No Marathoner Left Behind: The Growing Trend of Major Marathons

We touched on this topic a little earlier in the month with a slant on those that enter major marathons being ill prepared and or entering just to walk it. Today, the New York Times relays a similar sentiment in regards to just how many applicants are granted spots in what once were considered elite running events such as the Boston, Chicago, and New York marathons.

It seems there are mixed feelings among the runners toward the allowable race event registrants. Many veterans of said notable races …”pray and hope they don’t get mowed down” and are disgruntled with their finishing times, blaming the massive crowd of ‘runners’ for a less than satisfactory opportunity excel toward goals. On the organizers side there tends to be a consistent thought that too many is too many, however, this has not kept the events from increasing slowly over time.

There obviously has to be some sort of cut off at some point…streets do not stretch and there are only so many hours and volunteers in a day.

What are your thoughts?

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