The brouhaha over the non-cancellation earlier in the week then
last moment cancellation of the ING NYC Marathon has been loud and long. In my opinion, the wailing and gnashing of
teeth has been too loud and gone on too long.
I have no dog in the hunt so it gives me a clinical vantage
point from which to have an opinion. I
was not running the race, nor do I have loved ones in the bulls-eye zone of Hurricane
Sandy. So, I have no emotional
connection.
The cancellation was smart.
The timing was stupid. The outcry even more stupid.
The city was/is without power and there were dozens of
deaths. The storm’s destruction will
take weeks maybe months to clean up.
Safety crews and medical workers are running all out. Law enforcement is taxed to the max
protecting citizens from looters and each other as tempers flare over the lack
of power and gasoline.
These same public service people would have had to stop the
hard work of cleanup and rescue to provide support for the race. Tough spot.
The race should have been cancelled early in the week.
The rationale the NYC RoadRunners Club used about revenue
for the city, vendors and sponsors wore/still wears thin. It would have been interesting to listen to
the dialogue between the sanctioning organization, corporate sponsors, the city
and others to understand the line of thinking earlier in the week. Maybe
the “show must go on” decision felt noble.
It may have even been right financially on a spreadsheet, but it made
little common sense in light of the situation.
Then to compound the already bad decision, the NYCRR waited
until some portion of the runner’s were in transit or already there in the
city to cancel the race. Apparently many showed up to find
hotel rooms unavailable as they were being used to house displaced people. Didn’t these runners watch the news or call
ahead?
The reaction has been an interesting human study.
Monitoring Twitter and Facebook feeds reveals
that most/many seem to be modestly annoyed but understanding. Some though are shrill in their critique of
the NYCRR. Some are pissed because of
the no refund policy. (Easy solution,
some bright marketing person at a big budget company like Nike with a $2.4
Billion marketing budget in 2012 should spend $8-10 million and sponsor 2012
runners entry fees for 2013.) It clearly
says on every race entry that the fees are non-refundable. You get injured, you
pull out. You miss a flight, you pull
out. In this case Mother Nature was the
cause, the race pulled out.
Get over it.
This drama is all that is wrong in today’s corporate
sponsored mass marathons. The money being
spent behind these races has turned the sport into a bit of a circus. When smart calls on races are being held
hostage to money, it is a slippery slope.
What’s next?
To the runners bitching about the cancellation- please shut
up. Yes, it is a minor inconvenience. It is microscopic when compared to having a relative killed or seeing a family’s house taken away in
the floodwaters. You sound like a self obsessed clod complaining about missing a race when the devestation looks as bad as it does.
To the people at the sponsors and NYCRR who made decisions
based on the money factor in the face of a serious disaster. Shame on you.
To the people displaced or had relatives killed in the
storm? Sorry for your situation, my
thoughts are with you and I am sorry you have had to listen to this kind of
garbage as you try to put your lives back together.
Me?
I am not going to sign up for a mass corporate sponsored
26.2 ever again. Instead I will look for the small regional races where money
is not the purpose of the race. I doubt
it matters in the scheme of things, but I want my race fees to go to a charity
or a small race director who is doing because they love the sport…not the money
that goes with it.
