50 State Club Bylaw Concern

Where is this from?

50 State Marathon Club Website

Nathan.

Thanks for finding this. I just emailed the contact for this group. I hope he changes his page.

Reading through their rules it appears that some of the accepted events could be a trail run which couldn't be certified. Therefore their terminology may be ok.

David, in the case of an ultra it should be fine but I would suggest then that they don't accept 42.195km trail runs.

Nathan, I don't see what the problem is. The club is not tracking times, nor are results being compared for records. A good-faith effort to make the course at least marathon length could include two rides on a bike calibrated on dirt.

Disallowing trail marathons from counting towards the 50-state goal is, to me, pointless. If they run a course that may be short by a few feet, so what? They made the effort, and covered what was, in some manner, measured to be the correct length. I see no reason to deny them credit for completing a marathon in that state.

We measure courses for USATF certification. The marathon club recognizes that people have run what is being advertised as a marathon, in each of the 50 states. Two entirely different situations. I don't see a need to get involved in their club rules, as there are no records being claimed, just a merit badge. It has nothing to do with them running on a certified course.

Fair enough. Point taken.

quote:

Originally posted by Duane Russell:
Nathan, I don't see what the problem is. The club is not tracking times, nor are results being compared for records. A good-faith effort to make the course at least marathon length could include two rides on a bike calibrated on dirt.

Disallowing trail marathons from counting towards the 50-state goal is, to me, pointless. If they run a course that may be short by a few feet, so what? They made the effort, and covered what was, in some manner, measured to be the correct length. I see no reason to deny them credit for completing a marathon in that state.

We measure courses for USATF certification. The marathon club recognizes that people have run what is being advertised as a marathon, in each of the 50 states. Two entirely different situations. I don't see a need to get involved in their club rules, as there are no records being claimed, just a merit badge. It has nothing to do with them running on a certified course.

Its fun to see this mentioned here! Thanks for posting, Nathan. I must agree with Duane. There is no issue here.

I've been a member of this club on and off for years. It is a private club and as such I consider their private rule regarding what they will accept toward their recognition of marathon "credit" to be very well written from our perspective. When active as 50 State club runners, we all travel around the country and run many marathons for the heck of it.

The club encourages races to certify their courses. But the main idea of the club is to encourage runners to run a marathon in all 50 states. Frequently, there have been states that had no marathon or ultra offered at all or no marathon over a certified course. Allowing the trail course and or the not-yet-certified course enables the members to continue to pursue their objective.

I believe the organization has a positive effect: they often bring many runners to remote events, the RD's know this, like it, and listen to the club's advice regarding the importance of course certification. But, they don't stop running in a state unless that state momentarily has no marathon or ultra race at all -- which happens from time to time.