What are the beat and worst things that you've heard yelled at a race?

Kurt Steiner was the colorful voice at most of the NYRR events for many decades. He was a european immingrant with a strong German accent and famous for some unusual comments.

He would often make encouraging announcements to the finishers such as "if you are within the sound of my voice you can break...(fill in the time).

One time at the finish line I heard Kurt repeat his famous line: "if you are within the sound of my voice you can break 30 minutes" then he quickly said "forget it, you can't do it!" Fred (Lebow) and I look at each other and started to laugh.

On another occassion I heard this announcement from Kurt just prior to the start of the NY Marathon:

"attention all German speaking athletes!" Of coure he said it in English.

When I was running the Illinois Marathon in 2011 a kid around mile 15-16 had a sign that said "At least you're not watching a marathon". While I do actually enjoy watching marathons, it made me laugh.

1981 New York City Marathon, Marcus Garvey Park, Harlem, around mile 20. 10 or so young black girls in cheerleading uniforms rhythmically chanting in unison to drumbeat:

"Work that body, work that body, ouch, ouch!'

As the would kids say, you just had to be there.

I was running a 24 hour relay (ten runners alternating miles. Our team ends up running 260 miles.) It was the middle of the night and everyone was tired. Runner with baton is finishing third lap, forgets how many laps he's completed and shouts to next runner how many left. Next runner, being a Dick, jokingly yells "two more." When baton man completes next lap, the Dick tries to grab baton. Runner says "but I have one more lap." Dickhead starts laughing and tells him he was just kidding. Baton man takes baton and jams it in Dickhead's ribs, knocking the wind out of him. A fight almost breaks out. It was hilarious!

My sister was racing a half and was like eight miles in. There were notable hills coming up. Some jerk yelled "it's all downhill from here!" Luckily my sister knew the course but I really hope nobody was misled.

Wonderful story. Thanks for posting !

machtaugh wrote:

my mom sees almost all my races and always has done so. she doesnt know much and realizes i know what im doing so she normally stays quiet. shooting for the 2008 trials (2:22). about a mile to go and the issue was still in doubt. her father had died 2 days prior. around 25M (she forgot the extra .2 existed and assumed i had it in the bag) my mother yells "grandpop would be so proud of you." i found something special that last 1.2 and barely dipped under the time with tears in my eyes

Why are you running faster we are near the finish?!

Because I'm dead on my feet, idiot?!

The best one for me happened in college when the race had just finished. I had run a big PR. My coach said, "You ran like a champion." I still remember it almost 20 years later.

This Kurt Steiner thing had me laughing out loud 'cause I've heard the famous Kurt Steiner quote so many times, ran his namesake race this very day, and had one of those days where I was in close but "forget it" territory on breaking 20 for 5k at VCP [hey, I'm a slow old guy.]Anyway, my favorite. 2006 5th Ave Mile. Got off to an awful start, am about to hit the 1/4 mile mark in a terrible time when this women yells [I presume as a joke, but who knows] - "Looking good, less than a mile to go!"Made me laugh and I proceeded to run the second 1/4 [uphill] 10 seconds faster than I had run the first 1/4 [downhill] and ended up running a big PR.

David Katz wrote:

Kurt Steiner was the colorful voice at most of the NYRR events for many decades. He was a european immingrant with a strong German accent and famous for some unusual comments.

He would often make encouraging announcements to the finishers such as "if you are within the sound of my voice you can break...(fill in the time).

One time at the finish line I heard Kurt repeat his famous line: "if you are within the sound of my voice you can break 30 minutes" then he quickly said "forget it, you can't do it!" Fred (Lebow) and I look at each other and started to laugh.

On another occassion I heard this announcement from Kurt just prior to the start of the NY Marathon:

"attention all German speaking athletes!" Of coure he said it in English.

sdfdfasdfsa wrote:

Best thing: Looking good!

Worst thing: You're almost there!

Your worst thing is right on. There is nothing more annoying than a fat person who may have never run a mile saying "You're almost there!" in mile 25 of a tough Marathon.

Back in my high school days I was watching the MI state meet and someone shouted "Look out! He's right behind you!" to Dathan. I believe that was the year he ran 14:10. Obviously, there was no one right behind him.

Some of the best I've heard from my coach:

"Gooooooooooooooooooooooooood (me)! Goooooooooooooooooooooood!" (yes, he yelled the "good" for that long)

"YOU'RE NOT RACING (me)!"

"I want to see the baby, not the pain!"

Worst: Run Forest Run!

one day we ran a race that went thru a shitty neighborhood, and a man sitting on the front step of his trailer drinking a beer yelled "Hold on lemme go get some water!"....he had very few teeth and was probably semi-drunk, and a few kids were convinced he yelled "Hold on, lemme go get my daughter!" true story.

also, the worst: "run faster." said totally matter-of-factly.

Worst overheard: "You've got 1k to go which means you've got about three minutes to fix this!"

Best: an energetic non-runner in the last mile of my marathon " lets go 4-8-9-1. You're in the homestretch now, etc...." This was in the days before you could put a name on a bib number but he called me 4891like we were buddies from way back. I needed that.

"You're black! You're supposed to be fast!"

Airplane food wrote:

Best: While doing my town's July 4th 5K one year, the local homeless guy made an appearance and shouted unintelligible things while banging on a garbage can. I PRed by 30 seconds that day.

Worst: During track season, none of the sprinters would bother learning any of the distance guys' names, so they all just yelled "Go Distance!"

Short course

My coach said he would kick the shit out of me if I didn't outkick the lead pack.

The father of a friend of mine had some odd ways of trying to motivate his kids during races.

He once called out to his son during a XC 'win that race or I'm going to cut your rabbit's ears off'.