Seems runners were misdirected midway, adding 1/2 mile. BAA has agreed to accept adjusted times after the course is remeasured to determine its actual distance.
Rocky Mtn. News article
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That's cool the BAA will accept times from the Denver race. Proof again Boston is the People's Marathon!
You know, every weekend in America, runners are misdirected and/or misled on certified courses. It's going to happen again this weekend, somewhere. It's maddening and often has no resolution to appease all. Races big and small are affected. I've been in wrong/missed turn races and seen my share as a fan.
Race directors are best advised to put as many marshalls that know their duties at important points and a lead vehicle that both knows and stays the course regardless of unforseen obstacles. Hey, we can plan well but in the end, we just hope folks go the right way.
You know, every weekend in America, runners are misdirected and/or misled on certified courses. It's going to happen again this weekend, somewhere. It's maddening and often has no resolution to appease all. Races big and small are affected. I've been in wrong/missed turn races and seen my share as a fan.
Race directors are best advised to put as many marshalls that know their duties at important points and a lead vehicle that both knows and stays the course regardless of unforseen obstacles. Hey, we can plan well but in the end, we just hope folks go the right way.
It's seems a wast of work to have an exact distnace and then have runners run the wrong course.
To many Race Directors rely on police, and random volunteer marshals to keep runners on track and on the course. The problem becomes worse on long races through urban landscapes where there are lots of intersctions and posible turns. The more junctions and the more people involved, the more chance for error.
Think of it this way, if you have just one computer that on average has a hardware error once every three years, if you then have 1,000 computers you will have a failure on average every day. Just adding more people to a course does not reduce your chance for errors, it may be increasing it.
In my experience the most common miss direction error is caused by police at intersections. They know the plan, sort of... Never trust a police man on a turn or major junction, always have your own man there.
Issue everyone with race maps, you can't print too many. Have some one go out in advance and give one to every officer or race marshal. It often surprises me how few maps are in the hands of the people responsible for keeping the runners on the right course.
But the best way to eliminate course error is to have a crew dedicated to just that.
I suggest solving it in two parts:
I am often in the advance car and you end up providing dual services, fixing the course and alerting the marshals and water stops to the immanent arrival of the runners. (Most of the time they are sitting down picking daisies or otherwise un-attentive.) It's good to be able to say, "Runners will be here in two minutes, look sharp!" (Some times they get a bit too close and I can see them in the rear mirror.)
Using lead bikes instead of a car allows the bikes to ride the shortest course, the blue line course, and it provides the runners a better view of the approaching turns.
With a small group of lead bikes, when the lead runner or pack opens a big gap, one bike can fall back into the gap and lead the next mob. That way, although the pack may have lost sight of the front of the race, there is a contentious string of something to follow. Runners are less likeley to go of course if there is some one or some thing to follow.
Both our advance car and even the lead bikes have on occasions had to plug holes in the course by dropping off a person to handle a problem. (Be it a stray car on the course, a missing marshal, a city bus that did not want to be diverted, what ever.) I often start with a load and have shead all my crew by the time I get to the finish becuase each has been asked to bail out and manage a paticular course problem.
You just can't have too much inelegance in the race advance group. On big races we may have several advance cars with different jobs:
Now I know that the above list of ‘advance men’ is elementary for most RD’s, but what I want to point out is the basic mathematical fact, adding more lenth or junctions or just more people increases the number of places errors can be made and the number of people who can make the errors: Therefore your lead groups should plan to heal errors en-route.
The key is to always assume there will be course problems and have an intelligent and self-correcting crew who, like the head of an arrow, go through just in advance of the race to fix problems.
Always have a some one, or crew assigned to fix course problems, and/or better mark corners. Lead the race with your own crew bicycles that KNOW the course.
The last time we had a runner off course on one of our races several years ago. It was a keyhole shaped 4 miles course with a loop at the top. The lead bikes turned right, the policeman on the corner tolled them and the volunteer on the corner that they were all wrong, and he preceded to wave the lead runner straight on.
Backup bikes had fallen in ahead of the rest of the pack and they not only lead the rest of the filed the correct way, but one of them dismounted to fix the problem and control the junction.
The lead runner was surprised to meet the field coming the other way, ran through them, and then rejoined the correct course, going on to win the race. He just ran the top loop back to front, but the distance was the same! The key was that even after the lead runner went astray, the bicyclists had enough nouce to sort it out on the fly.
