Mary Wittenberg Steps Down as President of New York Road Runners to Head Virgin Sport

On this topic of accomplishments, any further info on why she balked at some type of monument for Ryan Shay?

Out of her hands?

A NYC thing?

Just info please no remarks.

26,000 x $80 in entry fees.

[quote]How much should it be and where should the increased amount come from?

I appreciate the competence and frequency of the NYRR races, I don't think that they should try to offer goody bags and other junk to the runners--keep it simple--and I do think that they should offer more prize money in their weekly races, although almost all of that would just go to the local Ethiopians and Kenyans, who'd save some travel expenses for their weekly races and who'd just spend the money on supporting their families back home and buying subsistence food, etc. One suggestion I would make, besides cutting the fees and rigmarole for the marathon and half marathon, would be to institute qualifying standards for weekly races for some of the slots, to be filled automatically by NYRR results (in the way that they automatically enter your fastest average mile time in the entries). Too many competitive runners are cut out by the quick race signups months in advance in favor of walkers and joggers (or at least, reserve a # of optional spots for local club members).

I'd love to see a voucher system - wherein if you win your age group you get a free entry to a future race.

And yeah - some way that lets some faster runners apply late. Not sure what that would look like tho.

Some way to jazz up the team points competition would be nice too - not sure what that would look like either. There's got to be some kind of prize that would be worth competing for, other than bragging rights.

I know you're full of it if you're looking for more Competitor Group crap. Your complaints are absurd.

The Shelter Island 10K is most definitely NOT your average suburban race. (For God's sake they've gotten Meb and Joan Samuelson and Greta Waitz to run the race.)

If you want cheap races, sign up for one of the $10 classic races, or one of the $11 cross country races, or pay $15 and get to run on a Diamond League track.

NYRR tends to put together the big events in New York, so what? If you want to get a permit for Central Park and shut down Park Drive it's expensive and you need to have a lot of runners to pay for it. That's why they only run 4 milers, 5 milers and 10K's now - to fit enough people in the race, you can't loop back the way you have to to make a 5K course. I

The reality is that these days you are not going to get exclusive use of the Park at a prime time with an event for 1,000 people. It is not the fault of NYRR or MW.

great wrote:

On this topic of accomplishments, any further info on why she balked at some type of monument for Ryan Shay?

Out of her hands?

A NYC thing?

Just info please no remarks.

Mary Wittenberg didn't "balk at some type of monument for Ryan Shay." The Shay family sees Mary as an ally in trying to get some kind of conspicuous memorial to Ryan in Central Park but the Central Park Conservancy has so far insisted on their "standard" $500,000 contribution for something as small as a plaque on a boulder. [This happens to be an issue I care about, and I've been trying to do what I can to address it.]

Meanwhile, please know that there IS a Ryan Shay bench in Central Park with a very moving plaque.

If you don't already know about the bench, see

for a good article in the New York Times that mentions it.

The easiest way to find the bench is to go north on the East Drive past the Boathouse cafe. There's a group of three benches on the east side of East Drive, across from the parking lot that is north of the Boathouse cafe and just south of the large green lamp post that is numbered 7502. The Ryan Shay plaque is the southernmost one on those three benches.

p.s. for those of you who followed the Cancer Guy thread - the plaque on the Ryan Shay bench reads, "It is necessary to dig deep within oneself to discover the hidden grain of steel called will." As many of you probably know, Cancer Guy's real name was Will Steele.

jjjjjj wrote:

One suggestion I would make, besides cutting the fees and rigmarole for the marathon and half marathon, would be to institute qualifying standards for weekly races for some of the slots, to be filled automatically by NYRR results (in the way that they automatically enter your fastest average mile time in the entries). Too many competitive runners are cut out by the quick race signups months in advance in favor of walkers and joggers (or at least, reserve a # of optional spots for local club members).

Your corral number is determined by your fastest race pace, if you provided it. It's on your bib.

David Monti wrote:

Mary and Allan entrusted me to recruit athletes for one race in 2001, the Oakley New York Mini 10-K, and I landed Paula Radcliffe and Fernando Ribeiro. The race went well (Paula won), and Mary handed me a folder for recruiting athletes for the 2001 NYC Marathon. That remains the greatest break of my professional life. I'll be working on my 15th TCS NYC Marathon this year, just one of over 70 events I've recruited and managed athletes for under Mary's guidance and support.

Thanks, Mary. I'll always be grateful. Branson is getting one of the best sports executives in the USA (from any sport).

I agree. And Mary was swimming upstream in the Good Ole Boys world. A hugely talented, class act who will be missed.

