2007 Vegas Marathon Review: How Was It and Did the Half Marathon Runners Go Off Course?

This is from the Las Vegas Review Journal quoting the women's winner. They had nothing on the men's winner since the elites all quit after they were off course.

- Sarah Raitter, who won the women's half-marathon, said she almost continued on the full marathon course because a turn wasn't clearly identifiable at the seven-mile mark.

"I happened to be lucky because a gentleman in front of me asked a volunteer which way to go and I just followed him," she said. Raitter's husband, Bill, missed the turn and ended up running on the full marathon course. -

I started with the Elite women at 5:45am, a bit early, but it is more thrilling to run down the strip in the dark with all the lights and noise (and in a pack of russians and kenyans behind the press truck, including former world record holder Tegla!!!)! I only ran 2:54 for 6th place, but it was actually a fast course with no wind and low temps. I thought it was a pretty fun race though, which is why i wanted to run it. I am curious why the half marathoners would be confused on the turn where they would split off the marathon course because first of all, there were probably 15,000 half marathoners and only a few thousand marathoners. The elite women were the first to come down the course and at that time there was 1 cop stationed at the turn off. We had started to break up at that point so i saw the russian woman who was 100m ahead of me go straight and I was confused because the course was coned showing a left hand turn and there and straight ahead the road was blocked off using those metal rack like baricades. So I yelled to the cop, "Which way?" and he said straight, so I went through a 5 foot opening in the baricade and there were no signs, no markings and I thought that was a bit strange and would be confusing for the marathoners, not the half marathoners.
Anyways, that was the only turn confusion. In all I thought the marathon was well done. There were a lot of turns but every one had a cop posted and cones. Aid stations were every mile. Since we were running through well ahead of the marathon masses It think that the on course entertainment hadnt really started yet. And there were a lot more people out on the course than i had thought there would be considering we were just running through industrial/suburbia areas really early in the morning. One other thing they will need to address is that with 2 miles to go the marathoners merge with the half marathoners who at that point are in the 2:30 to 3:00 range so that was really annoying to weave in and out of thousands of people walking and jogging really slowly. Probably more annoying for those acually trying to run a fast time, as I decided to just jog it in as a cool down anyhow. I think a Las Vegas marathon has more potential than what it is now. There were some articles in the las vegas sun newspaper about how it could be a better event, and they had some good points. Mainly they need to keep it on the strip and not run it out in the middle of nowhere. They could even take us around the UNLV campus and the Thomas and Mack center for lenth, but some more big name entertainment before and during, keep it on the strip, more running Elvi, running show girls, etc! The silly antics give it the right atmosphere. Supposedly I won $1000 for my little training run, but I won't hold my breath on that. I did not see any time stipulations for the prize money (which was really good money and paid 10 deep). I will probably run it again in the next few years.

and i should add... I have not run any big city marathons, I have only run:

University of Okobooji marathon (Iowa)
St. George marathon
2000 womens trials marathon (Columbia, SC)
Long Beach marathon
CIM, twice
the 'old' las vegas marathon
Carlsbad marathon
2004 marathon trials (St. Louis)

and IM hawaii a couple of times

I do need to run NY or Boston!

I ran the full marathon and was shooting to run sub 2:31 and finished in 2:34:07 after losing some time in the last 3 miles. The course and the weather were great. There is the potential to run very fast and it was a shame there was not a faster elite field since I think someone could have run sub 2:06 at least.

Through 9 miles I was not sure if I was still on the full or half marathon course. It turns out, I was lucky and was on the full course but most of the people with me were doing the half and had to stop and turn around and find their way back. This actually happened to me at the Dallas White Rock marathon a few years ago so I was worred I had gone the wrong way again.I saw no signs for the split and was even really looking for it after my blunder in the past.

However, the worst part of the race was the last 3 miles when we merge with the half marathoner. This is common for many marathons but at about 23.5 miles the road narrowed to one lane and I and the other marathoners around me were in a pool of walkers. Not making excuses, but we had to weave back and forth in between walkers who had no idea we were there for the last 2.5 miles. This is were I mentally lost it and lost my rythm and slowed from 5:50s to 6:16s. I think they could have just kept open the other side of the road so we could have avoid the half marathoners. Overall, this could be a fast course but the logistics where not the best.

The half marathon/marathon split was badly signed, I won't argue that (it wasn't a problem for me because (a) I knew where it was supposed to be and was looking out for it and (b) I'm not that fast, so they had their act together by the time I got there and was surrounded by other runners). In all other respects, I think, they did a much better job. A couple of mile markers were off, but not by much. There was plenty of water/electrolyte. There was food at the end. The last couple of miles need some work to keep the half marathoners and marathoners separate, but I think the race showed huge improvement over last year. Now, if they can just pay their runners...

How much time did the elite half marathoners loose (approx) by going off course and did they turn back and carry on to the finish? What was the winning half marathon time for men?

The ones interviewed on tv did not backtrack .. but just quit since they were a few miles into the marathon course when they found out. The winning time was 1:18.

The winner was at 1:18:31. The elite runners just quit after finding out they were on the wrong course.

THERE WERE NO ELITE RUNNERS IN THE HALF MARATHON. I get so tired of reading about some local hero that thinks of himself as "ELITE". How many guys in the field have run under 63 minutes in the last 2 years? NONE

I know of someone who ran sub-2:20, and had splits at 10K and 30K, but his chip didn't register the half-way or the finish.

How fast were the fastest half marathoners that were sent the wrong way then?

65/66/67?

In 2005, Christian Hesch beat Daniel Cheruiyot by a few seconds in around 66. Last year, I think the times were around 70. My guess is the leaders were around 68 to 70 pace when they dropped out.

That is a long way from elite. I have run 67:17 and I would never think of asking for an entry waiver let alone think of myself as elite.

Very true .... not elite in the Letsrun world.

Hi Kathy, I've raced you before. Were you going to try for the Olympic Trials qualifier? You should (or 2012?).

I heard that Matt Tegankemp (sp?) was in the half after having not gone to bed all night. He was running up until they found out that they had gone the wrong way and were on the marathon route. He then dropped out, probably to go to bed.

I know several faster guys dropped out for the same reason. The winner would have been around 65 as all the top end guys quit due to going the wrong way.

I was expecting a disaster with cold temps, winds, blowing sand etc... But it was a great race, cool and hardly any wind.
There was confusion at the ½ way point, but I was looking for the turn and there was no problem... A race official/police office was directing the runners when i arrived, not sure what was going on before me.
Elvis, fireworks and running down the strip was great. Looking to qualify for Boston, but faded in the last 5k.

I will run it again next year just for fun. Just make the ½ way point more obvisious.

It seems many half-marathoners missed a turn in LV. What I'm curious about is 2 things: did the full & half start together & if so, where, exactly, was the split supposed to take place? And, if anybody knows, what, exactly, went wrong? Thanks in advance.

---

The deal wrote:

That is a long way from elite. I have run 67:17 and I would never think of asking for an entry waiver let alone think of myself as elite.

---