fair and reasonable course closure time??

A fair and reasonable course closure time is the time you advertise. If the race advertised they would keep the course open for 6 hours, but tore things down at 5 1/2 hours, they were not reasonable. Simply as that.

If they race DIDN'T advertise a cut-off, then shame on them because everyone knows there is one because it's on your permits, etc, so inform the participants (in advance) and let them decide if they want to register or not.

the web site says you need to be able to complete the course in under 6 hours. they should have waited until the cut-off to take things down in front of the last runners if that's the time they advertised. its especially harsh to break down the finish line for those folks before the time-cut off has arrived.

I would tend to agree- if they put a 6 hour window out, they could have at least left the finish line up for that 6 hours.

Yes, 6 hours is rediculous. I think 6 hours is definitely too long, especially in a major city marathon. There shouldn't be a 6 hour window to finish, but if one is advertised, then its pretty crappy to not actually honor it.

I can think of a couple of legitimate reasons for keeping the course open for 6 hours, and they have nothing to do with penguins and charity joggers. Some people injure themselves in the last weeks, but still want to put in an appearance. They may be traveling a great distance, with friends or a club, and have already committed to a considerable expense. That's reason one. The other legitimate excuse is you are accompanying a parent or child, someone who would never be able to keep up with your sub-3hr pace.

These situations are exceptional and couldn't account for more than two percent of participants. But it was for situations like this that marathons originally created the 6- (or 7-) hour finishing window. When I see marathons where half the finishers are jogging or walking, I sense that these people are abusing the system, like those grifters who wangle handicapped license plates so they don't have to walk an extra twenty steps from their car.

While I agree that truth in advertising is important 6 hours is 6 hours. My question is more along the lines of.... How many hours of course support should a race be expected to provide? Should that support be prorated using x hours as a base calculation.

Would you agree that support stations be dismantled at a point where getting the x hour window is unrealistic. If I arrive at the half marathon point at 4 hours during a race advertised as 6 hour cut off should I really expect it to be standing?

*Assuming point to point.

Supporting special needs athletes is another issue, I'm talking about regular entrants that have not declared a special needs exemption.

The prorated idea is good: say, three hours for the halfway point. Of course it needs to announced beforehand.

As a practical matter, most marathons don't do this because they rely on sweep vans to pick everything up after the closing hour. Volunteers at the 10k water table may not have much to do after the first hour, but they're still stuck there till the race closes.