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BAA issues statement on Sept. 14 Marathon
By adamg on Thu, 05/21/2020 - 7:32pm
The statement doesn't actually say anything about whether or not the race is still on, but it is, indeed, a statement.
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Comments
Magoo sez
Magoo be like “huh?” Magoo.
Marathon
Just call it this year, for chrissakes. I never understood the Marathon in the first place. It's about as exciting as watching paint dry.
To each his own, eh?
And I speak here as somebody who once got paid to watch Marathon-related paint dry (a big day in Hopkinton was when they repaint the starting line - school kids come out, town officials say a word or two and everybody has a grand old time crossing the new line, except the year I was assigned to cover it for the local paper and it was really, really humid and the paint wasn't drying, and we all just stood there watching paint dry).
Don't like it? Don't go. It's not really that hard to ignore. More room for the rest of us to go out and cheer on the thousands of runners who are running just because they can, not because they expect to win.
It also holds a certain
It also holds a certain meaning for those of us who lived here in 2013.
I found it mildly interesting that anyone with half a brain would ever try to run that far in one shot, but in 2014, seeing all those people back there to run it again after what happened the year before, the Marathon really is a special event.
In 2013 two knuckleheads
In 2013 two knuckleheads decided it would be a good idea to hurt people. The city's overreaction to it (not just the double lockdown by government, but the way people gobbled up the 'Boston Strong' bit) elevated the incident way out of proportion. It's bizarre and ironic at the same time.
Once upon a time
the Marathon was truly a special event. And watching it was fun. Then the BAA decided to turn it into just another commercial enterprise, and created the current class system whereby the "elite" runners get their own race.
Time to return the Marathon to a single-race for all amateur event that everyone can equally participate in. That would really show that we're Boston Strong.
I knew you couldn't resist
The Boston Marathon is a world class event. The change was something that had to be done to maintain that status. Otherwise, it would be just another 10k-ish event that everybody loves to hate. I really wonder if you would be able to close all the roads from Hopkinton to Boston and have all the coordination for an amateur event. I doubt it.
People like seeing the best marathoners in the world. Sorry you don't like something hundreds of thousands of others enjoy.
Not hard to ignore?
Are you kidding? Try getting around that area on that day if you've actually got something to do, like work, like people that actually, uh, LIVE here? It really wasn't so bad before it became the obscenely commercial event it has become, catering to tourists and suburbanites, exactly like the July 4 celebration and First Night. Multitudes of blow-ins standing around who are not even exactly sure why they are doing it.
That's just the price we're going to have to pay
If we want to be a world class city*, we need these events.
* by the standards of the chattering elites who live in Milton, Cambridge, Newton, etc... You know, the people who want the cool events without the personal disruption.
Newton
You do realize that the Boston Marathon runs through 5 miles of Newton? Its length in Newton is considerably longer than in Boston.
Give me a break
It happens once a year, and it’s the same date every single time. Just go out of town that day if it really bothers you that much to see other people having a good time.
Ignorance is Bliss
Thousands of people from all over the world all together without a vaccine, what could possibly go wrong? It's not about fear of getting it if you go, it's the fear of the spread you ignorant moron!!!
not about you
Maybe, just maybe, the marathon isn't about you
It's all good fun until
It's all good fun until runners and spectators start peeing on your property.
well
Many of you "NIMBY's" dont understand, the Boston Marathon is the PREMIER marathon in the world. This is not opinion. This this the gold standard for which all other marathons are rated. Runners around the world dream of getting a number to run this course.
I've been to marathons around the world to watch my wife run and i've overheard other runners/family members say "i hope this lets me qualify for boston".
And all of this has NOTHING to do with the events of 2013. That just solidified that its something undeniably linked to Boston and its pride. Disliking this is like disliking the Red Sox, Patriots, etc.. Its fine if you dont care for baseball, but you can't deny that the Red Sox are something special to the city and its history.. just like the Marathon.
FYI, as much I care about the marathon.. I still dont know if its the best idea to hold it this year.
We'll see.
A differing opinion
Your entire argument is predicated upon the fact that marathons in and of themselves are somehow important. And I just don't see that they are.
As a part of running
Yes, marathons are for some reason the pinnacle, and Boston ranks at or near the top (with London, New York, Tokyo, and Berlin)
To put it another way, could you point out a 5 or 10 kilometer race that is of note worldwide?
Well Said
Good post.
I don't think we should have the marathon this year from a public health standpoint - not so much people outside running, but people traveling here.
Shirley
you can get an account here and post under your own name if you want, just FYI.
Parsing the statement
"We at the BAA are very concerned about being concerned. Like the rest of you, we have no clue whether the race will happen in any form on September 14. All signs point to no, but it's possible it will be an elites-only event or a local-runners-and-elites-only event. But we have 24,000 other runners who we are sending this out to, and we want to maintain the illusion that something might actually happen, even though we know the likelihood that 26,000 people from outside of Massachusetts (including 6,000 international runners) are going to want to come and get on school buses to the start and stand in a cramped tent in what is asking to be a super-spreader event. So we're going to make broad statements like this one which are really just for statements for the sake of making statements because really, WTF else do we have to do?"
"we'll cancel if we must, but
"we'll cancel if we must, but it hasn't reached that point yet. We'll let you know."
It obviously should not
It obviously should not happen. Just cancel it and we’ll have a big party in 2021.
Probably 2022 but agreed
Seems like a hard push this year. Outside, but will attract large crowds, require a state holiday (and waste a school day at a presumably open time when we may be shutting down for the winter for second wave).
Hopefully can hold this in April 2021 being an optimist, 2022 being a realist.
I think this also says that
I think this also says that they're not gonna let the Mass PTB's off the hook from helping make the call. So don't expect the Marathon to cancel itself.
This Brookliner loves the Marathon
I love the Marathon.
I used to love it more, before the metal fences prevented crossing the street. Now along the entire Brookline length, 3 or 4 miles, there's like four crossings. This is a huge problem for people who are walking somewhere, because the route (Beacon St) splits North Brookline in half. Folks who want to cross the street have to walk as much as an extra 1.5 miles to get to a crossing and then to their destination.
I'd love to see the Town push back and demand more crossings, maybe once every 1/2 mile or better. It would require more detail officers, but so what? For all that corporate money, they ought to use more of it to mitigate the negative impacts the race has on people who have things to do that day.
From someone who used to live in Brookline
I agree. Not opposed to the marathon at all but wish there was a way to cross the street to get to points north.