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BAA bans Russian, Belrusian runners from this year's Boston Marathon
By adamg on Wed, 04/06/2022 - 8:02pm
The BAA announced today it's banning Russian and Belarusian runners from this year's Marathon because of Ukraine. In a statement, BAA President Tom Grilk said:
Like so many around the world, we are horrified and outraged by what we have seen and learned from the reporting in Ukraine. We believe that running is a global sport, and as such, we must do what we can to show our support to the people of Ukraine.
Russians or Belarusians who don't currently live in their homelands are exempted from the ban, but "will not be able to run under the flag of either country."
Ukrainians who registered for this year's race but cannot make it to Boston will be offered a refund or the chance to run in a future Boston Marathon.
The BAA did not say how many Russians, Belarusians and Ukrainians were scheduled to run in the race.
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Comments
Sounds good to me
Maybe BAA can also adopt the Ukraine flag colors this year too.
Isn't that already the
Isn't that already the marathon's color scheme?
That's the joke
I'm color blind, so wasn't
I'm color blind, so wasn't completely sure. But thanks for the condescension!
B A2
B A2
nvm
nvm
Now if only the BAA would stop discriminating against
local runners and have everyone run in a SINGLE race again, the way it was for decades.
Then most of us might decide the Marathon is an event worth watching again.
How are local runners
How are local runners discriminated against? I really hate the argument that runners from other countries or professional runners shouldn’t be allowed to run, as if other sports in the area (Red Sox, Celtics) don’t also try to get the best athletes.
Uhh?
Local runner here who’s run the Boston Marathon twice. Wut?
Don’t get me wrong, I got issues with the BAA, particularly screwing over 2020 charity runners who were required to raise more than any other marathon on the planet and yet were the only charity runners in a Abbott World Major who did not receive a deferment when 2020 marathon was effectively cancelled.
But go on, tell me of this discrimination that asks local runners to qualify just like everyone else.
Simple.
If you're not in that entitled class they call "elite runner" who get enough of a head start over everybody else that they are effectively running their own private race, you have zero chance of actually winning or placing in the race. It would be one thing if the BAA and the press gave the same level of attention to the top finishers in the "ordinary rabble" category that they do the privileged few they call "elite", but they don't even do that.
And I agree with you about the shameful way they treat people who are running for charitable causes. No different than other "charity" sports events - cough - Pan Mass Challange - cough - though. which is sad.
Seriously
You're delusional enough to think you could place against the elite runners? I admire your confidence, but if you were good enough, you'd be at the front. You gotta earn that right.
Even if "everybody" was at
Even if "everybody" was at the same start time... unless you're in the fortunate few dozen in the first rows, you'd be be stuck in the teeming masses.
Yeah, it would be nice for an amateur to be running neck-and-neck with whatever elite international. In the meantime, people run against the clock. I'm sure whoever starts in group # whatever starting 20 minutes after the elites - if that person runs 2:04:00, they'll get some attention.
I had an open mind at first
And considered perhaps that I was unaware of stipulation that (intentionally or not) was hindering local amateur runners from competing.
But now I think you may just need to go for a good run.
A guy with a 2:50 qualifying
A guy with a 2:50 qualifying time isn't going to suddenly finish in 2:08 and win. A guy with a 2:25 qualifying time might somehow win. He'll start running when the gun goes goes off, even if his toe isn't right at the line.
Can you point me to a single race with more than a few runners
that doesn't have different waves based on pace? I've run quite a few across the country and other than a couple where the field was so small there was no point, every single one has let the runners who are expected to finish first go up to the front. Given that Boston also requires you to qualify, if you had any decent chance of competing with the elites, they'd know and move you up there anyway.
some clarification
Boston Marathon runner here, I'm typically part of the ordinary rabble. Some clarification:
There are timing chips on the back of our bib numbers that activate when we cross the start line and the finish line (if you check the finish line you'll see a speed bump sort of thing on that ground, that's the object that records us). We're timed and placed based on our net time between the start and finish line pads, not the gun time.
On the start line the athletes are sorted by their fastest recent marathon time, with the "elite" wave athletes having the fastest 100 seed times of all entrants (or thereabouts). The elite name is arbitrary and can change from year to year.
Organizing athletes by expected finish time is necessary. I've been in tons of races where walkers and people that overestimate their ability stand by the start line and when the gun goes off they clog up the race course, which is frustrating for the faster athletes because they're being blocked and it's potentially dangerous for the walkers because they're more prone to get knocked down / trampled (it can be hard to see short people in a crowd). In a typical year the Boston Marathon has about 30,000 athletes racing so race management sorts everyone into groups to avoid these issues: 4 waves divided into 9 subgroups each, with the "elite" wave up in front. In doing this each athlete starts the race with people around their skill level which makes the start much, much smoother.
