Some other general incompetencies beyond the finish line snafus (which are by far the worst IMO, my heart breaks for the guys who were redirected and dq’ed)
-Race stating their intent to have new pacers hop in at the halfway mark, and then pulling back on that idea only after numerous elite athletes pointed out that its illegal to swap in new pacers mid-race
-Director showing up 30 minutes late to the technical meeting the day before and basically saying ‘I don’t know anything about elite logistics and have no materials to cover, so ask me questions you have I guess?’
-Director ensuring all elites that an email would be sent out Saturday evening with the table number/position number of their bottles at elite aid stations, and then no such email ever coming
Very clear all organizers in over their heads with this. Hope any competitive runners who wish to race Jersey City in the future read this whole thread so they know to steer clear.
Race directors and communication have been absolute garbage. I think they’re WAY in over their heads trying to put together a fast race. I predict it’s going to be a complete sh!tshow. They haven’t even announced the on-course drink and gel sponsor. I personally know lots of OTQ hopefuls and sub-elites that got turned away from this race.
i hope it’s not the case, but I think this race will be terrible.
Some other general incompetencies beyond the finish line snafus (which are by far the worst IMO, my heart breaks for the guys who were redirected and dq’ed)
-Race stating their intent to have new pacers hop in at the halfway mark, and then pulling back on that idea only after numerous elite athletes pointed out that its illegal to swap in new pacers mid-race
-Director showing up 30 minutes late to the technical meeting the day before and basically saying ‘I don’t know anything about elite logistics and have no materials to cover, so ask me questions you have I guess?’
-Director ensuring all elites that an email would be sent out Saturday evening with the table number/position number of their bottles at elite aid stations, and then no such email ever coming
Very clear all organizers in over their heads with this. Hope any competitive runners who wish to race Jersey City in the future read this whole thread so they know to steer clear.
Some material they could have covered was which finish line to go to...
51 1E BENARD KIPKEMOI BOSUBEN 2:11:19 Nairobi KE M 35 52 1E Norstrom Alex 2:15:00 Glastonbury CT US M 26 53 1E Iacovelli Jarred 2:17:00 Salt Lake City UT US M 30 54 1E Pinales Mark 2:17:00 Austin TX US M 29 82 1SE Mena Alberto 2:17:30 New York NY US M 24 83 1SE Williams Henry 2:17:59 Ithaca NY US M 24 84 1SE Gade Noah 2:18:00 Charlottesville VA US M 27 55 1E Ross Campbell 2:17:59 Niwot CO US M 30 56 1E Walker Matthew 2:17:59 West Hartford CT US M 29 57 1E Jara Ryan 2:18:00 Gorham ME US M 35 58 1E Atkinson Brian 2:18:00 Asheville NC US M 31 59 1E French Nick 2:18:00 Atlanta GA US M 28 60 1E O'Connor Grant 2:18:00 West Hartford CT US M 25 100 1SD Golebiowski Nick 2:18:39 Morrisville NC US M 27 61 1E Koreff Ethan 2:19:59 New York NY US M 30 62 1E Van Geffen Caleb 2:22:59 Nashville TN US M 24 63 1E DeWolfe Cal 2:23:00 Conquerall Mills NS CA M 28 64 1E Hatheway Gavin 2:23:30 Halifax NS CA M 27 65 1E Worl Riley 2:25:00 Rochester IN US M 28 66 1E Lanza Ben 2:25:00 West Hartford CT US M 25 67 1E Daza Fabián 2:29:45 Fairview NJ US M 41 68 1E Udvadia Ryan Clifton Park NY US M 27 69 1E Prizzi John 2:30:00 West Hartford CT US N 29
How many of those are seed times and how many of those are goal times? #55 has never broken 2:25 in the marathon, for one.
This is a wish list, not a seed list.What marathon produces this kind of list? If this was New York or Boston there would be 2500 names on here at sub 2:18, including 150-200 women.
Race directors and communication have been absolute garbage. I think they’re WAY in over their heads trying to put together a fast race. I predict it’s going to be a complete sh!tshow. They haven’t even announced the on-course drink and gel sponsor. I personally know lots of OTQ hopefuls and sub-elites that got turned away from this race.
i hope it’s not the case, but I think this race will be terrible.
This guy tried to tell you
I really just feel bad for the runners who ran the race and dealt with these difficulties.
How many of those are seed times and how many of those are goal times? #55 has never broken 2:25 in the marathon, for one.
This is a wish list, not a seed list.What marathon produces this kind of list? If this was New York or Boston there would be 2500 names on here at sub 2:18, including 150-200 women.
