What are the odds Boston and/or London marathons get cancelled?

Dems dont care that millions of unvaccinated illegals enter the country from the Southern border, but want to cancel everything because of coronavirus.

Hah.

If they shut anything down, they would cut off foreign entries first.

reality checkzone wrote:

Did they cancel in 1918?

Actually they did. They ran it as a relay in support of the military services, branches of the armed services ran in in uniform, 10 per team, each runner only 2.5 miles apiece. Bizarre but true.

BTW the 1918 Spanish flu killed 675,000 Americans, and WWI "only" 53,000. Cities that were poorly managed and did not cancel large public events (Philadelphia) had twice the mortality rates as those that did (St. Louis). Philadelphia went ahead with a large war bond parade of 200,000 participants, and 72 hours later every bed of Phil's 31 hospitals were filled.

In sum: BAA will have to cancel the marathon, at least in its current form. My guess it will be like Tokyo: elites only, no spectators, limited volunteers.

This will be a call made by the Boston mayor, guided by municipal health authorities and almost definitely aligned with science and advice provided by the CDC.

Impossible to separate the stupidity (such as the coronavirus will go away in April) from the facts as widespread testing is not yet implemented in the US. Medical authorities are scrambling for science-based direction right now and know more about what is happening abroad than what is happening - and could happen - here in North America. Almost certainly COVID-19 cases are in the US more significantly than currently known and will spread as the weeks go by. Given the number of events already being cancelled and that the threat is only growing, I would suggest that the odds are high that the Boston marathon be cancelled or postponed. As some scenarios have the growth of COVID19 ebbing over the summer and returning with a vengeance this fall, I don't think a postponement to the fall would be useful. I would expect an elites-only event next month.

Here's some good advice on what runners can do as an alternative in the event the marathon gets cancelled:

https://www.halhigdon.com/training-programs/marathon-training/alternate-marathon-program/

My fallback is the Ottawa Race Weekend marathon on May 23rd:

https://www.runottawa.ca/

If that gets cancelled as well, I will look for a fall marathon and run Boston next year.

Do you know what "?" Indicates?

I think London is going to be cancelled.

Too bad, I was really looking forward to watch Kipchoge vs Bekele.

douglas burke wrote:

Icouldbeyourmom wrote:

I suspect there’s decent chance it’s cancelled. The coronavirus in the USA right now is about the numbers Italy was showing 2 weeks ago. Meaning, in 2 weeks we’ll have thousands infected and hundreds dead. I hope that’s not the case but that is what happened in Italy and Iran. By April it will be everywhere.

Your not factoring in the Fact The USA is much more advanced than Italy, The USA Doctors have far better schooling than their counterparts in Italy, China, Japan etc. We are in a better position than all these other countries, that is why people risk their lives to try to come to The USA, we are just better, our Education is better, our crime is lower, we have more unity and social cohesion, we are the highest trust society in history.

You are not factoring in the Fact The USA has far more unhealthy people than Italy.

Canada Girl wrote:

Blaze17 wrote: Others running Boston, are you still training full throttle? It's not easy to do 20+ milers when you think it's unlikely to matter.

Also, if they do cancel, will they postpone it? Will they give automatic re-entry in 2021?

Devastating developments all around.

I’m still training like normal and have a plan B marathon in mind for April 19th, just in case. If Boston is cancelled, I would think we’d get a deferral to 2021, which would make it impossible for anyone new to get in that year!

I am quite surprised that the LA marathon is going ahead tomorrow. Gotta love the west coast!?

People on social media were extremely pissed off that the LA Marathon was going. It was similar vitriol to what people say about Trump. People were incensed that they would dare to put people together. They posted the LA Marathon office number and tried to get others to call and demand it be cancelled.

Of course, 20,000 people watched the Lakers and Clippers play at Staples this afternoon, and in about three weeks, Dodger Stadium will be sold out for opening day.

grumpyoldman wrote:

People on social media were extremely pissed off that the LA Marathon was going. It was similar vitriol to what people say about Trump. People were incensed that they would dare to put people together. They posted the LA Marathon office number and tried to get others to call and demand it be cancelled.

Of course, 20,000 people watched the Lakers and Clippers play at Staples this afternoon, and in about three weeks, Dodger Stadium will be sold out for opening day.

I noticed that too. I think BAA is going to get a lot of pressure from people as being tone deaf. (and yes, the hypocrisy of still having Dodger, Lakers, Clippers games is strange).

41 cases in Mass now. Ugh.

reality checkzone wrote:

Dems dont care that millions of unvaccinated illegals enter the country from the Southern border, but want to cancel everything because of coronavirus.

Hah.

Mexico has 6, the US has 600+ cases now.

And there is no vaccination available right now.

The US doesn't even enough test kits.

The South Boston St. Patrick's Day parade was officially cancelled today. I would say that is a better indication than most on where the mindset might be on the marathon.

not a good sign wrote:

The South Boston St. Patrick's Day parade was officially cancelled today. I would say that is a better indication than most on where the mindset might be on the marathon.

Seattle St Patricks Dash cancelled. Portland TBD.

mordechai wrote:

douglas burke wrote:

Your not factoring in the Fact The USA is much more advanced than Italy, The USA Doctors have far better schooling than their counterparts in Italy, China, Japan etc. We are in a better position than all these other countries, that is why people risk their lives to try to come to The USA, we are just better, our Education is better, our crime is lower, we have more unity and social cohesion, we are the highest trust society in history.

You are not factoring in the Fact The USA has far more unhealthy people than Italy.

Good point.

Italy has a significant ageing population.

I also attended a party in Italy last year. I kissed 30-40 people on the cheeks. That’s your main reason for such rapid growth and spread.

Heck, Dublin cancelled their St. Patrick's Day parade.

Dublin, Ireland. That Dublin.

But it was the Boston parade I was watching as a harbinger for the call the city will make about the marathon. While there's still a chance that they will go ahead with this year's Boston marathon, the chances are looking slimmer with each passing day.

And here I am with a non-refundable hotel room...

Today was the first day that I had to seriously look at backup races. Thankfully only one of my flights are non-refundable. Was going to make a beer trip out of it but with how much I've been training I think I'm better off trying to get an elite entry somewhere.

Harvard announced its students will be going digital once they get back from spring break.