Hip Redux
From the BAA announcement yesterday:
For the safety of our participants, spectators, and partners, public safety officials and the B.A.A. strictly prohibit unofficial participation, and those in violation will be subject to interdiction. Those who are not officially registered in the Boston Marathon will not be allowed to participate. We ask official participants to discourage family and friends who are not officially registered participants from entering the course in any manner.
We are aware that many people want to participate in some way in this year’s Boston Marathon as a display of support, but we ask that those who are not official participants to refrain from entering the course for the safety of the runners and themselves. There are several other opportunities which enable a show of support for the Boston Marathon, including the B.A.A. 5K on April 19, the Boston Marathon World Run, attending the John Hancock Sports & Fitness Expo, volunteering, or spectating.
Anyone on the course for any distance who has not been assigned, or is not displaying, an officially issued bib number from the B.A.A. is subject to interdiction. The B.A.A. reserves the right to remove any person from the course who is not displaying an official bib that has been assigned by the B.A.A. Similarly, units or groups such as military ruck-marchers and cyclists, which have sometimes joined on course, will not be allowed to participate.
Yeah, that's pretty much the same rule they have every year.
Short term goal: 17:59 5K
Mid term goal: 2:54:59 marathon
Long term goal: To say I've been a runner half my life. (I started running at age 45).
Are we there, yet?
Think we'll see any incidents like the Jock Semple - Katherine Switzer one back in 1969?
2024 Races:
03/09 - Livingston Oval Ultra 6-Hour, 22.88 miles
05/11 - D3 50K 05/25 - What the Duck 12-Hour
06/17 - 6 Days in the Dome 12-Hour.
Except now it comes after a terror attack. I thus can totally see a scenario where bandits are snatched off of the course what with the heightened security and a zero tolerance mindset.
How feasible that turns out to be is the question that must be answered.
Similarly, units or groups such as military ruck-marchers and cyclists, which have sometimes joined on course, will not be allowed to participate.
That seems like a recipe for disaster.
If they have always had this rule, as I understand they have generally turned a blind eye to it. Maybe less so this year?
Dave
Right.
I took a look at the way back machine and I couldn't find a similarly stated policy on their website from Feb 2012. I'm sure they had something along the same lines, but this year it looks like it will be front and center and enforced.
I'd be curious to see a study on the numbers and percentages of bandits over the years. Before qualifying times were instituted, the only reasons to bandit Boston were not wanting to cough up the $3 or so for the entry fee or deciding last minute, i.e. less than two weeks before the race, to run it. Qualifying times were instituted with the intent to limit the field and filter out those not prepared or properly trained, whatever that means, to run a marathon. BTW the first BQ time for the 1971 race was about what the average marathon time was in 1970, so it wasn't excluding huge numbers of runners. I expect the number of bandits climbed as the BQ kept getting tougher until it reached 2:50 for men and 3:20 for women.
The bandit estimate used to be 2-3k a year. I have volunteered the last 5 years and it always seemed like the same #s. No way you can stop that totally but I expect a big drop. I have seen bikers kicked off the course especially 2 years ago. Security for the race has been pretty much up to each town/city in the past but with more outside enforcement help expected I have to think they will enforce as much as possible.
I'm running it this year. The only concern we burb folks have is the bag drop off only in Boston Monday. A lot of us go right to the start via cars as opposed to the Boston bus option.
I'd be curious to see a study on the numbers and percentages of bandits over the years.
Where could these numbers possibly come from?
No one handed me a survey in 2000 after I finished as my one bandit year.
Back in 1995 the issue of bandits was a hot button topic due to the anticipated number of athletes for the 100th running in '96. At that time the race director, Dave McGillivray, was very open about the issue of bandits in a number of press releases. His position was that bandits had become a part of the Boston Marathon tradition, their numbers were anticipated and taken into account when estimating suppport for the race. He said that as long as they started behind all of the assigned corals * he didn't anticipate problems.
The reason it became a hot topic was the large increase of runners for the centennial race. When I ran Boston for the 1st time in '94 there were 6-7,000 finishers. Two years later for the 100th there were 40,000+! At that time there were questions and concerns the race / course could handle those numbers, so the issue of adding to that with unofficial bandits became a legit issue. Anyone familiar with Hopkinton [race start] will understand. I was there for the 100th and surprisingly it ran as smoothly as it had two years earleir. I was in the 13th corral and it took us 4 minutes to cross the start line.
* Corrals are closely monitored by marshalls that check not only you have an official bib number but that you're entering your assigned corral [each corral has 1000 runners].
Youth Has No Age. ~ Picasso / 1st road race: Charleston Distance Run 15 Miler - 1974 / profile
Barking Mad To Run
Back in 1995 the issue of bandits was a hot button topic due to the anticipated number of athletes for the 100th running in '96. At that time the race director, Dave McGillivray, was very open about the issue of bandits in a number of press releases. His position was that bandits had become a part of the Boston Marathon tradition, their numbers were anticipated and taken into account when estimating suppport for the race. He said that as long as they started behind all of the assigned corals * he didn't anticipate problems. The reason it became a hot topic was the large increase of runners for the centennial race. When I ran Boston for the 1st time in '94 there were 6-7,000 finishers. Two years later for the 100th there were 40,000+! At that time there were questions and concerns the race / course could handle those numbers, so the issue of adding to that with unofficial bandits became a legit issue. Anyone familiar with Hopkinton [race start] will understand. I was there for the 100th and surprisingly it ran as smoothly as it had two years earleir. I was in the 13th corral and it took us 4 minutes to cross the start line. * Corrals are closely monitored by marshalls that check not only you have an official bib number but that you're entering your assigned corral [each corral has 1000 runners]. Dang...that must make it tough to pee...
Dang...that must make it tough to pee...
"Do what you can, with what you have, where you are." Theodore Roosevelt
.
You would think but here's a story for you. I don't recall which Boston it was [pretty sure it was 1994] but there I am in the corral taking everything in when the women next to me drops to a knee. I look down and she's peeing right there in the middle of 1000 runners! I'd never seen anyone do that [before or since]. What struck me was that no one [other than me] was thinking anything of it. I just moved out of the way of the stream and waited for the gun to sound. That kind of cemented the fact this was some serious shit.