Anyone else notice in the Broad Street Run results that the later corrals had their actual net time listed as their clock time and their chip time had way too much time deducted? I have friends who timed from when they crossed the start line and their watches match up with the clock time and their listed chip time is like 10minutes faster than what they ran from line to line. Sounds like the computer deducted the corral time twice or something like that.
Sounds like a "we're all winners" adjustment for the back of the pack!
I didn't notice that, but I did notice that the corral system was horribly instituted. The seeded runner section was forcibly separated from the yellow corral, and when it was apparent that the race was about to start and there was a ton of room for the yellow corral to step forward, a very rude official kept pointing at us and yelling "Hold the line! Elite runners only!" like General Patton. This would have been fine if the seeded section had contained only elite runners, but there were plenty of runners who snuck into it who clearly didn't belong there. I planned to run between 5:50 and 5:55 pace, not elite or even talented by any stretch of the imagination, but apparently for Broad Street I should have applied for a seeded entry. Also, it was a pain that the gear bus for low numbered runners- those with predicted fast finishing times- were some of the farthest from the start. Of course, we were also the ones actually stowing training shoes and warmups, so this made for quite the chaotic situation. In conjunction with the ridiculous porta pottie lines and one-exit-only-and-not-clearly-marked parking lot, I have to say that Broad Street was the most logistically impaired race I've run. One and done for me.
Seeding should only go to 5:00 runners. The course is net downhill and elites usually break 50 mins if the weather isn't crazy hot.
broadstreetbob wrote:
Seeding should only go to 5:00 runners. The course is net downhill and elites usually break 50 mins if the weather isn't crazy hot.
I agree! And along those lines, there should have been about 10 seeding runners and a more carefully enforced corral system. I'm not complaining about not being seeded- I don't think I should be- I'm complaining that the race officials had no sense of which runners should be in which positions at the starting area. Look, I know no race is perfect, but it's obvious that the guys with potbellies and basketball shorts aren't going to finish anywhere near the order where they started.
Actually, I timed myself from start to finish with a stop watch during the run this morning and got 1:34, a number in between my reported Chip Time (1:22) and Clock Time (1:36). How frustrating that both numbers were off!
ran it this morning wrote:
I didn't notice that, but I did notice that the corral system was horribly instituted. The seeded runner section was forcibly separated from the yellow corral, and when it was apparent that the race was about to start and there was a ton of room for the yellow corral to step forward, a very rude official kept pointing at us and yelling "Hold the line! Elite runners only!" like General Patton. This would have been fine if the seeded section had contained only elite runners, but there were plenty of runners who snuck into it who clearly didn't belong there. I planned to run between 5:50 and 5:55 pace, not elite or even talented by any stretch of the imagination, but apparently for Broad Street I should have applied for a seeded entry. Also, it was a pain that the gear bus for low numbered runners- those with predicted fast finishing times- were some of the farthest from the start. Of course, we were also the ones actually stowing training shoes and warmups, so this made for quite the chaotic situation. In conjunction with the ridiculous porta pottie lines and one-exit-only-and-not-clearly-marked parking lot, I have to say that Broad Street was the most logistically impaired race I've run. One and done for me.
I agree with everything said here. It was like the race officials were a bunch of fifth graders. I won't be doing it again.
Also, how can you possibly tell runners that we aren't allowed to warm up anywhere except for on that track? No running on the surrounding neighborhood streets? Are you kidding? For those that didn't run, that was actually printed in the race info booklet that was given out at the expo.
At least the timing seemed to work fine for the yellow corral.
Looks like the results have been fixed/updated correctly now!
Nevermind - they fixed it now!! My time was 1:34. Much better!
I thought they were supposed to rank overall placement using clock time - and division ranking using chip time? I see so many people ranked ahead of me with a slower chip time? If chip time is faster than others...shouldn't that count for something?
This is my first 'big' race - so I don't really know what I'm doing! I was supposed to start in the red corral - but decided to start off with a friend in the green corral. I ended up finishing with a 1:30chip and 1:32 clock. I would have thought my ranking should have been higher than others in my division with a slower chip time?
Agreed. One of the worst run races I have ever attended. Don't know what they were thinking with the starting corrals and bag drop off.
Not too many complaints here. SEPTA was pretty crowded, but that's to be expected with 26,000+ entrants. Porta potties? I have no idea how long the lines were, I pissed on a wall in front of cops and they didn't care. As for the corrals, yeah, I looked around and saw people that definitely did not belong (yellow corral). But, unless they change to a system where everybody has to submit proof of their times, that's the way it's always going to be. I had to do some weaving in the beginning and ran the first mile on the sidewalks, but I still ran my goal time so I'm happy. I'm definitely not elite, but next year I might apply for a seeded time just to see if I can get in. The fans made it a very exciting race and I will definitely be doing it next year.
I'm a pretty harsh critic, after many years of racing, but I didn't think it was too bad. I got there by cab, so I might have avoided some of the headache of arriving by SEPTA. Gear bus #1 was inexplicably at the far end of the side street, but by no means far away. Like any race they could use more portapotties, I waited 15 minutes, 30 minutes prior, not bad. I started in yellow, and there were some very slow people crowding the front, but that is most races; I appreciated the corrals. I would say they need a number checker to keep corral integrity...1000 people might be too big because you have 55 min runners with 1:20 runners. What can you do, some racers do one race a year and have absolutely no sense. I actually don't remember seeing any race officials anywhere at the start.
I was probably lucky at the finish. Got there just over an hour and jogged to SEPTIC station right away, but getting out of there later must have been a mess.
Coming from NYC, I bitch a bit about NYRR races, but they have 5, 10, and 30,000 runner races down to a science.
I will do this again, especially now that I have it figured out, but Philly cracks me up, it is a completely filthy and lawless city with the most visible homeless population on the east coast. Cezanne exibit was excellent but the Boathouse Row bar was closed during Kentucky Derby for a baby shower.
Does anyone know what the cutoff time was for any of the corrals, and why was I assigned to the gray (last) corral with an estimated finish time of 1:20? Did this happen to anyone else?
Basically to sum everything up, the sity of Filadelfia should not be in charge on any meets. They do terrible jobs with everything, like Philly Marathon is always late. I remember freezing on the starting line for the 8K because of the times they alotted for it. They should have actual runners take control of this.
Like any race, if it's not directed by actual runners it will probably be somewhat lacking in organization.
One thing to keep in mind is that this is the first year they used corrals so obviously they can learn from this experience. Before, they just used to ask you to line up by your projected time with signs signifying mile pace. While the corral system wasn't perfect this year, it was much, much better than previously.
I would have preferred to be able line up by mile pace than to be stuck in a corral not knowing what pace everyone is going to run.
Did anyone out there take pics?
In theory the mile pace would work but people never follow those, especially novices/slower people who either have no idea how fast they are or just disregard the paces groupings and try and get as close to the front as possible. Personally, I thought the yellow corral was great. If I had wanted to, I could have easily went right to the front and been right behind the elites. I knew that would be too fast for me but it was not nearly as crowded after we started than it was in past years.