The 30th Chicago marathon was run on Sunday, with approximately 45K runners signed up. Temps quickly rose into the upper 80’s. One runner with a pre-existing heart condition died. Hundreds were hospitalized. The race was halted - the halfway point is very close to the start/finish and anyone who had not completed the first 1/2 in 4 hours was told to stop. There have been allegations of water stations not having sufficient water/gatorade. Tons of stories available on-line, here’s one.
DtC has a Pit thread about the race, calling the runners morons. But I was interested in hearing people’s views as to the likely repercussions of this race. Chicago is competing to host the 2016 Olympics. Tho this was a privately sponsored event, ISTM that it can’t help but be a significant black eye for the city. The other cities - Tokyo, Barcelona, Rio - haven’t had such negative pub, and I’d expect them to at least whisper about it to discredit their rival.
The longtime main sponsor, LaSalle Bank, is being bought out by Bank of America. I can imagine them not being thrilled with the type of pub this race is generating.
Finally, you gotta figure someone is going to sue someone. When I ran the marathon, I recalled the waiver being pretty clear as to the risks involved. Personally I don’t think anyone who suffered during the race should be able to sue either the city or race sponsors for their injuries. Wondered if mine was the common opinion.
I think it is likely that this year’s events will have significant repercussions. If the race continues, I could imagine it having a much smaller field and perhaps qualifying requirements. And if I were betting on the host of the 2016 games, today I would think Chicago’s odds were higher than they were last week.
I’m a little mixed feelings as to the issue of water availability. I’ll be interested to hear exactly how much water was available. On one hand I can see that it is reasonably foreseeable that runners would grab a bunch of water to dump on their heads instead of drinking. But OTOH, I’m a pretty big “assumption of the risk” guy, and think if a runner felt there wasn’t enough water, they should have stopped running.
(Sorry if this is more appropriate for Cafe Society or IMHO.)
My undersatnding is that they had “misting stations” and on the news I saw photos of hirehoses/hydrants spraying runners. Usually, temps this time of year are significantly lower than this. When I ran it 3 or so years ago, I think highs were in the mid-60s.
I have my own doubts as to whether or not the city can run an event as large as the Olympics, honestly. I know the marathon was a privately-run event, and I’m sure the city will emphasize that with the Olympics committee, but let’s face it, it is run on city streets, and therefore you would think that the city would at least keep an eye out to make sure that it is being run appropriately. Chicago is not exactly known for being highly organized and efficient (note the budget and scheduling overruns in the building of Millenium Park), and I have been worried that they will actually get the Olympics and it will turn out to be a disaster in some way…that the required infrastructure will not be completed on time, or there will be some kind of screwup with the transportation of athletes that will cause them to miss events, or God knows what…it wouldn’t surprise me in the least.
If I was on the committee deciding about the location for the Olympics, I would be looking at this marathon very, very seriously. I mean, what really has to be done for it? You clear some streets, set up water stations, give everyone their timer, and shout “go.” If that can’t be done right, then how in hell are we supposed to believe they can pull off an event like the Olympics?
Will it impact the Olympic bid. Probably only a small ammount. In the Olympics, probably less than 100 people will compete in the Marathon event. That would be far easier to manage than 4500 runners. Also, a different group of people-probably-are making the Olympic bid.
Yes, 100 people in the marathon, and thousands of others in hundreds of events all over the city. I do believe the city could run a 100-person marathon with no problem. But there is no comparison between a one-time event, even with 4500 runners with what has to happen to run the Olympics.
I wouldn’t worry about the marathon and its impact on the Olympics. According to something I saw yesterday, the USOC said that Chicago wasn’t the US front runner to bid on the 2016 games anyways.
Just a nitpick – the Chicago marathon has 45,000 runners, not 4500. Compared to the number of Olympic Elite Athletes who run such an event? Not a big deal.
Plus, you’ll note that the Elite Athletes who ran Chicago this past weekend (and those who ran Minneapolis/St Paul in very similar conditions with the same water shortage problems) did just fine and ran the 26.2 in 2:12-30:00 or so. (Which is insane!)
You are right about the number. My point was that with the Olympics, it’s not just one event where all the athletes have to be in the same place at basically the same time…and where for the most part, the athletes themselves are responsible for making sure they are there when they are supposed to be.
I did notice that, but my concern with the Olympics in Chicago isn’t that they won’t have enough water for the athletes, it’s that if we run an event like the marathon and can’t even get the amount of water needed right, how can we possibly expect that we can run such a complicated event such as the Olympics?
Just a slight nitpick, Chicago is the US bid city for 2016. The USOC announced that back in April. So they are competing against the likes of Rio, Tokyo, Doha, Madrid, and Baku. (Baku? Really!? Chicago is behind Baku?)
Not surprising that it is going to be hard for Chicago to overcome the still lingering stink of the Atlanta games and international distaste for the Current Occupant. The marathon won’t help matters. I’m sure the organizers have previously pointed to the race as a successful and efficiently run international sporting event in the city. Oops.
Even when I ran and it was only 35 degrees (it was one of those freak things where it had been muggy and 75 the day before and a big wind blew in and poof freezing cold!) they had the fire hydrants on. It was ridiculous. And damn cold. And they still ran out of water and energy bars!
I don’t think this is as big a story as it seems to be in Chicago. I live in a running obsessed locale (Denver/Boulder) and it wasn’t covered in the news at all. Maybe a brief item in the back of the sports pages. I saw something on cnn.com on Sunday but if I had missed that I wouldn’t have known anything at all about it.
Er. It was on the front page of the New York Times on Monday. Death, Havoc, and heat Mar Chicago Race (in the print edition, the photo did not appear at the top of the article).
Is it private in the sense that LaSalle went to city hall and filled out an event permit or is it private in the sense that LaSalle was selected by Chicago to sponsor the city’s marathon? Certainly the later reflects on Chicago’s judgement. In either case, you would expect the city would be involved in any event of this magnitude.
From talking to runners and reading the reports, it sounds like the failures go beyond running out of water. There didn’t seem to be a solid contingency plan, even despite a lead-up of unseasonably hot weather. And the execution of the ad-hoc contingency plan was very poor. There was a lot of confusion among both the runners and volunteers about what was going on, who can keep running, who is re-routed, where the re-route goes, etc.
This is a much smaller event than the Olympics and I can’t see how it doesn’t reflect negatively on the city and hurt the chances of a successful bid.
There are a bunch of debate-points outlined in the OP. You might prefer the other marathon thread.
You know, I’m not sure, but considering that the city has to block off a bunch of streets to hold the thing, I think it goes a little beyond just getting a permit. Once the city is involved to that extent, they need to be really involved in order to ensure that nothing happens that could cause them to get sued. I absolutely would not be surprised, if someone does decide to sue, their lawyer would recommend suing the city as well as LaSalle Bank (the major sponsor/organizer).