Running Group of Hobby Joggers in Boulder, CO gets all Running Groups banned

Robo- thanks for the inspiring talk. You already showed your true colors with your Twitter comments so everything you say just sounds like BS

You obviously know nothing about this at all. Not who you think and not what you read via angry comments of others with the prime focus or bashing others. It truly is amazing what people will believe if someone says it is so.

This is the answer you all need.

So glad I left Boulder wrote:

OK so we'll establish strict hours based on the criteria of sea-level PRs run in the past 18 months from date of use. Verification must be submitted to the Bolder Boulder headquarters: The host high school will enjoy track privileges from 8-4 M-F

*10K stratification list and practice times:

Sub-29 (Male) & sub-34 (Female) 4-6 p.m. M-F

Sub-32:30 (Male) & sub-38:30 (Female) 6-8 p.m. M-F

Sub-36 (Male) & sub 42:30 (Female) 8-10 p.m. M-F

Sub-40 (Male) & sub-48 (Female) 6-8 a.m. M-F

Sub-45 (Male & Sub-55 (Female) 4-6 a.m. M-F

*All groups, regardless of ability, must defer to Olympians who've achieved the "B" standard.

*Anyone failing to achieve these times can use the track between midnight and 3 a.m..

Weekends can be a free-for-all. Bring your dogs and iPods.

As a Runner in the Rev group, I can honestly say we do sometimes have way too many people at the track. It's fun to have a such a presence around so many good athletes doing their workouts, but I wondered whether we were of a nuisance. We had been warned by the school prior as a previous poster mentioned, but it was probably easier for our coaches to keep track of us as there are a lot of us and we have a ton of different ability levels. I never went to the restroom under the bleachers, but I can't say the same for some of my friends in the group. Being that there is so many of us, it is tough to stay confined to just 2 lanes, especially when trying to talk to the rest of your group. I would rather do my workout on the trails than the track or roads anyways. I'm not that fast, but I do enjoy having the camaraderie of being around so many of my ability. We shouldn't have gone on the track when it was locked, but it probably just caught our coaches off guard so for the interim on that day, I see why they made that decision.

What is the value of a runner wrote:

I know that none of the trolls on letsrun actually like the truth but here it is...

Well that's from Boulder Track Club, Boulder Coaching, Boulder Striders, Hudson Elite.

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Was Herzog there?

So under Colorado State Law any group that charges can't use tax payer fund facilities without renting it.

I have a bit of a dog in this fight as I know a few of both groups and donate to BTC.

But since Lee gets paid and the coaches at the other group do too neither of them has the right to use it.

Now if you have a coach coaching who's unpaid coaching an athlete then the Ad, coach school district etc have the option to let groups use it for free.

CO Law wrote:

So under Colorado State Law any group that charges can't use tax payer fund facilities without renting it.

I have a bit of a dog in this fight as I know a few of both groups and donate to BTC.

But since Lee gets paid and the coaches at the other group do too neither of them has the right to use it.

Now if you have a coach coaching who's unpaid coaching an athlete then the Ad, coach school district etc have the option to let groups use it for free.

So this can be fixed with: A) Registration, limits on group size, and compliance with other stipulations such as parking, hours of use, bathrooms etc.; B) having paid coaches or programs pay a fee for use; C) time trials or race results (with those >40 min 10K (age and gender grading allowed on a case by case basis) need not apply).

(being a bit facetious on the last one there).

Absolutely, when you're talking about dozens of runners using a track at the same time rather than maybe a single dozen you have issues and you cannot blame a school for having restrictions.

But let's think about the business of who should get priority for using a track. Most of these big groups are made up of people who race mostly on roads and maybe trails. There aren't many track runners. I've been to the all comers meets in Boulder and you don't have even remotely the number of competitors as you have at road races. So it's hard to understand why these people need to be on a track. But Troop has people who will be on the track at the Trials or at least in attempts to qualify for the Trials. That may not give them more of a "right" to the track than a road racer has but as someone who races almost exclusively off the track I would cede a track to a track racer immediately. It's just the decent thing to do.