I should add that we have been fortune in forming bonds with local bike groups and bicycle shops. We have some regular bike leaders who take their responsibility seriously. We always give them credit, mention their names, and sometimes include the bike shop as an official sponsor on race apps.
I know that Scott said "we just hope folks go the right way". We need to eliminate the hope, make it just about impossible to go wrong.
That said, I have admit that some in my club think I am a cone fanatic. Claim I over cone a course, that I use too much snow fence, road cones, runner cones, flying disks, rope and bunting. On the other hand, we do about a dozen races a year and have not had a runner go of course for a number of years.
I don’t think any runner starts the day by intending to run the wrong way. If they do, it’s almost always a failure of the RD and the race organization.
We some times forget that the only noise in a runners ears is the pounding of blood and their gasping for breath. No amount of shouting or jumping up or down will do much good for directing runners. They need clear VISUAL indications of which way to go.
IN our club we often lay a string of brightly colored disks at every turn. The big road cones keep cars and runners separated, but the string of small cones inside that defines the corner for the runners. These light weight markers are easy to store, easy to deploy head of the runners, easy to recover and low cost. They provide a very good visual clue to the runners as they approach a corner. They also help re-enforce the idea of the correct course in the heads of the people at the junction, i.e. the police or volunteers.
We also have to allow for the fact that towards the end of the race, the runner has very few functioning brain cells. How many of us have tried and failed to do a simple calculation like pace per mile, while running in a race. It should be easy, we know the mile, we know the total elapsed time, but we have no functioning brain cells left! Therefore the course should be marked in an idiot proof way.
I think part of my drive to clear visual course directions comes from being a volunteer at triathlons where no amount of shouting, jumping up and down, or waving your hands helps to guide an athlete on a bike who is going by at 30 mph. Either the corner is clearly visible from and completely obvious from some distance away, or the rider fails to break and misses the turn.
To many Race Directors rely on police, and random volunteer marshals to keep runners on track and on the course. The problem becomes worse on long races through urban landscapes where there are lots of intersctions and posible turns. The more junctions and the more people involved, the more chance for error.
Think of it this way, if you have just one computer that on average has a hardware error once every three years, if you then have 1,000 computers you will have a failure on average every day. Just adding more people to a course does not reduce your chance for errors, it may be increasing it.
In my experience the most common miss direction error is caused by police at intersections. They know the plan, sort of... Never trust a police man on a turn or major junction, always have your own man there.
Issue everyone with race maps, you can't print too many. Have some one go out in advance and give one to every officer or race marshal. It often surprises me how few maps are in the hands of the people responsible for keeping the runners on the right course.
But the best way to eliminate course error is to have a crew dedicated to just that.
I suggest solving it in two parts:
- Have lead bicycles who start in front of the runners. They should be equipped with a map but more importantly they should have previously cycled the course, that day or in the prior week.
- Have team in a car go out in advance of the runners who focus on makeing sure the right course is being used. They should be close enough so that nothing changes before the runners get there, and far enough ahead so that the crew in the car can FIX any problems like cones in the wrong position, people pointing the wrong way, etc.
I am often in the advance car and you end up providing dual services, fixing the course and alerting the marshals and water stops to the immanent arrival of the runners. (Most of the time they are sitting down picking daisies or otherwise un-attentive.) It's good to be able to say, "Runners will be here in two minutes, look sharp!" (Some times they get a bit too close and I can see them in the rear mirror.)
Using lead bikes instead of a car allows the bikes to ride the shortest course, the blue line course, and it provides the runners a better view of the approaching turns.
With a small group of lead bikes, when the lead runner or pack opens a big gap, one bike can fall back into the gap and lead the next mob. That way, although the pack may have lost sight of the front of the race, there is a contentious string of something to follow. Runners are less likeley to go of course if there is some one or some thing to follow.
Both our advance car and even the lead bikes have on occasions had to plug holes in the course by dropping off a person to handle a problem. (Be it a stray car on the course, a missing marshal, a city bus that did not want to be diverted, what ever.) I often start with a load and have shead all my crew by the time I get to the finish becuase each has been asked to bail out and manage a paticular course problem.
