Official 2017 US Half Marathon Champs Discussion Thread - Who You Got Korir, Chelanga, Tuliamuk, Sisson, Bruce, etc.

DNS due to sickness.

ww wrote:

omg they completely ruined the coverage of this event

go look at the last two years and how no-nonsense it was with the lead-pack, even the chase-packs being covered from the truck

then this year they "NBC'ed" the coverage, turning it into a mainstream sh*t-show

this is a "championship" race, we want elite/sub-elite coverage

maybe they will eventually upload the unedited lead-truck camera footage like previous years

They were desperate. What you call non-nonsense coverage isn't attracting enough viewers, so they try focusing on the hobby jogger aspect to "connect" with viewers. This is another sign the sport has been on the fringes. It's so bad they just completely fvck around with coverage to see what works better. It's hopeless, what we all really need is the cheap no-comment live stream of the front pack from the back of a bike. I don't care if it's on tv or not.

So happy for Natosha. I remember her run in the 2012 Olympic Trials and the long road between then and now.

FYI, the event did get cancelled just after the elite runners finished. Storms returned and they black flagged the race. No matter where you were along the course you were told to leave the road, get to the sidewalk/seek shelter. Then if you made it to the finish area, it had been torn down and you were told that your gear bag and medal could be picked up at a Fleet Feet 25 miles away. The drinks and food were already gone too. The wife was at 12.5 mile mark and told she was prohibited from finishing. Of course by this time the 10TV Commit to be Fit news crew were off the air and no info could be relayed to the viewers.

I hope the Moms Run This Town, (the group that got more TV time then the elite women) made it our safely

If this is true...what a freakin' joke. This "event" appears to be truly awful and I feel bad for the runners of Columbus that have to put up with this garbage.

I suppose no other city made a bid for the half champs, hence Columbus gets the nod. No one has a clue of the 'elite' runners and the media coverage is pathetic at best. Maybe USATF should rethink this and go to the marquee events and say we'd like for you to host XXX and we'll give you $$$$$$$ to make this happen. Would be much better for USA half champs at say Philly Half or any Rock N Roll Event. USATF can open their coffers and put the resources to good use instead of relying on some less than desirable venue to pony up funds for a half-assed event.

runnerboy1 wrote:

I suppose no other city made a bid for the half champs, hence Columbus gets the nod. No one has a clue of the 'elite' runners and the media coverage is pathetic at best. Maybe USATF should rethink this and go to the marquee events and say we'd like for you to host XXX and we'll give you $$$$$$$ to make this happen. Would be much better for USA half champs at say Philly Half or any Rock N Roll Event. USATF can open their coffers and put the resources to good use instead of relying on some less than desirable venue to pony up funds for a half-assed event.

Columbus was selected over Houston and Grandmas.

I do agree that USATF needs to start putting money into the road race events. It does seem like fewer and fewer races are interested in bidding due to the cost. Olympic trials are especially expensive-- and remember that the local race covers ALL costs including prize money, travel etc for A qualifiers and staff, and even drug testing.

if you look at the 2016 and 2015 videos, this event was quite good, exciting and well covered.

I guess this was an off year, well outside Olympic Trials qualifiers and didn't draw the "big name" elites like the previous two years so maybe they felt the need to put on a dog-and-pony show.

Here's hoping it didn't put a nail in the coffin though, I think the sub-elites really look forward to this course because it produces good times.

They obviously had a lead truck with a camera rolling, it was barely cut to this year though. Maybe some tech will be kind enough to upload that footage eventually.

Really wish the Olympics was not in sync with US presidential elections, the networks would be desperate for things to fill late spring/summer airtime and running would get far better coverage.

Most of the complaints here have to do with the coverage, which was rather poor. They never even tweeted about the women.

Remainder of the complaints here have to do with the confusion due to weather cancellation.

Overall, I think they did a fine job with the championship race (other than the coverage issue) and I think most who were there would agree.

They should have had better videographers and on scene sketch artists.

race was "black flagged" at approx 10:00 and somewhere between 4k-5k were unable to finish.

The two big complaints here seem to be over the coverage and the weather cancellation. Perhaps the USATF allowed the local news team to have the coverage since the event itself goes through a lot of expense to put on the championships. Can't blame the event for wanting to promote their race and city. I will admit they could use some consultation on how to cover an elite race though. As for the weather, you can't control that. Between insurance and legal regulations I'm sure they were greatly pressured to cancel. It's not their fault. But again, like before, I will acquiesce that they could use a little consultation on contingency planning.

But as for the championships, they put on a great event and took care of the elites in every way possible. Couldn't have done it better. It's just a shame that the weather was so bad (humidity was deadly) that the results didn't really show how deep of a competition it actually was.

ww wrote:

omg they completely ruined the coverage of this event

go look at the last two years and how no-nonsense it was with the lead-pack, even the chase-packs being covered from the truck

then this year they "NBC'ed" the coverage, turning it into a mainstream sh*t-show

this is a "championship" race, we want elite/sub-elite coverage

maybe they will eventually upload the unedited lead-truck camera footage like previous years

"We" meaning about 50 niche viewers nationwide.