The superintendent wrote:

That may not give them more of a "right" to the track than a road racer has but as someone who races almost exclusively off the track I would cede a track to a track racer immediately. It's just the decent thing to do.

Well said and same applies to joggers, as I keep saying, it's just about using the track appropriately.

Here's the million dollar question:

How much would you pay to use a track?

Assuming the closest open track is 45 minutes drive away.

Assuming the "private" track was premium

Assuming there are bathroom/shower/locker room facilities

Would you pay a monthly membership?

would it include coaching/training plans?

Would local groups receive discounts?

I've read it can cost 1-2 million to build a proper track. Lets say it costs $1.5mil for the project (and that is the low end due to the land requirements).

If you charged $30/month per user, and wanted to break even after 5 years, it would require 10,000 users. I don't see this happening unless the city would contribute or local businesses contribute via advertising.

Thoughts?

He's actually pretty up front about it. If he doesn't like you, you'll know. I wish more people were like this, if you ask me. Too many people are fake and passive aggressive, but not Lee, he's upfront and honest. People can't take it and they're offended when he doesn't play along and pretend to like everybody. He was one of the very few at town meetings to get a public track. You talk of social media attacks, yet you're anonymously on letsrun attacking his name and reputation. Pot meet kettle.

The track (especially lane one) is the Freeway. You don't walk or jog on the Freeway. If you don't own a pair of spikes, then you don't run fast enough to use a track.

Areal coach wrote:

Lee Troop is front and center in every Boulder running controversy. He talks trash about everyone, except to their face of course.

The irony.

It's already been established a couple of times that several of Troop's team has already qualified for the track trials plus a smattering of athletes from other clubs. Not so with Revolution running.

Seem like 'the community' should find a way to accommodate the qualified runners. Be it another high school or college in the area, even CU. Not talking hordes of joggers but a handful or two of top runners. Then 'the community' needs to get together to find a way to build a track that can be used by common folk, elites, as well as hobby joggers.

What is the value of a runner wrote:

I know that none of the trolls on letsrun actually like the truth but here it is...

Seems like "the trolls on letsrun" are doing a pretty good job of dissecting your post.

Where were the remaining 140 people? Well that's from Boulder Track Club, Boulder Coaching, Boulder Striders, Hudson Elite, Roots Running, a triathlon group, and a College Team visiting the area.

————

That's never happened, stop lying. All those groups are staggered in the morning if they all happen to have a track workout fall on the same day. Even if they were all there at the same time, it wouldn't be more then 50. 140, are you kidding me?

Is the whiny hunchback involved in this?

Donald Trump would send Lee home.

Biz op wrote:

If you charged $30/month per user, and wanted to break even after 5 years, it would require 10,000 users. I don't see this happening unless the city would contribute or local businesses contribute via advertising.

Thoughts?

You better hope all 10,000 don't show up on Wednesday night.

The problem with a publicly accessible track is the public. If you need track intervals, then you also need a closed track with special permission to use it. That way you can be sure to get a workout. No doubt it is hard to arrange for special permission, but that's the sort of work (or connections) expected of a coach if they want to get paid.

There is only one track within 10 miles of me that is not gated and locked. I have to get up pretty early in the morning (3:30 AM!) to get in my workout in lane 4. At 4:45 when I am doing my cooldown people are already walking on the track. By 5:00 lanes 1-3 are full of 9-minute milers, with various stragglers in the other lanes. It's so much hassle that I usually prefer doing repeats on the roads.

To answer your question of how much I would pay: $50-75 per hour (for all 8 lanes!) sounds reasonable, assuming the AD would pay someone to be physically present. Not that I could afford it, but I would form or join a club to spread the cost. The problem I foresee is that once they open the facility and start accepting money, they have a strong incentive to allow as many runners as are willing to pay.