Marathon

[BigRedBuster]

I cannot believe they are running this on Sunday.

 

Everything that can be done to help people out with another storm coming and they put their efforts together so they can run a marathon through all the rubble.

[Whistlebritches]

I assume you're talking about the New York marathon. Seems strange to me as well. They're playing NFL football there this weekend too.

[AR Husker Fan]

Well, look at it from another angle. Both events generate millions in revenue for local business who will be desperate for the income. Plus, it helps the return to normalcy. So, it has some much-needed benefits as well.

[VA Husker Fan]

I run a lot of marathons, and I ran NY 3 years ago, and this seems strange to me. But it's not black and white. The course doesn't go through the hardest hit areas. The marathon brings in a lot of income to the city. It's not clear that they are really diverting resources from hurricane recovery, although they probably are, and you could certainly argue that any resources diverted is too much. But would you also say that every other entertainment-type activity be canceled until everyone has power? The football game, for one? Broadway shows? Movies? Nightclubs? Maybe the mayor really made the decision based on what's right overall for the city.

 

I have friends who are running it, and friends who have canceled. If I was in it this year, I'd be contacting a non-running friend who lives up there to get his take, rather than listen to the media who may be sensationalizing this, and to the loudest people on the internet. If I had to make the decision on my own, I'd probably cancel. It just doesn't seem right. From what I can tell, public sentiment is against it (again, the media may have jumped on one side of this story), and I wouldn't want to run a race where the host townspeople really didn't want me.

[ZRod]

It's not going to be a popular decision no matter what Bloomberg chooses. I think Mike and Mike said the marathon brings in about 300 million dollars to the city, so it would definitely be another blow to local business. Plus, I'm not very familiar with marathon training but, I would guess rescheduling would really mess with people's training regiments and you may loose quiet a few participants. I think the only major sporting event canceled or postponed was the Nets/Knicks game and that was do mostly to the fact that the mass transit under the arena (how most people would get there) was shutdown.

 

And like everyone has said the flip side is hindering recovery efforts, which is huge in and of itself.

[BigRedBuster]

I run a lot of marathons, and I ran NY 3 years ago, and this seems strange to me. But it's not black and white. The course doesn't go through the hardest hit areas. The marathon brings in a lot of income to the city. It's not clear that they are really diverting resources from hurricane recovery, although they probably are, and you could certainly argue that any resources diverted is too much. But would you also say that every other entertainment-type activity be canceled until everyone has power? The football game, for one? Broadway shows? Movies? Nightclubs? Maybe the mayor really made the decision based on what's right overall for the city.

 

I have friends who are running it, and friends who have canceled. If I was in it this year, I'd be contacting a non-running friend who lives up there to get his take, rather than listen to the media who may be sensationalizing this, and to the loudest people on the internet. If I had to make the decision on my own, I'd probably cancel. It just doesn't seem right. From what I can tell, public sentiment is against it (again, the media may have jumped on one side of this story), and I wouldn't want to run a race where the host townspeople really didn't want me.

 

Doesn't the route go through the tip of Staton Island, over to NJ and back to the south end of Manhattan and back to central park? I thought I saw views of that area of Staton Island hit hard.

 

I'm sorry but they shut down streets for this and they obviously had to spend a large amount of time and effort cleaning debris from the streets that are going to be ran on. If I were on a street where I still didn't have electricity because trucks can't get down to work on it because of sand, trees and other storm debris and that didn't get cleaned up so that these people can run the marathon, I would be pissed.

 

I do a lot of running also. No marathons but 5ks and 10ks. I find this really odd.

 

On top of that, I saw a report where huge generators were brought into central park for the management and media for the marathon. Meanwhile, there are people in homes freazing because they have no electricity. You think those could be used?

[HSKR]

Well, look at it from another angle. Both events generate millions in revenue for local business who will be desperate for the income. Plus, it helps the return to normalcy. So, it has some much-needed benefits as well.

 

I guess if your definition of normalcy includes kicking people out of hotels who went there because they have no utilities or worse yet, homes. Ask the people who are pooping in the hallways of the buildings they live in if they care about the economic impact of the marathon.

[GSG]

This says it's cancelled:

 

http://news.yahoo.com/storm-hit-yorkers-uneasy-decision-hold-marathon-015459663--sector.html

[BigRedBuster]

Finally some common sense.

 

Now, one option they could have looked into is actually running it at a different location and then donating a large portion of the money made to the relief effort.

[VA Husker Fan]

I run a lot of marathons, and I ran NY 3 years ago, and this seems strange to me. But it's not black and white. The course doesn't go through the hardest hit areas. The marathon brings in a lot of income to the city. It's not clear that they are really diverting resources from hurricane recovery, although they probably are, and you could certainly argue that any resources diverted is too much. But would you also say that every other entertainment-type activity be canceled until everyone has power? The football game, for one? Broadway shows? Movies? Nightclubs? Maybe the mayor really made the decision based on what's right overall for the city.

