LA Marathon offering finisher's medal for completing 18 miles

I love how pathetic this is

This is great fodder for the April Fool's LRC.

I remember running the Philadelphia Distance Run many years ago and you received your race SHIRT at the finish. No finish, no shirt. They still do this at Peachtree.

Yes. When I started doing road races in the 1980s you got your shirt at the finish. Later they started handing them out at check-in. I can't remember when finisher's medals became a thing, and initially they were only for marathons, and later crept down to the shorter races.

Another reason why entry fees went up. Yet the marketing generates more entrants.

Likewise some races allow for people to not even be there to participate.

SMH

It’s fine. It’s all a participation souvenir devoid of any practical value anyway.

The starting temp is going to be close to 70f at 7am and for the average runner it will be between 80-85f when they finish around 12pm. Depending when the last wave goes out around 8am and finishes after 1pm it could be a bloodbath on Sunday.

Not saying this is the correct decision but I can see why this is a better alternative than peeling thousands of bodies off the course with understaffed volunteers and medical personnel lol

Can we publicly shame people for biting their finisher’s medal like it’s an Olympic Gold and carpet bombing it all over instagram? It’s like biting your mail when you get it out of the box…everybody gets mail.

Good God. Muh california, Soft on crime and now Soft on finishing the Marathon. Shame.

Yeah, I’m thinking spank them in the town square?

Wonder how many people are going to take the opportunity to post their big PRs for “running the marathon” on social media after 😂

Why not just have a 30k or half race option then? Allow people to switch distance up to race date if they are not ready.

Fantasyland is about 50 miles south.

Is that where our friend Rich in California lives?

When they start handing out the AG awards to people who ran 18 miles, we have a real problem.

The people who will take this option are not smart enough to realize they are not ready for a marathon until 15+ miles into the race

But what if the 18 mile runners identify as full marathoners? 😉

This basically is a 30k option you can decide to switch to mid race

How do they expect you to opt for this detour “at any time” if there is only one entrance at one particular point on the course?