urban hayseed. Funny stuff.

there will likely have been more people in boulder watching the xc trials than there will be in central park actually watching the marathon trials. there a quite a few people in central park on any given weekend anyway ... i'm sure that these people will be counted as spectators.

you had me at beer, but throwing in the lap dances I am going to start camping out tonight.

malmo wrote:

They couldn't get 200,000 in Central Park at dawn on a Saturday morning if they were giving our free beer and lap dances.

Time for a serious reality check here.

Don't bring math into the picture here. Let the NYRRC live in their fantasy world.Remember how we thoroughly slam-dunked the estimates of the spectator count at the Chicago Marathon a few years ago?

The NYRRC will count anyone between Paramus, NJ and Commack, Long Island who happens to look out their window towards the direction of Central Park between the hours of 6 a.m. and 12 noon as a spectator of the race.

skylon wrote:

The NYRRC will count anyone between Paramus, NJ and Commack, Long Island who happens to look out their window towards the direction of Central Park between the hours of 6 a.m. and 12 noon as a spectator of the race.

Well that makes perfect sense then. Please ignore my previous post.

txRUNNERgirl wrote: How many trees are there?

You're just being silly: of course the trees have ears, not eyes. They're not potatoes or even, so far as I'm aware, potato trees. At least I've yet to be conked on the head by a falling potato in Central Park. The quote was about watching the race not listening to it.

(P.S. Oops, google says "the trees have eyes" far more frequently than ears. WTF? I'd always heard 'twas ears. Ah well, further evidence I've been living in Bizarro World.)

please dont squeeze the garmin wrote:

(P.S. Oops, google says "the trees have eyes" far more frequently than ears. WTF? I'd always heard 'twas ears. Ah well, further evidence I've been living in Bizarro World.)

Yesterday, Daisy Mae and Biff were groovin' on the street. And just like in a movie, her hands became her feet. Her belly button was her mouth, which meant she tasted what she'd speak. But the funny thing is what happened to her nose. It grew until it reached all of her toes. Now when people say her feet smell, they mean her nose.

NY Sub E and Mary must get their dope from the same dealer

Too bad this race wasn't run during Christo's Orange

Gate installation! Art in Motion!

Honestly the can media blitz this all they want but most people have no idea there are TWO races on marathon weekend. Even with all the advertising the layman will probably not pay enough attention to the advertising to realize there is the Trials on Sat. and the actual NYC marathon on Sun. Most people see the marathon advertisements and equate it to the marahton on Sunday even if the Trials are mentioned.

There is no way in hell 200,000 will be in the park watching this race. The only reason 2 million come out for the marathon is it is a big party on 1st avenue and there are probably 500,000 drunks alone on that stretch. People come out to drink and the marathon just gives them an excuse to party. I even watched the race last year with a running group next to me on 5th avenue and they had a big cooler full of beer. That is what brings the crowds out Sunday, the party atmosphere. I don't think that party atmosphere is going to translate to the Trials at 7:30 in the morning.

Lets get real wrote:

There is no way in hell 200,000 will be in the park watching this race. The only reason 2 million come out for the marathon is it is a big party on 1st avenue and there are probably 500,000 drunks alone on that stretch.

You're just as bad at math as Wittenberg is. 2 million is a quarter of the entire city.

Trials C Qulaifier wrote:

Let's say only 40,000 show up and half of us decide to race across the park during the 5 laps to see the field 10 times. That would be 220,000 sets of eyes viewing the runners during the course of the race.

You're going to change your eyes each time you run across the park? And here I've been using the same pair for 43 years.

2 million is what NYRRC quotes at the number of spectators all the time. I am not the one who came up with the number. And I was just trying to point out most of the spectators are crowded in small sections such as 1st avenue, 5th avenue and inside the part around 59th street.