Race directors- what are you doing to try and come back post Covid?

The more you look at what aspects of road races would be affected, the less it seems they'll be back any time soon.

https://www.runnersworld.com/races-places/a32249569/running-races-after-coronavirus/

Banff Marathon cancelled their race and won't refund anyone's money. That's going to alienate a lot of runners and I think you will see a lot fewer people wanting to pay for a race because of that no refund part.

I think race directors are going to be chickens next year and have everyone wear surgical masks in marathon even though the science shows the coronavirus has very little effects on most people.

https://calgary.ctvnews.ca/mobile/runners-demand-refunds-after-banff-marathon-cancels-event-withholds-entry-fees-1.4924048

Yes, let’s hold lots of races while doing nothing about the pandemic itself, or more plainly while blaming the pandemic on the media, which ensures a negative result. The hypocrisy here knows no bounds and I am a RD and feel qualified to state the facts.

jesseriley wrote:

Yes, let’s hold lots of races while doing nothing about the pandemic itself, or more plainly while blaming the pandemic on the media, which ensures a negative result. The hypocrisy here knows no bounds and I am a RD and feel qualified to state the facts.

I can just imagine you on a megaphone standing on top of a box at city hall yelling at everyone and how they will die because you think you "feel qualified" with your "facts" that are in no way supported by any real statistics.

The biggest local fall race (~2000 runners in all events) put out a survey asking people if they would be willing to participate in a virtual race. Sentiment was running about 50-50 last I checked.

LA and Atlanta ran large events while this virus was spreading and it didn't seem to be an issue.

Possibly start a large race in the same manner as Bolder Boulder. They have approximately 50,000 total runners broken up into about 100 waves of 500 each. First wave starts at 6:55 AM. Thereafter, a wave starts every 1:00-1:30. Final wave goes off around 9:15 AM. Waves are seeded according to submitted times. For the "non-competitive" participants, there are additional waves after the qualifiers.

https://bb10k.bolderboulder.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/BB_QualChart_2019.pdf

There won't be racing in 2020. No way you can start a race and have hundreds, if not thousands of people all corralled together.

Stop being so selfish.

Time Trial and post it on ista.

Race Director Central wrote:

There won't be racing in 2020. No way you can start a race and have hundreds, if not thousands of people all corralled together.

Stop being so selfish.

Time Trial and post it on ista.

Why can't we race?

The coronavirus mainly target the old and fragile people.

Maybe put an age limit for runners allowed to race, like under 50.

-Limit the field to 45 years old and less.

-Close down the international field.

-Run at your own risk with your own fluids/support.

-Space the start better with more corrals going off in more staggered waves.

Gamim wrote:

Race Director Central wrote:

There won't be racing in 2020. No way you can start a race and have hundreds, if not thousands of people all corralled together.

Stop being so selfish.

Time Trial and post it on ista.

Why can't we race?

The coronavirus mainly target the old and fragile people.

Maybe put an age limit for runners allowed to race, like under 50.

right...and how do you think the old and fragile get it?

from thick-headed selfish people racing in mass groups and spreading the infection then going to the store and spreading that sht everywhere the old and fragile get their food.

wejo wrote:

1) it can be shown that there is very little chance of catching COVID while running a race outdoors. If that is the case, 2) then it seems like if we took extra precautions before and after the race running races could be held.

Amy I wrong on #1 and #2 being the conditions for races being held? Do race directors or anyone else know of studies being looked at in terms of #1?

If an epidemiologist were looking to maximize the spread of an infectious disease, they'd sponsor an event where thousands of people from all parts of the globe traveled to a central location, spent time together in close proximity, and then returned to their homeland potentially infected. Which more or less describes the typical big city marathon.

Wouldn't it be fun to be the contact tracer looking into the case where the subject participated in the New York City Marathon with tens of thousands of other participants from 125 countries?

What could possibly go wrong?

wejo wrote:

I'm hopeful that 1) it can be shown that there is very little chance of catching COVID while running a race outdoors.

It's been shown a million times over - but not on TV. Both the politicians and media are bending and twisting the science in absurd ways to try to save face from their overreaction.

Within another month or two they will declare their "cautious" phased reopening scheme a success and tell you what heroes they were.

Produce a race while you’re at it, and be sure to shake everyone’s hand.

Having races and group runs as scheduled. Why would we change anything?

buck up, buck-o wrote:

Gamim wrote:

Why can't we race?

The coronavirus mainly target the old and fragile people.

Maybe put an age limit for runners allowed to race, like under 50.

right...and how do you think the old and fragile get it?

from thick-headed selfish people racing in mass groups and spreading the infection then going to the store and spreading that sht everywhere the old and fragile get their food.

The old and fragile are going to be at risk no matter what. A road race isn't going to put them at more risk.. Just look at all the parties going on in Chicago right now during the lock down... once lock down is over with people will be going nuts. Maybe you haven't spent much time in an urban area, but bars, restaurants, theaters, house parties, etc.. are always bringing large groups together. If your solution is to shut them all down for the foreseeable future the economic destruction would be an unimaginable wasteland of homelessness and more death.

Gamim wrote:

Race Director Central wrote:

There won't be racing in 2020. No way you can start a race and have hundreds, if not thousands of people all corralled together.

Stop being so selfish.

Time Trial and post it on ista.

Why can't we race?

The coronavirus mainly target the old and fragile people.

Maybe put an age limit for runners allowed to race, like under 50.

Just stop at the first question and you’d be ok: why can’t we race?

You can. All you need is one or more person(s) willing to race you. Organizing it into a $35 per person 5k with $25+ sponsorships and cheesy t-shirts isn’t necessary to have a race. Remember racing to the mailbox as a kid? Nobody handed you a medal, but you still did it several times a week.

Maybe we can finally win our sport back from what it has become. While we’re at it, can we all agree to standardize on some readily available time and distance measurement so we can count the races for PRs etc?

Look at some triathlon s as best example for a 2000 person race for triathlon or running:

1) a person starts every 2-3 seconds, single file all results based on chip timing.

2) no drafting, strict time penalties for elites that do this (I like this idea for road races in general)

3) carry your own water 2-3 replacement stages per race for new bottles or packs.

4) I'd love to see more races like recent PV competition. 10-15 elite runners go down to their local track and all start at the same time but at different locations. Results based on time. Steam live on YouTube or Zoom. Allow gambling, pick who you think will run fastest.

Trail races should be able to survivor, triathlons and road races under 2-3k people.

No shuttle buses.

stop while ahead wrote:

Gamim wrote:

Why can't we race?

The coronavirus mainly target the old and fragile people.

Maybe put an age limit for runners allowed to race, like under 50.

Just stop at the first question and you’d be ok: why can’t we race?

You can. All you need is one or more person(s) willing to race you. Organizing it into a $35 per person 5k with $25+ sponsorships and cheesy t-shirts isn’t necessary to have a race. Remember racing to the mailbox as a kid? Nobody handed you a medal, but you still did it several times a week.

Maybe we can finally win our sport back from what it has become. While we’re at it, can we all agree to standardize on some readily available time and distance measurement so we can count the races for PRs etc?

An opportunity to reclaim the purity of running. I like it. Running alone for the remainder of 2020 may be therapeutic.

There are thousands of Podunk 5Ks. They are staple community events that WILL return. Some may even start back up as 10 to 20 people conducted without the benefit of road closures.