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Reply to "Too Many Races?"

I remember a cartoon I saw decades ago, when Harley-Davidson motorcycles were just beginning their resurgence, and Hell’s Angels were dazzling with their badass costumery. The cartoon shows a biker talking with a pedestrian. The biker is decked out in tough-guy finery – black leather, jackboots, chains, iron crosses, and topped off with a Nazi helmet. The pedestrian is saying “I too miss the old days, Heinrich, but isn’t this a bit much?"

I miss the old days too, back when I was running in the early 1970’s to 1990's. I didn’t know it at the time, but it was a Golden Age for those who wanted to race. Accurate courses were few, but the fields were small. The smallness of the fields allowed the racer to focus on who was ahead. The typical marathon in Ohio had 100 to 300 people and was usually out on country roads. In those days we mid-packers recognized all the familiar faces and knew who we would be racing against in our age group.

As time went by, certification became more common, and as timing became more mechanized the fields began to grow. My later experiences in racing were in races with bigger fields, and there was more difficulty trying to focus on any individual competitor. I remember the Athens (OH) marathon in the late 70's. I was coming around a corner at mile 17 or so, and I spotted a runner way ahead of me. I had not seen him before, so I figured he was slowing. It was a great motivator to try to catch him. I finally did pass him, but it took me four more miles to do it. This sort of motivation is absent when a vast herd of 10000 runners is the field.

Lots more people are running in races today, but I sense that racing is not the principal motivation for many of the runners.

One factor in growth is the existence of electronic timing systems. These are expensive, and the owners are motivated to put on as many races as they can.

A good friend, Ben Buckner, wrote a nice short book on the subject in 1980 – “Planning Road Races for the Competitive Runner.” It expresses a view which largely parallels my own.

Go to http://www.runscore.com/course...t/Articles/PRRCR.pdf and download the book.
Last edited by peteriegel
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