An open letter to race directors from the back of the pack!

if you are large and going to walk a marathon and expect the course and amenities to be available 8-10 hours then pay extra. 2-4 hours pay $75, 4-6 hours $100 , 6-8 $150 and over 8 hours $200. Do not tie up the roads and city for half a day so you can waddle ,walk and talk

this and this wrote:

Also, anyone who is not satisfied with the way current races are conducted is welcome to become a race director.

Well said here. Don't like it? Start your own series of races.

Response to Open Letter:

I understand where this runner is coming from, in theory, you pay your entry fee and you should be entitled to all of the services the faster runners receive. However, as a practical matter, marathons are expensive, everything costs money and most of it is paid by the hour. For example, photographers are paid $50 per hour, paying half a dozen photographers an extra hour is $300. The same goes for just about everyone working the event. At least the paid workers will stay as long as they are being paid, but the volunteers will not. Half of your volunteers will be gone after 5 hours, at 6 you will down to just a few and at 7 hours you are probably down to 0. Some resources are only contracted for 6 or 7 hours and sometimes they have to leave simply because they have something else to do. Also as a very practical matter, at certain point batteries and generators start to die and when it is wet, cold or hot, you reach a point where physically you can't take it anymore. The first marathon I ran had a 5-hour cutoff, then for many years it was 6, now I see some that are 7. 7 hours equals 16 minutes per mile...no disrespect, but that's walking. I don't think you can say you ran a marathon if you walked the entire way.

With all of that said, as a rule, I have always kelp my events live until the last person came in. Recently, I had to backtrack on that when I saw someone go into a hotel to use the restroom and another person walking with a Starbucks coffee. The people working the event are there 2 hours before you get there and at least an hour after you leave. I have worked marathons where my hands were so frozen numb that I could no drive or so exhausted from being out in the heat that I nearly passed out. Everyone needs to be fair to everyone!

I think the real question here is, how do you train like Me and still way over 300 lbs... ?

I actually understand and agree with all of her points. Given how expensive mass participation race entry fees are, especially for 1/2 and full marathons, there's no excuse for any of the problems that were mentioned in the article!

I don't really get the issue tbh. If a runner is within the advertised cut off time for a race at any given point they should get the full support and reward advertised with their entry fee.

If they're outside those times they should be withdrawn from the course as a non finisher and that's that.

It's up to a race to publish cut off times and if they don't then they should be aware of the consequence of slower people taking longer.

nonelitestart wrote:

I would hope no race would have more than 100 people like this, and over two hours they would disperse a lot. I don't see them blocking the way unless the road is VERY narrow and a couple of 300+ pounds form a roadblock.

Berlin is wide. Handcycles started early. Did you see the guy that tried to keep pace with Kipchoge near the end?

Agreed 100%!!!

OT: BTW, I love South African racing... Never raced there yet. Just from casual research, due to my interest in running the Comrades, I realized they are not joking with slow pokes and hobby joggers. They have 'aggressive' cut off times, for the really slow folks, for almost all of their events. Plus, they stop you if you are too slow and can't finish in time. And in Comrades, they freaking close the finish and won't let you cross, no matter how close you get but still are past the 12-hour limit (approx. 90K)!!! The Two Ocean 56K has 7-hour limit, doable for many, maybe 80-85%, but not all... I never seen that in the US, maybe in some ultras but never in marathons. Here we give folks between 6.5 and 8.5 hours to finish marathons... Ffs, I can walk faster with a 50 lbs backpack than 8.5 marathon pace, the whole distance, and I'm almost 50 yo... What's wrong with people???

