Anyone else here having serious doubts that this year's Boston Marathon will even happen? First the B.A.A. told us they hoped to announce a fall 2021 date by the end of 2020. A few days before the new year, they said that they had not come up with a date, but basically for us to "stay tuned".
It is a massive understatement that the Covid vaccine rollout is not going as expected. Who knows where we will be later in the summer and fall? Add in that the Boston Marathon has all the ingredients of a superspreader event: 30,000 runners; traveling from all over the world; insane number of volunteers and spectators; massive crowds at the expo and pre and post race events. I am hopeful things turn around Covid-wise here in America and around the world. But I am not delusional. I will not do this or any other race if it isn't safe. At the same time, I'm not thrilled about another virtual race. Your thoughts? Also, does this mean that the World Major Marathons of London, Berlin, Chicago, NYC--all slated for this fall--are all doomed as well?
LRC note: We discussed this on this week's podcast and Jon Gault, a Boston resident, said he thought it was only 30-50% that Boston takes place.
Full podcast here:
https://www.letsrun.com/news/2021/01/doom-gloom-boston-2021/
Boston Marathon 2021...what are the odds it even happens?
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As someone who lives in Boston, I’d honestly be shocked to see unmasked mass events happen in the next five years. People here are nuts with Covid fear, and leadership is falling all of each other to be the biggest Covid virtue signaler.
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Hopkinton to Boylston Street wrote:
Your thoughts? Also, does this mean that the World Major Marathons of London, Berlin, Chicago, NYC--all slated for this fall--are all doomed as well?
I think you forgot one. -
Next to zero.
Looks like the plan is to drag this lockdown attack on us through the end if 2021 -
There won’t be enough people vaccinated by then for mass spectator events to be safe. The Fall marathons *maybe* have a chance
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Boston IS a fall marathon this year. Date hasn't been announced but I'm guessing September.
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survey says wrote:
Hopkinton to Boylston Street wrote:
Your thoughts? Also, does this mean that the World Major Marathons of London, Berlin, Chicago, NYC--all slated for this fall--are all doomed as well?
I think you forgot one.
Ah yes, thanks...Tokyo which is usually in Feb/March is SLATED this year for October. -
No way. The town’s along the route want their $$$. You’re not gonna get 25k vaccinated qualifiers and 7k charity runners to participate.
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Just plan on it happening this fall. If for some reason it doesn't go off I'm sure there'll be plenty of other fall marathons to sign up for. Makes no sense to announce it now, they'll probably wait until the spring about six months out and see how the vaccine rollout goes and whether the current surge starts to subside.
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It's hard to imagine this event happening in the fall. We may not see large events like this for a couple years.
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I’d say there’s a good chance that it will happen in the Fall as planned with participants either showing vaccination records or a positive antibody test. JnJ’s vaccine (if approved in February) will really help because it is much cheaper, easy to store & distribute, and will be produced in far greater quantities than Pfizer’s or Moderna’s. I’d guess that we’ll be way over 1M/shots per day by mid-Spring.
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Most likely won’t happen, but they’ll go virtual because they still want your money.
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There’s zero chance of it happening in the fall, and yes all of the other fall majors will be cancelled AGAIN ?
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I think it will happen for sure.
As terrible as this pandemic has been, we're almost through the worst of it. January will continue to be really bad. But the vaccinated population will grow enormously in February and March. This on top of the huge number already infected(my estimate is at least 80 million people so far). The virus will lose momentum quickly and by April they'll be able to start planning for a fall Boston Marathon. I think September is a bit early, but it's still definitely possible. -
I hope all WMM are cancelled for 2 more years. This will eliminate the 35 plus year old pro marathoners from the game and allow a group of new fresh young faces. Our sport is stale and we need a fresh start. New heroes will become available without the same old stories.
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Boston guy wrote:
As someone who lives in Boston, I’d honestly be shocked to see unmasked mass events happen in the next five years. People here are nuts with Covid fear, and leadership is falling all of each other to be the biggest Covid virtue signaler.
Agreed. It isn’t happening. One thing I’ve learned over the last year is that I absolutely hate the state I grew up in. MA is full of the worst people in the world -
A month ago it looked promising that we would hit herd immunity around September - however with the new strain of COVID it will likely take longer since a more transmissible virus means a higher % needed to reach herd immunity.
Is it possible they run the race with the requirement that participants are all vaccinated? I think that will become the norm in 2021 for various activities - and it seems to make sense here. -
cancel me this cancel me that wrote:
There won’t be enough people vaccinated by then for mass spectator events to be safe. The Fall marathons *maybe* have a chance
Three weeks to flatten the curve. March 2020. -
Alexi Santana wrote:
A month ago it looked promising that we would hit herd immunity around September - however with the new strain of COVID it will likely take longer since a more transmissible virus means a higher % needed to reach herd immunity.
Is it possible they run the race with the requirement that participants are all vaccinated? I think that will become the norm in 2021 for various activities - and it seems to make sense here.
Until the next new strain. -
another Boston guy wrote:
Boston guy wrote:
As someone who lives in Boston, I’d honestly be shocked to see unmasked mass events happen in the next five years. People here are nuts with Covid fear, and leadership is falling all of each other to be the biggest Covid virtue signaler.
Agreed. It isn’t happening. One thing I’ve learned over the last year is that I absolutely hate the state I grew up in. MA is full of the worst people in the world
Not sure ya'll are asking the right question. Is it safe enough for an event of this magnitude to happen? Separate that from your partisan hot takes on the pandemic.
I don't see Boston happening in 2021. 2022 feels more right. Still might be masking up but the vaccine should be widespread enough by then.
Idk what some of you want. I wouldn't vote for an elected official who supports 30k people getting together and traveling from all over the world at this current point in time. This isn't about COVID fear and virtue signaling. Social distance measures and protocols have saved lives and have prevented people from catching the virus. We still don't know the long term effects of the virus on endurance athletes. We can put our selfish pursuits on hold while things stabilize. Find smaller races with local fields and good safety plans.
