My friend and running partner Rick never said a word. He told us he was training for shorter races this year. The other members of our running group talk about marathons and half marathons. Not Rick. He talks about racing 5k's and 10 milers. So we were shocked to learn he managed to get through the flawed online registration process for the Chicago marathon last week, and signed up. He said he wasn't sure he wanted to do it until he went on the site, and found it difficult to get through. That's when he took on the challenge and decided if he succeeded in getting in, he wanted to run the race. Crazy.
Rick was one of the lucky ones. As you probably know marathon officials closed down registration shortly after opening it in response to numerous problems with the website. But in that brief window, about 30,000 runners managed to register. That leaves about 15,000 spots left when they reopen registration sometime in the next week or so.
It was bound to happen. New York has had a lottery system for entries to the marathon for years. And it's very tough to get in. Boston had to change registration policies and lower the qualifying times a year ago after the race filled up in less than a day. Chicago, however has clung to the open registration policy. And that has worked fine. Until last week's debacle.
Last year, at a registration kick-off event for the marathon, I asked race director Carey Pinkowski about the open registration process, and he said he believed it fit with the character of the race here. He indicated he expected to stick with it, and saw no need for a lottery. But then after the open registration began, the race sold out in a week, which was record time by nearly a month.
This year, at the registration kick-off event, I asked Pinkowski the same question. He answered it a bit differently this time, suggesting that a lottery or some other registration system might be necessary at some point, but he was still good with the open registration for now.
It was not unexpected. They had a pool in the office of one local running store on how quickly registration would close, with most predictions in the 48 hour range. But the onslaught of registrations when it opened at noon last tuesday still apparently caught the officials at Active.com by surprise. The site was clearly unable to handle the tremendous volume of registration they faced when it opened.
Chicago is the other U.S. marathon (with Boston and New York) that is included in the 6 World Marathon Majors. And there is a lot of demand from runners to get into the race. That's helped many of the charities that offer guaranteed entries in exchange for fundraising.
Most of us locals are partial to our own little 26.2 mile footrace. And, having run Boston and New York myself, I think we are justified in thinking we have something pretty special every Ocotober here. I remember running it in the mid-90's when the field was about a quarter of the 45,000 it is now. And you could register almost up until the last minute. The steady growth since that time is amazing.
The rest of the world has apparently caught on to our little secret. Chicago is a great place to run, and we put on a great marathon. The result, I guess, means the open registration process will soon be a thing of the past. On the one hand it makes it more difficult for many Chicago runners to get into our hometown race. But on the other, it makes it all the more desirable. Just ask Rick!
See you on the roads....