It may have started with the Chicago marathon in 2007, when organizers had to cancel the race after about three and a half hours because of the extreme heat. The complaints came pouring in. They ran out of water. They failed to have enough medical personnel available. They should have let all the runners finish. Many of the complaints were valid. Some were not. And some were out of anyone's control.
My friend, Carey Pinkowski, is one of the best race directors in the country, and he and his staff have made Chicago one of the best races in the world. But he was not immune to extreme criticism in the aftermath of that race.
I ran the marathon that year, and dropped out on my own before they stopped the race. It was obvious to me the heat was not going to allow me to hit my goal time, so I decided to try to find another race in the next week or two instead. I figured if it was anyone's fault, it was mother nature's. That's the risk you take in marathon running.
But this is not about Carey or Chicago. In fact, the races I'm writing about were all in other parts of the country last weekend, though they attracted plenty of Chicago area runners. Three big races I'm aware of were run in Washington D.C., Las Vegas, and Dallas. Each of them was run under challenging conditions, and to varying degrees, runners complained loudly in each of them.
First, RAM Racing has expanded the popular Hot Chocolate series beyond Chicago this year. They are putting on the popular race in a number of cities all over the country. They had nearly 40,000 runners in Chicago last month, and, amazingly got about 20,000 for the first year of the race in Washington D.C. last Saturday.
Unfortunately, many of them were less than satisfied customers. The internet has been burning up with complaints from runners who say they couldn't even make it to the starting line because traffic and parking were so bad. And, some say, the course was so narrow, there was no room to run. There were a whole slew of organizational complaints. Rather than list them here, you can read more at the following link: http://dcist.com/2011/12/hot_chocolate_15k_5k_race_called_ep.php.
RAM took the relatively unprecedented step of apologizing in a letter to runners via Facebook:
On behalf of RAM Racing, I want to offer a heartfelt apology to everyone associated with the Hot Chocolate Race that took place on Saturday, Dec. 3.
We are especially sorry to all the runners for any frustration, unease and inconvenience our race may have caused, and empathize with each of you. Your comments and concerns have been noted. They will be used to help ensure this does not happen again at any of our race sites—and that next year’s race is even better.
We have successfully produced more than 100 races within 10 years and pride ourselves on creating a fun and rewarding atmosphere for race participants. Fun and rewarding is exactly why we created the Hot Chocolate 5K and 15K. Unfortunately, what took place did not reflect our proven experience as race operators.
It is our sincere hope that you will afford us the opportunity to come back next year and demonstrate our ability to put on a safe, enjoyable and well-organized event.
We'll see how it goes next year. If they are invited back next year.
Even the industry giant, Competitor group (which owns the Rock-n-Roll race series), is not immune to complaints. The Rock-n-Roll Las Vegas race last weekend was subject to another slew of complaints about organization, water that made people sick, and a crowded course. There's more. One comment I read summed up the feelings of many of those who were unhappy: "This event was so poorly organized that it was borderline dangerous, and overall extremely stressful and frustrating."
I ran this race, and had a great experience. Apparently, either I failed to notice the problems, or didn't think they were a big deal. My friends and I also had the advantage of finishing earlier than some of the folks who found it more crowded further back in the pack. We finished when it wasn't as crowded at the finish area, and food, blankets, and medals were still in good supply.
Finally, about 22,000 runners also ran the Dallas White Rock marathon last weekend in cold, rainy, and windy conditions. It was a less than ideal day to run. A lot of runners were miserable, but their family and friends who came out to support them probably had it worse. Many of the comments I read suggested people understood the weather is not something anyone can control, but they still had plenty of other negative comments about the race organization.
I ran this marathon a few years ago, and had a great experience. I didn't hit my goal time, and battled unseasonably cold temperatures the whole way. I chalked it up to marathon running, with noone to blame for my missed time than myself.
The complaints are probably, in part, a by-product of the dramatic growth of the running industry. There are more races these days than ever before. Many are now big 'events', with big entry fees attached. When you pay a hundred bucks or so to enter a race, you tend to have high expectations. It's no longer enough to simply measure the course, get some volunteers to hand out water, and make sure you have enough cops to close the streets.
The races are more fun now than ever before, but they're also bigger, and more challenging to organize. Sometimes things go wrong, and sometimes things happen that you can't plan for. That may argue in favor of managing the growth of your races My friend from Fleet Feet Sports, Dave Zimmer, has done a good job of that with the Soldier Field Ten Miler, and other races. But it's not an easy thing to do. I'm glad it's someone elses job.
See you on the roads.......
Let's not forget the 27.2 mile "Marathon" along the Lakefront a couple years ago.
Posted by: BGeiger | December 12, 2011 at 10:04 PM