I volunteered to work an event last night, and had the good fortune to be stationed with the Special Events Sergeant from the local police department. He gets to make the staff plans for officers working all the road races in town. I thought it would be good to share his challenges in keeping costs for police down, while providing safety for the runners.
All events must furnish a timeframe for occupying the streets – what the time windows are that each intersection or street will have runners present. Fastest runner will arrive at this time, and the slowest runner/walker will pass at that time, for each intersection or street. In a marathon or half-marathon, he tries to leap-frog, or double-post, officers, so those near the beginning of the race can double-up and man locations near the finish after the last runner has passed their early-course location. This is where pace calculation is critical.
If a marathon has decided that they will have a permit for 6 hours of traffic control, that means the slowest person must maintain a 4.37 mph, or no slower than 13:45 per mile (rounded), pace. If walkers (it is tough to run that slow – it is more of a very-brisk walk) go slower than that, the officers near the beginning of the course can’t get to their assigned post near the Finish. That is not good at all, as the lead runners will now not have traffic control.
The flip side to this is to not double-post officers, but that takes a lot more money. Each officer has a 3-hour minimum, usually at overtime rates. And, most officers don’t work the minimum. If a marathon can take 225 officers with double-posting 50 of them, that would then mean an additional 50 officers on the payroll without double-posting. Even allowing that the early officers will be released a little sooner than if they had been double-posted, he said the cost impact is about 40 officers. Using the minimum 3 hours at $45 per hour, that is an additional $5,400 for traffic control, minimum. And, we all know how minimum-cost projections go; they are always too low.
All this leads me to this point: If you know people in your social circle that will be near the back of a race, please encourage them to know the pace they need to maintain in order to complete the course within the allowed time. Check their time every mile or two, and adjust accordingly. Or, they need to accept that they may have to move onto the sidewalks and obey traffic signals at all cross-streets after the permitted time has expired. They also may not have access to all the amenities provided to those who completed the course in the allotted time (like getting a finishing time!). On courses that meander through town, the slowest participants may have to cut off some of the course, just to finish within the allowed time. This is a trade-off; the participant isn’t maintaining the agreed-upon pace (the race will publish the allowed time on the course, and the participant signed-up for the race knowing that timeframe), but they can still use the amenities provided by the race. Other times, there may be buses to pick people up and relocate them, or take them directly to the Finish. Such is life. The race published the timeframe they were willing to pay for police support (and upon which your entry fee is based). (This doesn’t even address the thousand-plus volunteers that have given their time based on published course support. Without volunteers, no race would happen.)
Unless all participants want to pay a higher entry fee to allow the slowest people to take a long time on the course, the slowest people need to be encouraged to pick up the pace, or not participate in the race at all. Just because someone wants to do a race, doesn’t mean they should be allowed to do it outside the agreed-upon parameters. They can take a long walk around town on their own time, if they can’t participate in an organized event within the established parameters. Races aren’t 1st-grade field days, where everyone is allowed to participate. There are huge expenses involved in putting on a marathon, and there are permits and guidelines. Conform to those guidelines, or don’t participate. Otherwise, everyone may end up paying a higher entry fee to pay for additional course time.
The preceding is an example of my monthly newsletter. If you have an emailing list, I would appreciate your putting a little note in your e-letter, inviting runners to subscribe to the RaceMeasure e-letter by going to http://racemeasure.com/phplist/?p=subscribe to subscribe.
Thanks for your assistance with exposure!
Original Post