Posted on 10/10/2019 6:44:19 PM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
After years of snafus and miscues, a revamped Portland Marathon and its concurrent half marathon—under new management and with a new route through downtown—went off on Sunday and garnered largely positive reviews.
But for about 15 to 20 of the race’s fastest runners—organizers don’t yet have an exact number who were affected—this edition of the 48-year-old race was another exercise in frustration.
By mile 9, the eventual race winner, Kallin Khan, had already opened up a sizable lead. With a motorcycle guiding him, he was out of sight of the trailing pack.
Runners were supposed to bear right from the Naito Parkway onto Ross Island Way. But the turn lacked clear signs. Instead, several runners following Khan and the lead woman continued on Naito Parkway. Some went almost a mile too far, which involved a significant climb, before realizing they had gone the wrong way. (The cars whizzing by them at 50 miles per hour were also a sign that something was amiss.)
Dan McDowell, 37, of Portland was one of those runners. “Probably the first inklings that something was off was about a half mile off the course,” McDowell said. After a mile, he and others running near him were sure they had gone the wrong way.
He had been hoping for a sub-2:45 time. He has already run 29 road marathons, and eight of those he has finished right around 2:46.
McDowell said he had a “little bit of a meltdown” and then decided to start running to where he knew his wife would be waiting for him. He dropped out to save his legs for another day.
(Excerpt) Read more at runnersworld.com ...
Like “Wrong Turn”, but without the inbred cannibals.
DANG!
It seems as if adequate route-marking would be one of the easiest things to do in a road race.
Also, all runners who take themselves seriously wear super fitness-plus-GPS beebers. Couldn’t the race organizers have them download a Mapquest to their watches?
These days we define ‘success’ by marathon runners NOT being blown to bits by pressure-cooker bombs. :(
I guess it would be too much to expect these devoted athletes to drive/walk/run the expected course prior to the race? It’s done routinely in motor sports.
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