There are a lot of people so yeah, only the top athletes tend to be covered. In the past the BAA has covered other athletes though, like the last place finisher. They usually have cool stories. I think one year the last finisher was someone paralyzed from the chest down and another year was a 70 year old lady who got lost on the course.
Um
They do run in a single race, with staggered start times. I've run a different, less prominent, marathon and they did it the same way.
Having elite runners makes the event worth watching. Are you really doing to tell us that you head up to Lowell or down to Providence every year to watch their marathons? I bet anything that Boston gets more spectators by a longshot, and we won't even start on television coverage.
Half and half.
Half and half.
I have no problem with the staggered starts.
Having elite runners doesn't make the event worth watching. That makes it worth dropping in - taking an hour off work or whatever to watch the leaders go by. That makes it worth televising (maybe) beyond the local area.
Having local runners makes the event worth having and watching - finding a spot along the course, preferably in front of a friend's apartment in Brookline where Mimosas are being served, and spending a chunk of the day on it, and being out there cheering for friends/coworkers/random schlubs.
---
Like July 4th on the Esplanade - greater Boston long ago sold a bit of its soul on its great local event to become a national event.
...this is great, this is popular, it reflects well on "us", let's widen its reach, let's attract a wider audience, oops - gotta change a few things to fit our product for wider appeal...
Speaking of Half
Compare the crowds for the BAA Marathon and the BAA Half Marathon. Yeah, being an international event brings with it a certain level of prestige.
And while you are at the Half, cheer for me. I'm so happy that it's in November this year. I'll take the possibility of freezing weather over those humid Halves I had before everything shut down.
I much prefer the local
I much prefer the local smaller more and less commercialized runs like the Turkey Trot. We need more runs that are like costume parties with music, food and beer.
Yeah and if only the Red Sox
Yeah and if only the Red Sox would stop discriminating against locals and let me bat leadoff. What are you talking about, man?
Why so sore?
Do you keep trying to BQ and miss out by a couple of minutes?
(You've been whining about the marathon for years and yet it still goes on and the vast majority of people like it. Take the L, and take the day off of work, grab a beer and enjoy it like everyone else, especially the people not running it.)
But also, if you do want a "local" marathon run by people who aren't elites, there's one for you now. Same weekend. Cool-sounding group of people. Go run that, and stfu already.
It must be spring, roadman is ragging about the Marathon
Things you can count on: Death, taxes...and roadman bitching about the Marathon.
Things change, get over it. Coke used to be a nickel, the North End used to be Italian, and the Marathon used to be a cute affair with amateurs.
Oh yeah!!!
Well the P.A.A. (Putin Athletic Association) is not going to let Americans run under the flag of the USA in the upcoming Moscow Marathon on September 1 in 2022 either. So there. Two can play at this game. Surprisingly to me a Ukrainian won the very 1st running of this event. I think good old Vlad is a very poor loser. /s
How many?
The BAA could tell you … if their entry list wasn't crashed (it's crashed about half the time, and when it was up I only scraped domestic entries).
Have the Russians been banned?
Or have they been "banned" but still get to run under the Russian Marathon Committee banner?
The elite Belarus runners
The elite Belarus runners weren't coming to Boston anyway.
They've all "been volunteered" to Ukraine marathon duty. Try running 26.2 miles from your border carrying two full five-gallon gas cans for an APC convoy stuck somewhere Chernihiv.
Your medal
Will be delivered by drone.
You think that's a hard race?
The return trip is a 26.2 mile run while carrying a stolen refrigerator.
https://www.newsweek.com/ukraine-says-russian-army-looting-it-redeploys-...
The important thing to
The important thing to remember is that you don't need to outrun the tractor - you only need to make sure you have a teammate closer to the tractor than you are and that you can outrun them.
Seems wrong
Forbidding from competing under the Russian or Belarusian flag? Sure, makes sense.
But forbidding citizens of those countries from even competing doesn't make any sense in terms of sanctions, geopolitical pressure, etc.
EDIT: On the other hand, it's just a sporting event, so I can't really get *too* worked up about it.
But we're cool with (our
But we're cool with (our European allies) paying Russia $1 billion per day for gas?
Somehow
I don't think that's something that the BAA has any control over.
Right. They must do something
But what if this marathon was an opportunity for some Russians to run away?
Hmm...
Guessing someone's watched "Torn Curtain" a few too many times.
So underwhelmed, but as long
So underwhelmed, but as long as the BAA feels good about itself, it's okay.