NYC marathon and hurricane

Personal opinion: They should try to hold the elite race and allow whoever else can make it to the starting line to run. Then if you are unable to make it there, you have two options. First is to get a deferred entry into next years race. Second, NYCRR works with other race directors to allow you entry into another marathon of your choice. First option allows those hell-bent on doing NYC to reach their goal and the second allows people who want to still race a marathon this fall an option. Not a perfect plan, but maybe something to work with. And obviously if NY is so wrecked nothing can go on, that is another story.

Arborghast wrote:

What about trees on the trees????

Yeah, trees on trees too. I've seen a number of trees showing tree pile-ups.

My trees have never thought about falling. They occupy their minds with more pressing issues such as how much sap they can deposit on my car or how many leaves they can cover my deck with.

slow down tex wrote:

Personal opinion: They should try to hold the elite race and allow whoever else can make it to the starting line to run. Then if you are unable to make it there, you have two options.

wonder if there are elites who will not be able to make it. I would guess they could get there, but I don't really know.

It's Tuesday people.

The race is Sunday.

This thing should not be cancelled. Maybe everyone won't be able to get there but how many people were flying in on Mon/Tue for a Sunday race - who comes in that early except for some elites.

Run it to show New Yorkers have spirit. If you need to run it on a loop course, then do that.

I'd be huge money they don't cancel this thing.

It's going to be a big media event if the pull it off and the one thing you can say about Bloomberg - is he is a big obesity nut.

You are going to have 50,000+ irate visitors if it's cancelled.

I can't imagine it would be cancelled. At the very least, why not have it the next weekend?

.truth wrote:

Living even stronger wrote:

I find it funny as hell that more than half a million people will die of cancer in the US this year and people are worried about a few people drowning.

Or how about the 16,000 kids that will die from starvation today. Or the estimated 27 million slaves in the world today. The list could go on.

Coral Reefs are dying off around the world and you are concerned with human life. Pathetic.

I am guessing they clear 26.2 miles of road and hold the event for PR purposes more than anything. Whether it makes sense to hold the race when resources are needed elsewhere and whether people can get to NY, get from the airport to their hotel, from the hotel to the starting line, from the finishing line to their hotel and back out of NY all with no or little mass transit and likely many road closures is a different issue.

the challenges will be getting 40,000 people to the start line and finding enough police, firefighters etc to make the race safe.

Then people have to get back to their hotels after, without trains.

Without subways, it will be a struggle to get people to Staten Island - people have to get to the battery by taxi or bus...that is several miles from midtown. But difficulty is not a reason to cancel - just makes it hard.

As for the emergency workers - I have no idea how much of a problem that is.

but clearing the roads shouldn't be a real problem - a few trees that's all.

My bet is.... wrote:

I am guessing they clear 26.2 miles of road and hold the event for PR purposes more than anything. Whether it makes sense to hold the race when resources are needed elsewhere and whether people can get to NY, get from the airport to their hotel, from the hotel to the starting line, from the finishing line to their hotel and back out of NY all with no or little mass transit and likely many road closures is a different issue.

No resources should be taken from helping people get their power back on, cleaning up the streets or getting people back int their homes. It takes a LOT of work to clean up after a flood. If I lived in NY and was living in a shelter without power, I would be highly pissed off to see resources being diverted so a bunch of runners can run their marathon.

rojo wrote:

Maybe everyone won't be able to get there but how many people were flying in on Mon/Tue for a Sunday race - who comes in that early except for some elites.

Lots of people. People who are taking a vacation and want to be there for something other than the race.

LGA, JFK, and EWR are all closed with the FAA reporting "The date/time when the airport is expected to reopen is not known."

That's not a good sign.

Atlantic City International Airport (ACY) was closed as of Oct 29 at 10:00 AM EDT. The date/time when the airport is expected to reopen is Oct 30 at 02:00 PM EDT, and the hurricane went right over them.

The larger airports will have a huge problem when they re-open, hopefully sometime tomorrow. The backlog and number of people who need to get through the system is massive. There will be rolling delays and cancellations for at least 5-7 days. That is the way it always works out. Remember the Jet Blue fiasco? A few weather related cancellations spiraled into a week of cancellations -- and the airports weren't even closed. The big airlines may have more capacity, but it's totally strained right now. Most flights are full, there's no room for excess passengers.

There will be ponchos handed out! It should be fine.

They can change to course to several loops of Central Park, ala the trials.

Some gasoline wrote:

Jon Googala jocksniffer wrote:

I find it funny as hell that people may be losing their homes and businesses may be out of business forever, but people are concerned with whether or not they will get their vacation money back. Pathetic.

I find it funny as hell that people may be losing their lives but people are concerned that they might be losing their homes and businesses. Pathetic.

I find it funny as hell that people may be losing their lives, homes, and businesses may be out of business but some people are still on internet message boards arguing over meaningless crap. Pathetic

rojo wrote:

Maybe everyone won't be able to get there but how many people were flying in on Mon/Tue for a Sunday race - who comes in that early except for some elites.

Raging Bull wrote:

Lots of people. People who are taking a vacation and want to be there for something other than the race.

LGA, JFK, and EWR are all closed with the FAA reporting "The date/time when the airport is expected to reopen is not known."

That's not a good sign.

One of the unique things about the NYCM is that it has a very high percentage of international runners, nearly half the field IIRC. If I were traveling over seas for a marathon, it wouldn't just be for the weekend and I expect that's the case for a significant number of entrants.

I find it funny as hell that the Sun will run out of hydrogen and collapse in 6 billion years destroying all life on Earth and you are concerned about some coral reefs. Pathetic.

The "PR" move would be to hold the elite race to showcase the "recovery" NYC has made in 6 days, but everyone else registered to run will essentially be "donating" their entrance fee money to the recovery effort. That's what I see happening, anyways.

If the race directors don't agree to that, I see Bloomberg not scheduling any PD/FD to staff the race, thus forcing the race directors to cancel the whole thing.

Essentially, whatever Bloomberg wants, Bloomberg gets. Bloomberg wants a full-marathon, he gets it. Just the elites, he gets it. No marathon, he gets it. A stop and frisk policy based on racial profiling, he gets that too.

Believe me, he's also made a big backdoor deal with Obama not to run for President in 2008 or 2012. The deal? Likely to bailout him and his Wall Street buddies.

Come 2016 it will be Bloomberg (I) vs Rick Perry (R) vs Hillary Clinton (D) running for president.

Sorry to make this political, but Bloomberg runs the show on this and I can't see him wanting to host a full 40,000+ people marathon.

Get Serious wrote:

I find it funny as hell that the Sun will run out of hydrogen and collapse in 6 billion years destroying all life on Earth and you are concerned about some coral reefs. Pathetic.

This is the first iteration that actually made me laugh.

Many international tour groups come in early as to see the sights etc. They are a big part of the weeks spend in the city. Many of the retailers that selling (Paragon ) will even have international interpreters to help ! US participants have a big flight day on Thursday. Gives them a expo day and a hang out day prior to the race. Many locals go in Saturday for packet pick up if they don't work in the city.

It's the single biggest increase in city revenues for the year , hotel , food , shopping , tours etc.

This will be a true test of Mary's ability to pull this one off.

People are going to be getting lapped. A loop is not an option.

My trees have never thought about falling. They occupy their minds with more pressing issues such as how much sap they can deposit on my car or how many leaves they can cover my deck with.[/quote]

LOL!