Local marathon won last year in 2:34 but has 2:25 cutoff for elite corral

Chip times are NEVER used for overall wins. Technology is there for the hobby joggers not elite. IT IS A RACE. The first person across the line is the winner. This is not a difficult thing to grasp.

The sad truth is that the races are caring less for the actual athletes as time goes by.

Yesterday I was forced to start behind people who were on instagram 1 minute before the actual race! I'm talking about people who were 200 pounds!

If you don't want to give a flyig f**c about the actual people who are there to run a fast time, at least set up a different starting gate for the ones who will run with a stupid phone.

Took a full minute to go by the electronic start, and then lost another 1,5 minute by 5km navigating through these fat f**ks. And I'm not even counting the effort. The result? a 12 minute+ half marathon time for the sake of some stupid happy family morning run.

(there was some sickness along the way, but that's not anyone's fault really)

And I'm willing to bet that it's the same kind of people who nearly hit me driving their cars when I (and other hard working athletes) am putting those hard miles.

Pathetic, the CEO's of the companies that sponsor these events probably earn enough in a minute to hire a couple of security and set up a simple starting gate based on time.

OP, enter your respective starting gate. By the time they realize that there are only 1 or 2 guys at the elite, it's likely they will join both groups.

DietBacon wrote:

IMO the purpose of elite corrals is to allow the people contending for prize money (top 5 in this race) to race without having to weave through the masses. Elite is just a name, they could've called it something else for all I care. Preferential corral, rainbow corral, banana corral, it's all the same. The purpose is to allow people who are there to race, and not just finish, to actually race without interference from the others.

Also, I don't care if I get my entry comped or not.

In the countries I race in, the fast guys just line up in front after the slower runners have lined up. Couldn't you do that? After a couple of hundred meters, the fast runners are among themselves.

Smells of ignorance wrote:

Chip times are NEVER used for overall wins. Technology is there for the hobby joggers not elite. IT IS A RACE. The first person across the line is the winner. This is not a difficult thing to grasp.

I hope your screen name is speaking about your interpretation of my statement. I never stated she should be a winner. I was asking if this might be the “out” for the RD.

shohohe wrote:

DietBacon wrote:

IMO the purpose of elite corrals is to allow the people contending for prize money (top 5 in this race) to race without having to weave through the masses. Elite is just a name, they could've called it something else for all I care. Preferential corral, rainbow corral, banana corral, it's all the same. The purpose is to allow people who are there to race, and not just finish, to actually race without interference from the others.

Also, I don't care if I get my entry comped or not.

In the countries I race in, the fast guys just line up in front after the slower runners have lined up. Couldn't you do that? After a couple of hundred meters, the fast runners are among themselves.

Hopefully I'll have run a 1:11 by then and won't have to worry about this.

Otherwise I'm gonna call the RD to ask how it's gonna work, because there's no mention of any separation between the runners other than elite/rest on their website as far as I can tell, and some races only allow you to enter through the back of the corral, so either I'd have to line up super early to be in front or I'd start behind a few thousand people.

If the marathon was won in 2:34 I doubt you will have to weave through the masses.

Just be aggressive getting your position before the gun and line up directly behind the 2-4 other people. And if your run under 2:34 you should be able to knock out a quick 1/2 marathon. But also grow the fck up and run the race and then brag how you won a a marathon.

It sounds as though you've never run a race before? Come in the front of the corral and start there. No one will question it or care. Further, you'll be alone within 1/2 mile, probably sooner. You're anxiety about this leads me to believe that unless all conditions are to your expectation you'll melt anyway.

Just show up and run. Damn.

firrst time? wrote:

It sounds as though you've never run a race before? Come in the front of the corral and start there. No one will question it or care. Further, you'll be alone within 1/2 mile, probably sooner. You're anxiety about this leads me to believe that unless all conditions are to your expectation you'll melt anyway.

Just show up and run. Damn.

Not anxious. As I explained in the previous post I was really just trying to understand the logic behind this.

I've run plenty of races, and in the best organized ones you couldn't walk in from the front. There were people and fences in place to prevent that. Although this is a smaller race so I might be able to do it.

I mean previous page***

DietBacon wrote:

IMO the purpose of elite corrals is to allow the people contending for prize money (top 5 in this race) to race without having to weave through the masses. Elite is just a name, they could've called it something else for all I care. Preferential corral, rainbow corral, banana corral, it's all the same. The purpose is to allow people who are there to race, and not just finish, to actually race without interference from the others.

Also, I don't care if I get my entry comped or not.

People running 2:40 are going to be vying for prize money? Sounds like this is a pretty slow marathon, I doubt there will be much interference.

Kvothe wrote:

Small time races could care less. If you have a shot at running an oly standard they'll comp you for the good press. Otherwise, they don't care about growing the sport, its all about the "experience" for average joe.

Could "NOT" care less. Your post implies that small time races care more than a little bit and could do without so much caring.

I just thought of that on the sperm of a moment and that is not hyper-bowl.

The Overexplainer wrote:

DietBacon wrote:

IMO the purpose of elite corrals is to allow the people contending for prize money (top 5 in this race) to race without having to weave through the masses. Elite is just a name, they could've called it something else for all I care. Preferential corral, rainbow corral, banana corral, it's all the same. The purpose is to allow people who are there to race, and not just finish, to actually race without interference from the others.

Also, I don't care if I get my entry comped or not.

People running 2:40 are going to be vying for prize money? Sounds like this is a pretty slow marathon, I doubt there will be much interference.

Top 5 was 2:34-2:40