Plan "B"

Many of you have heard that the Myrtle Beach Marathon was cancelled the night before race day due to the fact that an upcoming snow storm was heading to the Myrtle Beach area. Approximately 5,000 runners were in town for the marathon and half marathon. City officials made the call the night before to cancel. The next morning the snow storm was actually a slush storm and the runners were to say the least a bit disturbed. As a race director you always try to have a contingency plan or Plan B. Our Caesar Rodney committee has been discussing the issue of what would happen IF a snow storm hit the day before the half marathon. Could we move it a week later? Delay the start till noon? Cancel the event? Just things we have to deal with. And things we actually are working on. I remember when i organized the very first Delaware Marathon back in 1978 called the Delaware Minuteman Marathon. This 26.2 mile event was held in Delaware City and was staged on the first Sunday in March. I remember that a couple days prior to race day we did get a huge snow storm. Lucky for us the Delaware National Guard was our sponsor. They were able to plow the entire 13.1 mile route so we could hold this event. It is always difficult to make these decisions to cancel but the number one goal is the safety of the runners. I will be watching the weather channel in the weeks to come.

Triple Crown

When i use to run it was always fun to have a goal in mind to keep me motivated. May it be a marathon finish or a 5k to try and set a PR it was always a priority of mine. Have a goal. The Triple Crown of Half Marathons is something I put together to give folks a goal. Finish the March 21st Citizen's Bank Caesar Rodney, the April 11th LDAF Race for Autism, and the May 16th Delaware Half Marathon and you will receive a tech shirt for achieving your goal. So far we have 12 folks who have signed up to run all three events. If you would like to give the Triple Crown a shot please email me so I can track your progress. Hopefully the snow will melt soon and you will be able to get in some miles outside. Remember....all you have to do is set your goal to finish all three half marathons. Good luck.

Boston Bus

I was chatting with Doug White today.....he is concerned that the DE Sports Club sponsored bus to the Boston Marathon may not fill up this year. Why? Seems that many who qualified did not sign up in time to get into this years race. Yep....the Boston Marathon sold out so early it caught many by surprise. Those planning to take the bus to Boston will not be going. What a shame. Folks work so hard to qualify and then get shut out. Maybe the Boston Marathon takes too many charity runners. If I am not mistaken anyone can run the Boston Marathon IF they are willing to raise x amount of money for the Jimmy Fund. Here is the note from Doug:

The early closure of registration for the 2010 Boston Marathon caught many people by surprise. Because so many of you didn't get into Boston, seats are available on the bus. For those of you who did, if you have friends or family who would like to go on the trip, let me know as there is room for them.
Thanks,
Doug White (302-234-0918 h)

Sprint tri at St. Andrews

This Father's Day I will stage the 23rd Sprint Tri at St. Andrews School. For those of you who join us every year you will notice a change in set up this year. My staff of 22 years gave me notice after last years event that they were burned out. I got to tell you.....these guys were so much fun to work with and the stories we can tell would make you shake your head. We raised money that stayed in the Middletown area and we will continue to do this again next year. St. Andrews School has been wonderful to us. The venue is absolutely beautiful. The distance of 1/4 mile swim, 16 mile bike, and 3 mile XC run is doable by everyone. A great event for the first time tri-athlete. I decided that I wanted to continue to hold this race and I got permission from St. Andrews School to do so. I contacted Neil Semmel from Pirana Sports. I have known Neil for years and he has done my tri in the past. I asked if he would be interested in setting up our course and transition area and if he would chip time our event. We agreed on the terms and the Sprint Tri continues. As of today (2-11) we have 120 registered. We will accept 250 which gives this event a nice small town feel. It is so neat to see so many familiar faces year after year. I look forward to working with Neil and his staff and hope you will join us on June 20th.

Caesar Rodney update

I received the latest update of participants for our 47th Citizen's Bank Caesar Rodney Half Marathon / 5k. Where are all the paper entry forms? Take a look at paper vs online:
5k online 61 paper 6
Half online 863 paper 193
both 5k and half online 4 paper 2
total online 928
total paper 201
total entries as of Feb. 5th 1129
You do have a choice here. Paper saves you a few bucks but looking at these stats it seems that folks would rather pay the extra fee for the convenience of online registration. But you do have a choice . I can't wait to see how many day of race registrations we have when entry fees are at its highest. We are on record pace to have our largest turnout ever for Caesar Rodney. Let's hope the snow has melted by March 21st!

at what age?

I get so many emails about our Delaware Marathon. Course questions, time limits, water and gator aid stops, parking. On and on it goes. I always answer back in a timely fashion. But one email I really had to think about and in fact could not make a decision right away on was from a parent asking if their 14 year old daughter could run our marathon. I forwarded the email to operations director Joel Schiller. Joel emailed the parents asking if their daughter has run any long distances. They emailed back "only a few 5k in the 22:55 range and has run a training run of 12 miles". But they wrote that she would train and run our marathon with her father in approx. 5 hours. We have had a 16 year old participate in our marathon but never one this age. Even with a parents signature I just did not feel that we should allow this young girl to run the distance. Joel and I agreed that the half marathon distance would be ok or the 4 person relay. Joel wrote back a nice note to the parents explaining our decision. Just curious......if you were a race director for a full 26.2 mile marathon would you have accepted her entry?

Don't blame the race director.....

At the PSCI Icicle ten miler we had a women who finished second in her age group using gun time but first in her age group IF we scored using chip times. She wanted her first place plaque. I contacted Doug White (certifies my routes) and Tom Fort (Pres. of DE Sports Club and at the time regional RRCA represenative) and both said awards are given out using finishing place or gun times. I contacted the President of the RRCA and he too agrees. His answer is below:

COLLEAGUES,
"The order in which the athletes cross the finish line will be the official finish position." USATF Rule for Road Events (quoated in full below).

LONG DISTANCE AND ROAD EVENTS (Running and Walking)
RULE 135 THE FINISH LINE 1. The finish of the course is the edge of the line closest to the approaching runners. 2. Should there be an extensive painted design adjacent and prior to the finish line, the exact location of the finish line shall be clearly stated in instructions to all competitors 3. A tape may be held above and parallel to the finish line and at right angles to the course by individuals who are not serving as 2001 Competition Rules 109 judges. The individuals holding the tape shall be positioned so they do not interfere with the view of the judges. This tape is not itself the finish line, but is there only to indicate the approximate location of the actual finish line to approaching runners. 4. In events using transponder timing mats, the mat shall be placed so that the edge of the mat closest to the approaching runners is the finish line and that at least 15 cm of the mat be of a color in contrast to the running surface to indicate the finish line. 5. Races may use separate points along the finish line as the crossing location of the first men's and first women's finishers. 6. In addition to an authorized finish line imaging system, an officially designated video or photograph may be used to review the order of finish. RULE 136 FINISH LINE RECORDING AND TIMING 1. Officials at the finish should record each number as the athlete completes the race, along with the athlete's finish time. The order in which the athletes cross the finish line will be the official finish position. 2. False starts in road races should not be recalled. The timers shall start their watches or timing devices at the flash/smoke of the pistol or approved apparatus or at the first moment a competitor crosses the start line, whichever happens first. 3. The official time will be the time elapsed between the start of the watches or timing devices and the athlete crossing the finish line. If an athlete crosses the start line after the start of the watches or timing devices, the athlete's time elapsed between the start and finish line can be made known to the athlete, but will not be considered as official time.

So don't be upset at the race director....I just try and follow the rules.