Cherry Bossom 15k

There might have been a "disturbance" on the course, thus the adjustment. Definitely closer to 15km, but could have been slightly less. Women's winner at 48:34, http://results.xacte.com/?kw=cucb

Shortened of necessity this running, but not mismeasured. As noted, somewhere around 15km, but exact distance not determined as yet (as far as I know).

In any case, a good run for Jacob Riley.

There was an auto accident on the course with injuries from what I've understood.

Understood. Too bad, obviously a good run for Riley, I am sure he would like to have a real time to go with it, second is a sound result.

They said at the start it was about 9.5 miles but didn't seem to know for sure.

Because of the lateness of the change due to the emergency or accident, they could not remeasure before the race started. They promised to remeasure and let people know at some point today or tomorrow. Most around me on their GPS watches had 9.5 give or take a few

https://www.facebook.com/CreditUnionCherryBlossom/posts/953626744669976

We want to confirm that due to an emergency situation prior to the start of the race the course has been diverted from the planned route from miles 4-6. Miles 0-4 and 6-10 will be run on the planned course. The estimated total mileage is 9.5-9.75, but due to the emergency nature of the change this distance will not be confirmed until after the race.

I had 9.48 on my Garmin.

It was a bad accident on the course that involved serious injuries - so they couldn't use that part of the course. And they couldn't delay the start for the course to clear, because they had to have the roads cleared by a certain time.

I will give the Cherry Blossom race team tons of credit - they handled it as well as they could have. They very clearly announced the course change several times over the loudspeaker, including describing how we would be rerouted, which mile markers would be off, and what distance the rerouted race would roughly be (they said between 9.5 and 9.75).

They do have snowplows in DC, right? Clear the injured/dead people and cars off the road with one and have the event as normal. Glad I didn't waste my money on that event.

Typical for DC. You never know what you'll get. Just like the Army 11.2 miler back in 2005 with an unannounced course change mid-way due to a "suspicious package" under a bridge. That was loads of fun. I knew something was wrong with that race when suddenly we were heading headfirst into the main field and I had to run in the grass beside the road.

Yeah I was one of the sub elites in the race today. We were all bummed, but the elites were pros and ran hard.the pack i was in competed hard to. Race crew handeled it really well. 9.47-.5 was the estimate which corresponds to the splits I took during the miles with markers I used. Sucks my PR (converted) will have a * but there is always next year.

philstewartnotmyhomeboy wrote:

They do have snowplows in DC, right? Clear the injured/dead people and cars off the road with one and have the event as normal. Glad I didn't waste my money on that event.

I won't be sure as crude in my assessment but if this was 4 miles in, the stream of runners would be strung out. How much disruption could there be? And I heard it was Independence Ave. That's a very wide road,, surely they could have set up some chute to direct runners through?

I'm down with police generally but they need to look past the end of their noses sometimes. I'm sorry, a car crash or whatever does not take precedence over an event involving tens of thousands of people. Figure something out.

DC area run guy wrote:

I won't be sure as crude in my assessment but if this was 4 miles in, the stream of runners would be strung out. How much disruption could there be? And I heard it was Independence Ave. That's a very wide road,, surely they could have set up some chute to direct runners through?

I'm down with police generally but they need to look past the end of their noses sometimes. I'm sorry, a car crash or whatever does not take precedence over an event involving tens of thousands of people. Figure something out.

There are 17k-18k finishers. I don't think it really "thins" out.

My GPS had 9.50 with wide turns due to the crowds. Anybody else have an issue with their time? My clock and net time were identical. I started in the back of the yellow wave so there must have been an issue with my bib. Could starting / stopping GPS cause any interference?

DC area run guy wrote:

philstewartnotmyhomeboy wrote:

They do have snowplows in DC, right? Clear the injured/dead people and cars off the road with one and have the event as normal. Glad I didn't waste my money on that event.

I won't be sure as crude in my assessment but if this was 4 miles in, the stream of runners would be strung out. How much disruption could there be? And I heard it was Independence Ave. That's a very wide road,, surely they could have set up some chute to direct runners through?

I'm down with police generally but they need to look past the end of their noses sometimes. I'm sorry, a car crash or whatever does not take precedence over an event involving tens of thousands of people. Figure something out.

They said it was closed for a criminal investigation/crime scene after the crash. Maybe the car was involved in a chase or had drugs. Maybe someone was badly hurt and couldn't be moved. One year at star city half the same sort of thing happened, but they solved it by delaying the race about an hour. I think I'd rather get off at the planned time and the course be a bit off than have my muscles get tight from it being so long after my warmup.

It was a very serious accident, and although the injured pedestrian is now stable, survival was not at all a foregone conclusion from what I've heard. There was indeed an investigation. I don't know that there was any serious suspicion of criminal wrongdoing, but when someone seems likely to die, it's worth taking a careful look at what happened.

From what I've heard, they're not just going to measure the course. They're actually going to have this one-off, weird course get USATF certified, so everyone knows for certain how fast they ran.

I've gotta say, this was my first Cherry Blossom, and I was pretty much blown away by how well this race is run. I highly recommend it.

Yeah, I also ran in the yellow wave today and was disappointed that the course was cut short. I was running PR pace for 9.47 miles (according to my Garmin) and would have loved to seal the deal and get a real time. But I understand their situation and agree that they handled it as well as they could have. And at worst, I can use this as an informal 15K PR until I actually race one of those sometime in the future.

Running 43:28 for 9.45 miles, his projected 10 mile time of 45:34 would have been well under Greg Meyer’s 46:13 mark from 1983.

Although the race officials do not consider Riley’s time a record, they paid a $10,000 “remarkable performance bonus,” on top of his $750 sub-46:00 bonus as runner-up.

Its a shame Riley couldn't get the record. Good on Cherry Blossom for paying him.

The Iaaf scoring tables have a 45:34 for 10 mile = to a 1:00.30 for half marathon which would have Riley tied with Rupp for #5 on the USA half marathon, and 2:09.26 for the marathon which would put him #10 on the marathon list 1 second faster than Bill Rodgers.

Very impressive.

So it was the same distance as the old Papa Johns course?