 

I have friends who are running it, and friends who have canceled. If I was in it this year, I'd be contacting a non-running friend who lives up there to get his take, rather than listen to the media who may be sensationalizing this, and to the loudest people on the internet. If I had to make the decision on my own, I'd probably cancel. It just doesn't seem right. From what I can tell, public sentiment is against it (again, the media may have jumped on one side of this story), and I wouldn't want to run a race where the host townspeople really didn't want me.

 

Doesn't the route go through the tip of Staton Island, over to NJ and back to the south end of Manhattan and back to central park? I thought I saw views of that area of Staton Island hit hard.

It starts at the Staten Island end of the Verrazano Narrows bridge, staging area at Fort Wadsworth. I don't think this part was damaged, but closing the bridge for the start of the race is an impact.

 

From there is goes into Brooklyn, Queens, over the 59th St bridge, up to the Bronx, back down to Central Park. It never goes into NJ. It never goes south of 59th St in Manhattan.

 

I'm sorry but they shut down streets for this and they obviously had to spend a large amount of time and effort cleaning debris from the streets that are going to be ran on. If I were on a street where I still didn't have electricity because trucks can't get down to work on it because of sand, trees and other storm debris and that didn't get cleaned up so that these people can run the marathon, I would be pissed.

Given that course route, I don't think that section required that much clean up, so I don't think it diverted much from where clean up was really needed. But yes, it had to divert some, which isn't good.

 

I do a lot of running also. No marathons but 5ks and 10ks. I find this really odd.

 

On top of that, I saw a report where huge generators were brought into central park for the management and media for the marathon. Meanwhile, there are people in homes freazing because they have no electricity. You think those could be used?

That report is true, the marathon owns generators that it used for it's own event. Whether they could've safely been transported elsewhere and used where there was a real need, I don't know for sure, but I suspect so. This would've helped a few people.

 

I'm not sure how much of a dent the resources used for the marathon would've put in the recovery efforts.

 

Now, one option they could have looked into is actually running it at a different location and then donating a large portion of the money made to the relief effort.

This was considered, but they said that the event is almost automatic on the current course because of all the previous runs and planning that they thought there would be a lot more support and problems on any altered course.

 

As reported above, the race has been canceled. This is the right move, but they should've done this days ago, before people traveled to NYC and put an extra strain on the city. I guess the city still gets a lot of the economic impact, but this just kind of seems like a loss all the way around.

 

I've heard more than a few runners looking for a way to volunteer to help on the non-race days, so this gives them one more day to help. That's assuming they can really be of help. They need electrical workers and heavy equipment operators. Are there other jobs for volunteers, or would people just be getting in the way?

 

Kicking NY residents out of hotels for marathon guests was bad. I don't know how common that was. I've heard reports of marathoners bunking together to help with the room situation. Again, they should've thought this through earlier and canceled it before people showed up.

[knapplc]

A friend just arrived in New York to run the marathon. Her plane landed maybe an hour after they announced it was canceled. This could have been handled better.

[zoogs]

I'm wondering what net good cancelling it will do, aside from appeasing the upset. Hopefully a lot. Hope those 'resources' saved are put to serious good use.

[Ziggy]

I think the resources expended on a race is a slap in the face of all the people without power, water, food, gas or a house. All those people controlling the crowds for the race could grab a shovel, give blood, collect food. Just running a generator to run the admin aspect of the race seems trivial compared to the loss of life and property.

[zoogs]

Yeah, but will they? Will that generator instead be used for relief and recovery purposes? Is there going to be a significant amount of material difference in help available made by the cancellation of the race, or is it mainly about the perceived slight? Because there are certainly material downsides, one being the hit to the local economy which could really use it, another being the individual hits to people who have made arrangements to travel for the race and are now just left hanging.

 

I thought it would've been a great symbol of resiliency and a beacon for New York.

 

And if the race is going to be cancelled, as mentioned before, what other activities or events should not be allowed to occur, and for how long? The Giants are playing on Sunday, two days from now and the same day on which the Marathon was scheduled. The Knicks are live in Madison Square Garden tonight.

 

I'm not necessarily opposed to the cancellation, but my perspective is I really, really hope this has serious material benefits to the recovery effort.

[VA Husker Fan]

Yeah, a large amount of this is PR and morale, which does count for something, but come Monday, life will still suck for a lot of people there. There is some impact with shutting down roadways and especially bridges on Sunday.

 

Pretty good meltdown on a running internet board I follow, but nothing like here after a loss. The runners realize this is what needed to be done, just upset that they were told it was on and they should come to help with the economic recovery, only to have the welcome mat pulled from out from under them once they got there. They realize their problems are small compared to loss of home that some have suffered.