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Boston Marathon postponed until Sept. 14
By adamg on Fri, 03/13/2020 - 10:25am
Mayor Walsh made the announcement this morning. The reason should be obvious.
Walsh said that extended weekend will be turned into a sort of holiday aimed at both the race and at helping local businesses recover from Covid-19-related losses.
He cautioned any determined runners to not try to run the Marathon course on April 20. Roads will not be shut and no first responders will be around to help anybody who pulls a Loon Mountain and tries to get from Hopkinton to Boston.
Walsh said officials never considered running the race on April 20 without spectators.
He said officials chose that date because August would be too hot, Labor Day is when tens of thousands of colleges students move in, and Columbus Day is when many colleges have their famliy weekends.
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Comments
Yikes.
A week after Labor Day, college migration (presumably), pennant race (ha!). Quite a logistical challenge, but I'm sure they'll handle it!
Also
A Monday! That's not a holiday! Should be a lively day!
It will have to become a holiday
at least for Boston University, and probably also for Boston College, Wellesley, Emerson, and perhaps MIT.
"It will be a holiday"
The mayor said, without giving more specifics.
That could be a really warm day
It's still summer. Maybe we'll get lucky, but I don't want to see a bunch of runners going down from hyponatremia or heat stroke.
Plenty of races are run in
Plenty of races are run in warm/hot weather, and in September more runners will be already acclimated to running in warm weather anyway.
Besides, back in the day, the marathon used to start at 12 noon, for all runners. Nowadays it's a weird rolling start between 9:30 and 11:30.
A marathon in spring weather can be tough
My visions are of the temps in the low 80s with the dew point in the low 60s. That's the weather that makes my 5 mile runs shitty. It's going to be tough for the runners.
Heck, I even dread the BAA 10-K in late June because it's too warm, and the sun when you are coming back on Comm Ave is like salt on the wound.
October would have been better, but what can you do?
Agreed, the 10k sucks.
Agreed, the 10k sucks.
September could be cool and dry or freakishly hot. I suppose they wanted to keep the half marathon so didn't schedule it too close.
Do it in October
This makes no sense. September 14 is as warm as early June. Of the past 10 years, 4 have been 81˚ or above. This is asking for heat stroke. This could well kill people.
Columbus Day might not work, but how about the weekend after (HOCR, though), or after that (not HOCR) or even the second weekend in November (the first weekend is NYC Marathon).
My full thoughts here. I've written to my legislators, who would have to approve any holiday designation. It sounds like they didn't actually look at the weather and just assumed September wasn't too hot.
Thank you Ari
This is an easily-understood data-driven overview of the problem, with a clear set of actionable alternatives (much like your MBTA posts). While event organizers and the City are looking at one set of logistical challenges, distance runners are looking at another.
Postponing an event to prevent potential health issues, and then rescheduling it to a time GUARANTEED to cause health issues, is counterproductive.
"Without spectators" would be literally impossible
since the course is 26.2 miles of public streets. It might be possible to control access to the final mile in Boston, but not to some random suburban residential block in West Newton, Wellesley, or Natick.
The only question is this:
What took them so long to make the decision?
I suspect "postpone or cancel
I suspect "postpone or cancel" were recognized as only options early this week, but it took "so long"* because they wanted to have a postpone plan with a makeup date set, not some vague "we'll try to come up with a date later"
* really, it's been one of the least important items in all of this, this week.
Making the arrangements with
Making the arrangements with town governments etc likely took a while.
They also had to be sure enough of the runners would still come on a different date.
Lots of decisions got made all at once yesterday
All the local museum closings, the NHL, Major League Baseball, the NCAA tournaments, etc. This was just one more.
What about the first day of Kindergarten?
When will BPS begin Kindergarten?
"The facts don't justify the fear" -- NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo
Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D-NY) just said, verbatim, "the facts don't justify the fear." What happens if life is back to "normal" by April 20th? Most people aren't going to shelter in place for the next 5 weeks. Just look at the dismay of many who were told to stay home for a few hours during the brief Marathon Bombers manhunt. Short of dead bodies in the street from Corona, people will resume their daily routines sooner rather than later. Travel restrictions will mean some foreign competitors can't come. There's always next year.
I'm all for caution but why not simply announce that a final decision will be made April 6th, two weeks before the race? Organizers could offer a hassle-free option for all 2020 qualifiers to defer training and running until the 2021 race. Just like every year, each runner can choose whether or not this year is good for them. By April 6th, organizers should know if they have enough support staff and how many plan on running. Crowd control, if necessary, can be managed. Decide then, don't rush to judgment.
I wish you luck
Elderly people are most susceptible to this virus.
Here's hoping that you can shelter in place.
Science is the reason to announce now and not later
We're experiencing a pandemic, and it's not going to go away in a month. It will be worse in a month. Listen to some scientists for a change. It might save your pathetic life.
"Pull a Loon Mountain" - hahahaha
My #1 candidate to replace "Take my talents to South Beach"
Walsh vs. Baker
I'm curious why this is a Walsh decision and not Baker's? Anyone know?
I get why the NYC Marathon would be a DeBlasio decision because it's only run in the 5 boroughs.
**Please note that I believe this was right decision and not arguing that it should still be run**