I applaud that!!! There's gotta be some kind of repercussions... Failure should be embraced as a learning experience to come back stronger... But in current social environment, I don't expect that to happen. The ways it's going, 20-25 years from now, I'm expecting all the World Major marathons have maybe 500-1,000 runners, the rest of their fields will be walkers... Charity fests walking events... LOL

Definitely do not run the races anymore. Train on your own until you receive the treatment you deserve. The vast majority of the inflated fees we now have to pay to run races are due to the back of the packers, because they require much higher police costs to keep streets open and the race protected, and they demand much more volunteer/paid employee time to keep the races going twice as long. Moreover, they are behind the demand for more expensive shirts and gear and a lot of the entertainment options added to attract them. I'm perfectly happy to go back to the days of fewer races with much more competitive fields, no frills, and minimal entry fees. Running clubs that hold races around the country still do this.

If it is a half marathon then surely 2 hrs is a sufficient cut off for even the most unconditioned of individuals. Many road races will have permits to shut off roads for a certain timeframe.

YES! The easy solution to this is the enforce cutoff times! If you aren't to X Aid Station by Y time, your day is done. No continuing, no nothing. Folks who are behind cutoff times should not be permitted to continue! Also, you constantly have a "sweeper" cyclist. It's not difficult. Ultras enforce strict cutoffs all the time. That way folks know when they need to take down their aid station, and also runners on the course will know that aid stations ahead of them are going to be stocked appropriately. It's really not that difficult.

OP,

I understand your outrage. I have volunteered for almost 20 years at races in the NY/CT/NJ area. Quite often the timers are on location from about 6 AM for a 9 AM start, until the last runner. They seem very concerned to get all the runners. I did see some of the stuff you are talking (yelling) about. I think you may have stirred the pot. something good may come from this. Maybe. Who knows?

Not to sound like grandpa - but, when I raced a lot in the 70's and 80's, it said right on the entry form: any participant running slower than ___ minutes per mile, will be required to move on to the sidewalks after ___ mile mark.

No one complained.

Today’s fat whiner may be tomorrow’s RD (I hope). There is still room to accommodate all, but certainly not in all the showpiece events. Believe in yourself AND others, many will surprise everyone with their improvement. Elton John (irrelevant?) was a fat piano player, who sang well on demos for songs nobody wanted, songs that became world-famous.

Lots of good points made here.

One thing that hasn't been addressed, the author is not part of the back of the pack. The pack is well ahead. She's a straggler finishing out of sight of the pack.

80's guy wrote:

Not to sound like grandpa - but, when I raced a lot in the 70's and 80's, it said right on the entry form: any participant running slower than ___ minutes per mile, will be required to move on to the sidewalks after ___ mile mark.

No one complained.

Right. Races still say that. What she's complaining about is having the race course taken down even though she's "running" faster than advertised pace.

Look, I think it's a little silly to expect a marathon course to be open for 7 hours, but if you say it will be, then it had better be.

Exactly.

It's this damn entitlement. "I deserve..blah blah..."

The are friggin' RACES, not walkathons.

If it takes you 70 minutes to walk a 5k, 3.5 hours to walk a half or 7+ hours for a full THEN DON'T DO IT.

All you are really proving is that you are stupid enough to walk REALLY slowly for a ridiculous amount of time.

FatRunner1 wrote:

Maybe don't be the guy who volunteers for the mile 20 aid station? If you have someplace else you need to be, maybe go volunteer for a different shift or a different spot on the course.[/quote]

Then WHO should be that guy?

moanswers wrote:

FatRunner1 wrote:

Maybe don't be the guy who volunteers for the mile 20 aid station? If you have someplace else you need to be, maybe go volunteer for a different shift or a different spot on the course.

Then WHO should be that guy?[/quote]

Who should be that guy? Someone who can stay until the aid station closes. I've volunteered for many races. When you volunteer, you have a time chuck that you volunteer for. If you can't stay for that time period, then volunteer for a different time period. Aid stations should close on a rolling basis based off the time cutoff. When your station closes, you are done, and get out of there, and runners should be pulled off the course if they don't hit the time cutoffs. It's really not a difficult problem to solve. Have HARD CUTOFFS. Enforce the cutoffs.