NYC Marathon NO BAGGAGE!!!

This is not a joke, I'm breastfeeding and need to bring my breast pump to the start or I'll be exploding milk during the race. Am I supposed to throw away my $400 breastpump, wtf!!

How is it that the chicago marathon can check 40,000 bags under a tent and not have any issues??

Chicago26.2 wrote:

How is it that the chicago marathon can check 40,000 bags under a tent and not have any issues??

Because it's a frickin' loop,

what's your poit idiot? NYC 26.2 is not canceling baggage check because they have to transport the bags...they cannot figure out how to logistically use 843 acres of central park to make it happen smoothly....

Chicago26.2 wrote:

How is it that the chicago marathon can check 40,000 bags under a tent and not have any issues??

Because in NYC, it's over 50,000.

The bags don't go anywhere and there are no douchebags living on the next street like there are on Central Park West.

I think the reason for all the congestion and long walks after the finish is that the NY Parks Dept does not want all the runners walking in the fields trampling the grass. The gounds are typically muddy in the fall and all those people will screw up the grounds for spring. "Keep those runners off the grass" must be the war cry.

Announcing the change in bag policy so close to the start date is a really sucky thing to do. They should have waited until 2013.

It is the long walk I object to. I think it could be done smoother by closing CPW or CPS west of where the course goes into the park, and putting the bag check trucks there-instead of the mile long death march through the park-on the narrow road, with all the trucks. I ran the race in 2010, and cramped up on the walk. When I tried to sit down to stretch, I was forced to move along. Miserable experience, but the road just didn't have the capacity they needed-if they let everyone sit down, it would be a bigger mess. Getting the trucks off the narrow road, and putting them on the wider streets would help get people out of the park more quickly.

On the grass wrote:

I think the reason for all the congestion and long walks after the finish is that the NY Parks Dept does not want all the runners walking in the fields trampling the grass. The gounds are typically muddy in the fall and all those people will screw up the grounds for spring. "Keep those runners off the grass" must be the war cry.

Announcing the change in bag policy so close to the start date is a really sucky thing to do. They should have waited until 2013.

Hey I just did the Leadville 100 miler. Unfortunatly I only did 50 since I missed the Windfield cutoff time (but that's another story). As an Ultra guy I don't really have a big problem with the long walk afterward at NYC.

Just making a point that the real issue with congestion is that they keep the runners on the paved roads in the park. I'm sure there are other alternative, like putting the UPS trucks on CPW as you suggest.

Chicago26.2 wrote:

How is it that the chicago marathon can check 40,000 bags under a tent and not have any issues??

This was my first thought. I've never run the NY marathon, but in Chicago I got my stuff, had a beer and was in the train station within thirty minutes of finishing (and Grant Park is much smaller than Central Park, not to mention I barely cracked four hours). My general impression (having lived in both places) is that Chicago is a horribly run city and NYC is (comparatively) a well-run city, so it is funny to me that Chicago can apparently deal with this and New York can't (even if it is not the people running the city that run the marathon)

The simple truth.

It is all logistics.

The trucks carrying the bags must leave the start area together to get back to Central Park. That is a tough route.

The could manage the trip when the numbers were in the mid 30,000s participants.

Then NYRR got greedy and upped the entries to closer to 50,000 participants.

This volume created the logistical problem of getting all the trucks back to CP with the various wave starts and delays because of the sheer volume of entries.

Solution NYRR came up with - incredubly poor. Hard to believe anyone came up with that as a solution.

Their solution is an ill-thought out knee jerk reaction to congestion, instead of doing an analysis of the real problem - the extra numbers.

Logical solution - cut back on the entries to the previous level and offer the runners a BAG SERVICE.

My wife is feeding right now, so I empathize with you. I hope you figure it out.

Precious Roy wrote:

I like it. The worst part of the NY marathon is having to do a death march for over a mile to get to your bag and pick up your stuff at the finish (unless your name is Aaron Aardvark). I remember almost passing out trying to get to the latter portion of the alphabet to get my stuff off the truck.

For less than $50 at the thrift store you can get sweats, gloves, a hat and blanket to keep warm waiting for the start. When you head over to the start line, just dump everything. Then, at the finish, you can actually get out of there, catch a cab and get back to your hotel in half the time as it would take to death march to get your stuff.

comparing your little mile walk to death march, really!

Have some respect:

The people this will affect the most are the sub elites and others who actually race the marathon as opposed to just jogging through it. The elites get taken care of but people who actually race the marathon have nothing at the finish. Race organizers never think of this group. They think people are either elite or are joggers. They never think of the people in betweewn.

I purposely never sign up for a race where the logistics are so twisted that i can't get into my dry stuff immediately after. Changing the baggage policy now is false advertising. They should offer refunds to people who now don't want to race because of the change.

The sub-elites do get SOME perks. It doesn't say if they get a baggage check, but at least they get their own bus, special start area etc.

http://www.ingnycmarathon.org/entrantinfo/1138.htm

Btw I saw some pictures of the poncho; (it's actually a cape, not a poncho). Wow are we all going to look like a bunch of orange douche bags.

What happens if it's 40 degrees and rainy (as it might be in NY in November)? That POS is supposed to keep me warm while I look for my family a)without a cell phone and b)wearing the exact same f*cking thing as every other runner?

Occupy Central Park wrote:

Since the city wants us out of Central Park quickly and this supposedly led to the elimination of the baggage check, we should all stage a sit-in and occupy Central Park all day on race day.

Yes, because historically this approach has created change!

Have they reversed course on this idiotic decision yet, or do I need to start getting involved?

I've got old cranky muscles. I can't start the race without using the stick (TM), using a foam roller on my IT bands, plus I will probably not go to the race in my flats so will want a shoe change. That's not to mention the clothes to keep our muscles warm as the weather's fairly unpredictable and they put us over here hours early. We'll burn all our energy just keeping warm before the start.

I most certainly would NOT have entered if I'd known about this. They can't make this change after people have already committed to the race. Same reason they didn't apply the change in Guaranteed Entry standards until the following year - they'd be screwing people without fair notice. Why not apply the same rationale here instead of screwing us?

Bring some protein powder and sell smoothies.

Nursing Mommy wrote:

This is not a joke, I'm breastfeeding and need to bring my breast pump to the start or I'll be exploding milk during the race. Am I supposed to throw away my $400 breastpump, wtf!!