Posted on 11/05/2011 8:06:13 AM PDT by afraidfortherepublic
In the Running World, They're Called 'Bandits' and Race Officials Don't Like to Discuss Them; the Cockroach Analogy
For anyone without an official slot in Sunday's New York Marathon, here's a thought: Run it anyway. But don't expect the running establishment to cheer you on.
Peter Sagal tried that at last month's Chicago Marathon. Without paying the $145 registration fee, he joined the nearly 38,000 official marathoners on Oct. 9, partaking of free Gatorade along the way.
"I know it's wrong," Mr. Sagal, host of National Public Radio's "Wait Wait… Don't Tell Me!," wrote afterward in a blog for Runner's World magazine. But, he joked, "I waved to the crowd in a charming way, so maybe I earned it."
The response to Mr. Sagal's blog was overwhelmingly negative, with some readers calling him a thief and vowing...see link.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
“NASCAR isn’t run on public streets.”
That’s your reply?
Well then..how about the Long beach grand prix...
That IS run on public streets...
So once again...now that I have met your qualifier....should I be able to barge my way into a race with my own car..that is run on a public street?
Since the danger involved in your scenario is orders of magnitude greater then for an individual runner joining into the marathon your analogy is inapt.
In addition race car drivers need years of training and experience to be qualified to safely drive a race car. Marathon runners need only to put one foot in front of the other.
...The 38,500 official runners -- shattering the previous record of 9,269 entrants in 1992 ... and despite meticulously laid plans, the marathon could be as unwieldy as it is unprecedented.What if the bus system breaks down? What if 20,000 bandits instead of 10,000 crash the gate? What if there is a stampede at the start, where tens of thousands of runners will be funneled past a starting line that is 39 feet wide? ...
The most indelible villain of the Boston Marathon is the impostor Rosie Ruiz, who jumped into the 1980 race in the final mile and crossed the finish line ahead of Jacqueline Gareau of Canada. A computer chip laced to each runner's shoe will serve as a fraud detector this year. The chip will be detected by sensors at the start, midway point and finish. The technology will also allow runners to determine their actual race time, which will be posted on the World Wide Web.
"If we had had this in 1980, there wouldn't have been a Rosie Ruiz," said Phil Graceffa, the marathon's computer consultant.
Still, a thriving black market exists for those who want to buy their way into the race. Runners are selling their bibs because of injury or the desire to make a quick buck. The asking price, as high as $600 two weeks ago, tumbled in recent days, runners said. A bartender who works along the marathon route said he had purchased a bib for $250.
"I didn't want to be behind the bar when everybody else ran by," he said, adding that he had run the marathon the past two years as a bandit.
That is freaking hilarious!!!!
ROFLMAO!!!!!
“Since the danger involved in your scenario is orders of magnitude greater then for an individual runner joining into the marathon your analogy is inapt.
In addition race car drivers need years of training and experience to be qualified to safely drive a race car. Marathon runners need only to put one foot in front of the other.”
LMAO...more qualifiers...
Your first reply was that NASCAR isnt run on public streets....so when faced with races that ARE run on public streets...you add more qualifiers to try and support your stated logic...
You clearly support the race crashers...and will jump through logic hoops and crabwalk to do so...
The bottom line is...the race organizers have every right to restrict who runs that race on public streets...they paid for a permit, they sanction the runners...and they run the event...
Same as the long beach grand prix....
Trying to have it both ways is..illogical...
Well come up with a decent analogy then.
This is an interesting subject, not because I give a rip about marathons, but because it reveals the differences in worlds views between law and order conservatives and libertarian oriented conservatives.
Taking something you don't deserve or earn just because you want it is not proud, American history, it's theft.
Nothing but trash.
I would rather they let as many register as want to run.
There is nothing today to prevent that option.
Tags? Print on demand. Even with these numbers.
Porta potties? You have to think of that whether they pay and run, don't pay but run, or stand and watch.
Paperwork? Please. Computers and networked smartphones. There can be an app for everything.
Medical standby? See the second item.
So I stand by my insistence that if you are going to do it on public property make it open to everyone with the entry fee.
If you want me at OWS, that means you are ACORN. I voted against your boss and I already have a job.
Bunch them in manageable tranches and send them out every 15 minutes. Send the elites out first. They are already timed automatically when they pass through the start and end lines. There is no reason to start everyone at the same time.
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