You just can't have too much inelegance in the race advance group. On big races we may have several advance cars with different jobs:
- The first to fix water stop problems, check mile marks, make sure everything is ready. It should be at least 10 to 15 minutes ahead of the pack so that it has time to fix minor screw-ups or any other serious lack of preparation.
- We may have a cone and baricade deployment crew. They fix holes that have appeared and deploy cones that are wating to close side roads, etc.
- The second to fix cones etc, THIS IS THE COURSE CHECK CAR, THAT MAKES SURE THE COURSE IS CORRECT AND EVERYTHING IS FIXED AND READY. This car is only a few of minutes ahead of the race. (Because they are close to the head of the race the car should have extra people so that if there is a problem they can through out a live body to take care of the problem. This car may have the lead police motor bike in it's rear vew mirror.)
- The next is trigger final road closings and the cutoff of any cross traffic. This is often the above car, or if the police are involved in the lead the police bike/car. (Do not depend on the police for knowing the correct course and make sure this car cannot go off course.)
- You also need a car or bike carrying race time that starts the clocks. (On our local races we find a bicyclist is best for starting clocks). A bike works well because they can be near the start but not clutter up the road, start and stop at will, and leapfrog around lead cars, and when pulled over they don't block the road.
- Last, but very important the lead bicycles. They should not be just leading the parade, but again checking the course is correct! It helps the first runners if they attempt to ride the shortest course and not all over the road.
Now I know that the above list of ‘advance men’ is elementary for most RD’s, but what I want to point out is the basic mathematical fact, adding more lenth or junctions or just more people increases the number of places errors can be made and the number of people who can make the errors: Therefore your lead groups should plan to heal errors en-route.
The key is to always assume there will be course problems and have an intelligent and self-correcting crew who, like the head of an arrow, go through just in advance of the race to fix problems.
Always have a some one, or crew assigned to fix course problems, and/or better mark corners. Lead the race with your own crew bicycles that KNOW the course.
The last time we had a runner off course on one of our races several years ago. It was a keyhole shaped 4 miles course with a loop at the top. The lead bikes turned right, the policeman on the corner tolled them and the volunteer on the corner that they were all wrong, and he preceded to wave the lead runner straight on.
Backup bikes had fallen in ahead of the rest of the pack and they not only lead the rest of the filed the correct way, but one of them dismounted to fix the problem and control the junction.
The lead runner was surprised to meet the field coming the other way, ran through them, and then rejoined the correct course, going on to win the race. He just ran the top loop back to front, but the distance was the same! The key was that even after the lead runner went astray, the bicyclists had enough nouce to sort it out on the fly.
I should add that we have been fortune in forming bonds with local bike groups and bicycle shops. We have some regular bike leaders who take their responsibility seriously. We always give them credit, mention their names, and sometimes include the bike shop as an official sponsor on race apps.
I know that Scott said "we just hope folks go the right way". We need to eliminate the hope, make it just about impossible to go wrong.
That said, I have admit that some in my club think I am a cone fanatic. Claim I over cone a course, that I use too much snow fence, road cones, runner cones, flying disks, rope and bunting. On the other hand, we do about a dozen races a year and have not had a runner go of course for a number of years.
I don’t think any runner starts the day by intending to run the wrong way. If they do, it’s almost always a failure of the RD and the race organization.
We some times forget that the only noise in a runners ears is the pounding of blood and their gasping for breath. No amount of shouting or jumping up or down will do much good for directing runners. They need clear VISUAL indications of which way to go.
IN our club we often lay a string of brightly colored disks at every turn. The big road cones keep cars and runners separated, but the string of small cones inside that defines the corner for the runners. These light weight markers are easy to store, easy to deploy head of the runners, easy to recover and low cost. They provide a very good visual clue to the runners as they approach a corner. They also help re-enforce the idea of the correct course in the heads of the people at the junction, i.e. the police or volunteers.
We also have to allow for the fact that towards the end of the race, the runner has very few functioning brain cells. How many of us have tried and failed to do a simple calculation like pace per mile, while running in a race. It should be easy, we know the mile, we know the total elapsed time, but we have no functioning brain cells left! Therefore the course should be marked in an idiot proof way.
I think part of my drive to clear visual course directions comes from being a volunteer at triathlons where no amount of shouting, jumping up and down, or waving your hands helps to guide an athlete on a bike who is going by at 30 mph. Either the corner is clearly visible from and completely obvious from some distance away, or the rider fails to break and misses the turn.