Maybe this is the same reason the Worlds were not given to Eugene - track was double booked.
Maybe this is the same reason the Worlds were not given to Eugene - track was double booked.
looks like the venue has been changed to circuit of the americas. Good race track...not so sure about running track, although I always thought the nurburgring would make for a great cross country race.
The track is well over 3 miles long. Therefore this will make a terrible race for spectators. Its all down to PPP (piss poor planning).
Between the apparent shiesty dealings with the other group and the event being moved to circuit of the americas, they have lost some viewers in myself and my running club that I was going to promote it to.
Really, sometimes Flotrack seems to be a bunch of children trying to run a business.
george oscar bluth wrote:
Between the apparent shiesty dealings with the other group and the event being moved to circuit of the americas, they have lost some viewers in myself and my running club that I was going to promote it to.
Really, sometimes Flotrack seems to be a bunch of children trying to run a business.
It's not sometimes, it's all the time. I can only sit back and laught. They've been promoting this event like it's their new initiative and they'll no longer be covering track and field. Seriously, to an estonianing level. And isn't Flotracks main audience high school kids? I would be concerned as a parent to have a Flo-pro account and would have canceled weeks ago with this insane obsession with the beer mile.
george oscar bluth wrote:.
Really, sometimes Flotrack seems to be a bunch of children trying to run a business.
let me fix that for you:
Really, sometimes Flotrack seems to be a bunch of unethical children trying to run a business.
There.
They rush to take an event from someone else, then mock the guy for not showing up when they know damn well why he isn't running.
grammar police wrote:They rush to take an event from someone else, then mock the guy for not showing up when they know damn well why he isn't running.
Sounds a little like the thing with Chestnut and Kobayashi with the hot dogs from 2010 to 2011. I bet Kobayashi could put down fast beer mile. He obviously loves working out and has the stomach capacity, plus (ignoring the huge biceps he sometimes sports) he has a runner's build.
george oscar bluth wrote:
Between the apparent shiesty dealings with the other group and the event being moved to circuit of the americas, they have lost some viewers in myself and my running club that I was going to promote it to.
Really, sometimes Flotrack seems to be a bunch of children trying to run a business.
I live in San Antonio and was going to make the trip (about an hour) with a group of friends who are not familiar with track and field. The chance to see Olympians doing something fun like this doesn't come along very often. With them changing venue THE MORNING OF the event, I have decided to not go and won't watch online. How could they possibly not know until the morning of the event that they were not going to be allowed to run it there? Like, did they just randomly pick a track and decide to run it there without asking anyone? I loved Flotrack in college and still like their live coverage, but man...they are really getting terrible. I had Flopro for a month, and watched every Driven series within a week and I got to see one live event. How could you possibly justify a year subscription to this place? I'm going to copy and paste this into their comment section on Flotrack.
Leave it Mark Floreani to screw up a wet dream. This had a chance at being interesting.
this is especially idiotic as the NYTimes featured the event on their Sports page this morning.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/03/sports/cue-the-chariots-of-fire-theme-with-burps.html
They advertise and relentlessly promote an event they didn't have a permit for? A race track? Are they going to fully survey/design a compliant 400m "track"? I'm sorry but this is a joke.
The funny thing is that their whole event is now pointless. They're just going to try and create a 400m loop at the race track, but the race wont be official. Wow such dumb
There really is no excuse to not have a reservation and the proper permits. Did they seriously think they could just show up to a track with a ton of people and beer and just run the event?
My guess is that a bunch of people where over at the track yesterday getting ready for the event, and whoever is in charge of the facility caught wind of what was going down. Hence the last minute change.
Another mind boggling part: it was almost completely set up. I don't mean a few coolers, sidewalk chalk, and a banner; I'm talking barriers, numerous tents, portojohns, banners all around, etc. It looked like a mini version of Mt. Sac Relays. What a waste of time and effort to set that all up and take it down at the last minute. Not to mention (and for those not from Austin) the previous track is on the eastside 5min from downtown. COTA is out past the airport, maybe ~25min from downtown. But during rush hour? Fuhgeddaboutit.
Flo Bro wrote:
Leave it Mark Floreani to screw up a wet dream. This had a chance at being interesting.
Mark & Flotrack are journalists, serious award-winning journalists; but they are not race directors. There are a lot of minutiae details that go into race directing that the average runner is unaware of. It is not fun, and a s-load of thankless work that goes into being a race director (especially at the volunteer, running club level). Hell, even Elite Racing has screwed up a number of times.
And getting a permit can be denied for the most illogical of reasons.
Case in point - local running club was denied a beer permit for their early morning 4th of July race because of high fire danger in the area at that time. Why denied a beer permit when they weren't lighting a fire, you ask? Well, Phoenix Parks & Rec figured if you had a keg, you would also have smokers.
Ahh, the logic of City Hall.
elmore345 wrote:
Talk about poor planning - why was this track chosen in the first place?! Event like this cannot be taken seriously if it is organised by monkeys.
Great idea. A monkey mile with fermented banana juice.
messi wrote:
Flo Bro wrote:Leave it Mark Floreani to screw up a wet dream. This had a chance at being interesting.
Mark & Flotrack are journalists, serious award-winning journalists; but they are not race directors.
Then they should have outsourced the race directing duties to someone capable. I have been a race director and I understand the difficulties. This unprofessional preparation is unacceptable, and the blame lies solely on Flotrack. "Rushing the event to market" backfired, and I don't feel bad for any criticisms or bad press they receive.
the sad part is that this event got HUGE publicity today - NYT, CNBC, the Atlantic - this is more coverage than the actual WC meet gets. I really hope it goes well tonight.
remember symmond's column last year when he said the most well known thing he did last year was run the beer mile? and that meant he and other elites shoudl do more of that kind of thing? He got that right
Just checked the rules...this race is basically an exhibition, now.
From beermile.com
Rule 1: Each competitor drinks four cans of beer and runs four laps on a track. (Start - beer/lap, beer/lap, beer/lap, beer/lap - finish).
Will be interesting to hear how they secured COTA almost overnight. This isn't some local dirt track with Wednesday night demo derby's, its built and run to be one of the premier tracks in the world, I'm surprised they could basically call them up and ask to use the location on 24 hours notice. Maybe Mark has a friend there?