It’s clearly self entered seed times and not necessarily race times. In fairness we don’t know how they framed this, if they sent this out noting that it’s self-entered goals then they aren’t being misleading.
That said, showing the disorganization even more - I have a friend on this list who emailed the race months ago letting them know he wouldn’t be able to run, yet is still on this list.
This race opened registration back in late summer/early fall. All runners were prompted during sign up to list their intended finish time, elites and general field alike to help for seeding/corrals.
Yes, most times were inflated. This includes my time which i thought a "flat and fast course" with pacers and a deep elite field might produce back in the fall (before being injured throughout the winter...)
As for the finish issues, i was one of the elites impacted by this:
Simply put, the last mile+ to the finish was a complete free for all. From what i saw, no one directing and no signs for the marathon finish. One side of the main road had three separate lanes of runner traffic (marathon, half-marathon, and marathon finishers).
I ended up following the sign for marathon runners (this being the 12-13ish point of the marathon race) to where the hard right hand turn to the finish was. Ended up seeing finish arches (the banners on them were facing the wrong direction labeling which finish was which) and turned in that direction going through what ended up being the half finish chute.
My watch read 2:21:54. I went to the marathon side of the finish shortly after realizing and spoke with the race directors who assured they also ran the timing company and that my result would be fixed. I'm hoping this is still the case, because they currently list me as 5th place in 2:23:32...
Am i an idiot for not knowing the course? Sure, but something needed to be better about this whole situation and it's kind of hard to figure this out on a whim when you're at the end of a marathon lol
The race info doesn't say anything about cut-off times to claim prize money, nor that you needed to be in the "elite" field to qualify for prize money.
So I guess that means the 2nd place non-binary runner is gonna take home $2500 for a 3:26.
1st place: $5,000 for a 2:29 3rd place: $1,000 for a 3:39 4th place: $500 for 3:57 5th place: $250 for 4:02
Race directors and communication have been absolute garbage. I think they’re WAY in over their heads trying to put together a fast race. I predict it’s going to be a complete sh!tshow. They haven’t even announced the on-course drink and gel sponsor. I personally know lots of OTQ hopefuls and sub-elites that got turned away from this race.
i hope it’s not the case, but I think this race will be terrible.
This guy tried to tell you
My favorite is the guy who wrote the long fanfiction post of him talking with Gucci and giving him a smackdown about him smelling smoke and saying there's probably a fire. Lol. The race director/elite athlete coordinate for this marathon burned bridges with local coaches long before race start. None of this is surprising, though it is sad for the athletes involved.
It really sucks what happened to the people who were led off course. Inexcusable.
Did anyone run this in like the 2:45 - 3:00 range? How was the experience, other than the rain?
Good experience to be honest. They had their act together as far as directing me at least at the finish. There were mile markers at every mile which is appreciated. Signage before the finish (e.g. at halfway when HM'er went their separate way) was straightforward, and they had a marshal for the finish doing it correctly by the time I came through unlike for the first 10 or so finishers it sounds like. It seems like they'll need to overhaul that finish scene for next year, even having a sign that would say mile 26 marathoners (TURN RIGHT) would help. If there hadn't been a person telling me to make a sharp right to the finish, I probably would've gone wide and kept running past the finish like the poster above.
I almost missed the finish and I was nowhere near the front. I finished in 3:17 and there was no official telling anyone where to go. There was a wide gap between me and the person in front of me so I had a brief moment of panic deciding whether to go straight, left or right. Thankfully, a spectator shouted at me to turn (which I did). That part annoyed me.
I wouldn't really call it well organized though. The "corrals" were poorly executed, there was very little communication leading up to the event, and I know of more than one person with time discrepancies.
I almost missed the finish and I was nowhere near the front. I finished in 3:17 and there was no official telling anyone where to go. There was a wide gap between me and the person in front of me so I had a brief moment of panic deciding whether to go straight, left or right. Thankfully, a spectator shouted at me to turn (which I did). That part annoyed me.
I wouldn't really call it well organized though. The "corrals" were poorly executed, there was very little communication leading up to the event, and I know of more than one person with time discrepancies.
Seems like a range of different experiences. I had someone tell me to turn, other people didn’t. I guess I didn’t see the corral thing at all. 5 mins before the race I walked into my corral without issue and not having to wait in there getting soaked…ideal. Maybe the corrals behind were a different story, Communication? That I can’t see either. They sent out emails more than once a week and had an info packet with everything. I’m not a shill for the race but the website was extensive and outside of the sub-3 pacer not getting locked down, as a mid-packer it was almost as good as experience as I’ve had. Bay State in Boston area was superior but that’s a race that’s been run for years.