Not sure if anyone answered this but Virgin Sport, from Its press release, sounds like an event organizing company...running races, bike races, other healthy events, etc...that also provides social media and web content (training advice, forum, etc)

Alan

runningart2004 wrote:

Not sure if anyone answered this but Virgin Sport, from Its press release, sounds like an event organizing company...running races, bike races, other healthy events, etc...that also provides social media and web content (training advice, forum, etc)

Alan

Mary will make it work and make a difference. Good stuff.

sold out sport and culture wrote:

I would take some po-dunk, down home, authentically friendly, cheap-ass race organized by rednecks, heshers and DIII has-beens any day over the pre-packed, rape-your-wallet, narcissism-thons organized by NYRR.

And in what universe, or major U.S. city, would you find something like that, let alone the biggest and most expensive city in the country?

Linked release saysstarted in 1998 became COO in 2000,president in 2005Which timeline is correct?

LetsRun.com wrote:

Mary Wittenberg, who has led the NYRR since 2005, and been the COO since 2015 has stepped down as President of the NYRR, to head a new entity called Virgin Sport.

Press release here:

http://www.letsrun.com/news/2015/05/mary-wittenberg-steps-down-as-new-york-road-runners-president-to-launch-virgin-sport/

We corrected the original post.

COO since 2000. Not sure how that became 2015.

For the most part, NYRR has cheaper races (for members, which I assume most regular runners in NYC are) than NYCRUNS. Even if you do find a cheaper race from NYCRUNS, they tend to be very light on competition.

While I agree that NYCRUNS has given us some nice alternatives to NYRR races, but let's not pretend that they are cheaper and better run than NYRR.

I am not a fan of hers. While she did a lot to promote the sport to non-runners she commercialized the local running scene to oblivion. The more devoted local runners saw very little benefit under her leadership. Over the last 10 years every single race price at least doubled and despite the highly celebrated corral idea most events are super crowded. To summarize, today you couldn't tell NYRR is a NFP. She created a lot of additional bureaucracy and layers of management that added very little value. I personally know one very senior person who is a complete dud. She also paid herself a little too well for my taste. NY marathon qualifying times really tightened up over the years forcing everyone to deal with the 9+1 rules which amount to voluntold slave work (adds extra money to their pockets) and she grew the event so much that anyone traveling to NY is basically forced to stay for at least 4-5 days and spend a lot more. On a more personal note, I couldn't stand the repetitive obnoxious opening race speeches that always began with "My fellow citizens of the world.." really?

I could rant on her forever, but I also realize every marathon or large local club is moving to a similar direction. However, this doesn't mean I have to like it or agree with it. Marathoning became a fad a decade ago and it'll be soon dying down, then what are they going to do to keep the real customers, the local runners happy? Much like what has happened to the triathlon scene, she's helped to make local running in NY an elitist activity. Poor people don't have access to any of these super expensive races. I acknowledge the charities have all benefitted from the marathon machine but always thought it's unwise to create such a dependency. 2012 was not just a raw deal for any participant, it also wiped out a year's worth of 'expected' donations. I don't like the idea of adding too many unnecessary layers of consumerism to any sport and that's exactly what she's done for the NYRR.

I hear you. I disagree with you, but yours is a valid viewpoint.

I will say that I had an interesting experience last year - I volunteered at the finish line of the NYC marathon.

Up til then, my experience has been at the front of the races - I am in the first corral, I am top 5 in my age group most races, and associate mostly with other fastish runners. I think 'running' I think 'competitive, fast, intervals, etc'

but at the marathon - I realized what a tiny, tiny slice of running the fast, competitive people are. It's like the crust on the earth - paperthin compared to the much, much larger rest of it.

The small group of people you say are the 'real customers' are really almost irrelevant to the NYCM certainly, and most other nYRR races also.

So who is the elitist here -- the NYRR or you?

well maybe I misintepreted your definition of 'elitist'

you mean poor, not slow

as for that...well ok that;s why NYRR does all this youth outreach - trying to bring poor people under the tent. I don't know what success they are having.

alapaha wrote:

well maybe I misintepreted your definition of 'elitist'

you mean poor, not slow

as for that...well ok that;s why NYRR does all this youth outreach - trying to bring poor people under the tent. I don't know what success they are having.

But then what are the poor kids supposed to do once they're adult runners and are priced out of most races? Most aren't going to jump up a few rungs on the socioeconomic ladder.

NYRR should allot some of the marathon charity bibs to lower-income runners; come up with some creative way for well-off fellow runners to cover the cost of the bibs, if that's a concern.

It's obvious the NYRR staff is going to be all over this thread to try to fight any negative comments. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out all these aces are overpriced, is that not clear to you? Since you want to focus on the marathon, I'd say that easily a majority of those participants are passing by and not likely to do another marathon. They also complain about the insane price tag believe it or not, but they are willing to bite the bullet once or twice. I live here and want to participate often. If I decided to enter the marathon and a few halves each year I'm looking at spending $600-$700. Does that seem right?

You are suggesting I'm the only one who has a problem with the system. You must work at the NYRR and are just as out of touch as most there if you don't get my drift. I'm the one who has to put up large sums of money to step in their racesa be this wasn't always the case. So yes, NYRR is an elitist organization. Let's not pretend otherwise.