Marathon You Can Do It

In a New York Times article it was reported that in 2008 NYC marathon 46 runners were disqualified for having taking a short cut to the finish line and an untold number of runners escape detection, marathon officials said.

Mary Wittenberg, the race director, called the number of cheats shocking.

Shortcuts methods at NYC marathon

According to the organisers the two most common form of cheating are

1. Stepping off the course and rejoining it closer to the finish, often sneaking into Central Park once they enter Manhattan near Mile 16.
2. Participants running with someone else bib. According to 2008 records, a 19-year-old in the field gave his bib to someone five years older, and that person posted the best time in the 18-19 division.

The biggest reason or motivation of taking a short cut is to secure a coveted qualification time for the Boston Marathon

written by Constantine Njeru \\ tags: Best Time, Bib, Boston Marathon, Central Park, Finish Line, Manhattan, marathon runners, Motivation, New York City, New York City Marathon, New York Times, Nyc Marathon, Organisers, Participants, Qualification Time, Race Director, Shortcuts, Wittenberg, York City Marathon, York Times Article

Marathon business is a competitive business. In the USA alone over 400 marathons are organised each year targeting something like 400,000 runners.

The big marathons such as New York Marathon, Boston marathon and the Chicago marathon have no problem attracting runners, they dont even need to spend alot on marketing because it is the runners that come to them. But for many marathon races how to attract runners is a big headache.

Any race director who is organising a marathon and is wondering how he can attract more runners needs to read the following case studies. I read them from raonoke dot com.

Case Studies of formers struggling marathons and how they solved the problem

The Country Music Marathon in Nashville, Tennessee

The race started 10 years ago with hilly course, and participation fell off from 7,500 the first year to 6,300 the second year, said Adam Zocks, the race’s general manager. Organizers flattened the course and added a half-marathon. Last year, the races had a combined 31,000 participants.

The Mount Rushmore Marathon.

The mount Rushmore marathon in the black hills of South dakota which had a mountainous course has seen steady growth in recent years, says Steve Kurtenbach, president of All Sports Central, which organizes the race. He attributed part of that to adding a second, easier marathon course that now draws more runners than the original.

From this two case studies is clear that if the marathon course is hilly and tough a marathon race will find it difficult attracting willing runners, if a race directors manages to convince some novice local runners to participate, they will have a hard time such that they will not participate again.

But what about a race that with an easy flat course but struggles to attract runners.

Few marathon race can survive on local participation. The race director and the organisers must target runners from out of town. To get out of town runners to come the organisers must give them a good reason, rather than the marathon alone, as to why they should visit the town.

Like the organisers of country music marathon added “part of the Country Music Marathon’s success was people realizing that Nashville was a great destination apart from the race.”

Another well market marathon is the Suntrust Richmond marathon, the marathon targets first time marathon runners with the tagline “America’s most friendliest marathon”

written by Constantine Njeru \\ tags: Black Hills, Black Hills Of South Dakota, Boston Marathon, chicago marathon, Country Music Marathon, half marathon, Hilly Course, Marathon Boston, Marathon Course, Marathon Race, Marathon Races, marathon runners, Marathons, Mount Rushmore, Nashville Tennessee, New york marathon, Race Director, Race Directors, Sports Central, Zocks