Thursday, May 16, 2013

Interesting Choice

The Boston Athletic Association today announced a general invitation to all non-finishers from this year's marathon to return in 2014. 

http://www.baa.org/news-and-press/news-listing/2013/may/baa-issues-special-invitation-to-2013-boston-marathon-starters.aspx

I don't think I would have chosen that approach; to my lights, anyone deterred from finishing due to the bombs had as real a marathon experience as those who did cross the line.  (Note, perhaps irrelevantly, that the original Boston Marathon route was 25 miles.  http://www.boston.com/
zope_homepage/sports/marathon_archive/history/1897.shtml.  I do not believe anybody was pulled from the course before making it that far.)

This will have a substantial impact on the registration process next year, too.  Either charity slots will not be available or the qualifier slots will be dramatically reduced.  Because I doubt many who are offered the chance to run next year will say no.  If the marathon in Boston was not iconic before, it surely is now.

3 comments:

  1. It may create a queuing problem too. Since qualifying times from this coming Fall will be good for 2014 or 2015.

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  2. I think they said only 5k people or so would be affected. It wouldn't surprise me if they have a one-year increase in the field size of that amount. It's hard to see a huge downside to that.

    In any case, what with your being in the 40+ range from here forward, you ought to be able to register without a problem for as long as you want.

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  3. I had 3/4-way decided I was done for a while. But next year will be one to see, I would guess. P__ may have something to say about it, but I'm tempted to go back.

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