Train stopped me and other BQ seekers for 6+ min at Via Marathon today

Barb McKeever IQ less than 90 points, what you expect, bro?

I am absolutely pissed off! I trained my ass off all summer to qualify for my hometown marathon and I was on Boston Qualifying pace until the train stopped me for over 5 minutes. I probably should've given up at that point but I knew this was my last chance to qualify for Boston next year and I pushed my body to the limit only to finish in 3:06.

Since they aren't making adjustments for the times do you think if I wrote an e-mail to the BAA they might give me an exemption? I easily would've qualified had it not been for this incident, I think I might have even broken 3 as stopping hurt me more than if I was able to continue running. You really tighten up.

Barb McKeever's IQ too low to fully understand bro

Rerun the entire race

I would hope they wouldn't give you an exemption. You didn't run 26.2 miles in a qualifying time. I'm sorry you went to a race that dropped the ball, but that's no reason for a free pass.

Boston will only take your official time from a qualifying race. So if LVM won't act (and they won't) you are just SOL.

Boycott LVM is really the only thing you can do.

I Rupp'ed up in the butt wrote:

Barb McKeever's IQ too low to fully understand bro

Even after a year it still baffles me that the Rossi wackos are still insulting Barb when she was just following orders and the DQ would only have been symbolic anyway.

It wasn't her decision and the DQ would have done nothing except give the wackos something else to taunt Rossi with, yet they continue their infantile insults.

It the words of Ralph Mouth:

"Sit on it, Barb"

Stephen Young wrote:

I think I might have even broken 3 as stopping hurt me more than if I was able to continue running. You really tighten up.

Pretty sure it would've hurt more not to stop when a train is coming through.

This should be a lesson to all marathoners.. check the train timetables and course maps before calculating your pace targets. If you adjusted you're pace so as not to coincide with a train passing then you might've got your BQ.

Guys, hold back on the trolling, folks are really upset. ;)

As for the participants, tough break folks, hat up and hammer another marathon. Good luck!

I've been involved in two marathons where the race director screwed up royally like Barb did.

One marathon it was in the 70s at sunrise and 90 by the late stages of the race. Totally screwed up what I had planned as a PR attempt.

Another marathon it rained the whole time which I'm sure cost me precious minutes.

Stupid race directors.

which makes yours lower wrote:

I Rupp'ed up in the butt wrote:

Barb McKeever's IQ too low to fully understand bro

Even after a year it still baffles me that the Rossi wackos are still insulting Barb when she was just following orders and the DQ would only have been symbolic anyway.

It wasn't her decision and the DQ would have done nothing except give the wackos something else to taunt Rossi with, yet they continue their infantile insults.

she is the director, she takes the blame. that's all.

Leeza Gibbons wrote:

Email from the RD this morning:

After a thorough review of the available evidence in relation to a train's participation in the 2016 Lehigh Valley Health Network Via Marathon, the Marathon committee concluded that while there is data from participants indicating that a train may have impeded them, there is not conclusive evidence that their times in the 2016 LVHN Via Marathon are inaccurate. The LVHN Via Marathon has reviewed more than 2000 race photos from our licensed photo checkpoints and midrace data from 6 on course timing mats all of which show no data from a train's timing chip. Therefore the LVHN Via Marathon Committee concluded that a train did not cross the marathon course unless additional conclusive information arises in the future.

I was stopped by the train and lost 6:23 per my Garmin. Emailed the race contact and got that same exact response! They didn't even care about the Strava evidence i put together. Horrible. I might just puke.

Trained stopped the Des Moines marathon a few years ago. It stopped the race leaders.

Post race investigation revealed that the race director had in fact contacted the train company, and the train company told them they wouldn't run any trains across the course during the race.

Then they ran a train across the course during the race.

Really felt bad for the race director there because it made them look like a moron before the whole story got out.

Probably won't feel bad for any LVM people, Karma caught up to them.

Photo booth operator wrote:

Jack Handy wrote:

The train covered more of that marathon's route than Mike Rossi. Maybe the train ought to run Boston now too.

From what I've been told the train hired a compuserve attorney and released this statement: "the trains chip was recorded crossing the start mat, was registered at the finish and achieved a finish time". All other questions please direct to our new organizer Zeppo Yasso.

This. Over and over, this. We had Rossi Mats on the course and the train's time was captured. There will be no further comment on this unless a train talks to me in my sleep.

Blame falls on Rossi. Started slow and needed to push the train on ahead of schedule right through his competitors.

Luckily he did get his BQ. So #worthit

Same thing happened to me a few years back at a small-ish marathon. The conductor stopped his train on the tracks, blocking the path (I'm guessing he saw people and tried to stop but was too late). Then people (including me) started to climb through the cars to get on our way. The conductor tried to start moving again and the sheriff had to stand on the tracks to stop the guy from moving/potentially hurting someone crossing through the train.

That RD had talked with everyone he could have, but the conductor decided that he could make it through the course in time. It was quite a spectacle seeing the guy yelling at the sheriff and trying to make it through.

After that year the marathon has used a train whistle to start the race. They start in waves and it scares me every time I hear it in the distance.

People are really paying $170 to run this marathon? That is unbelievable.

Kmiller wrote:

Most of the front of the field of the Via Marathon, including me, was stopped for 6 min today behind a moving train today. I ended up missing a BQ by only a few minutes, is there any precedent for correcting a time from something like that, or am I SOL? I have GPS evidence of being stopped for 6 min.

Explains why BQs went from 22% last year to 14% this year.