Tuesday, October 30, 2012

NYC Marathon Contemplates Shift to Run/Swim/Run/Swim Format (w/fake photos!)

After Hurricane Sandy devastated the east coast earlier this week with wind and 6+ inches of rain, directors of the New York City (NYC) Marathon are rumored to be contemplating a run/swim/run/swim format for the race scheduled for this Sunday, November 4th. The new format would have runners swimming ~1000 yards at mile 4 in Brooklyn, as well as at mile 25 at 59th street near the finish.

(30 foot waves crash on the Statue of Liberty on Monday...one of many fake photos to hit Twitter this weekend)
Ha, ha...all kidding aside, I hope all of our east coast bretheren are hanging in there. The NYC Marathon is still scheduled to be run this Sunday, and major props go to NYPD, NYFD, and the many volunteers for keeping the show on track. As much as I would love to show my support, I'm  finding it impossible to get out there now that my original flights were all cancelled, so I'm going to have to pass this year.

For those who can make it to the race, good luck! For those who can't, the cancellation policy has been extended to Saturday, 11/3*, which allows you a guaranteed entry for 2013 (you will have to pay again though). Be sure to add some extra time to get around since...

...it could be tough to get a cab...


...crowds may not be as big in Brooklyn this year...


...intersections could be tough to navigate...


...and the subways are seeing some high water levels (yowza!)...


...once the hurricane hits the peak, it's going to be crazy!


* Runners can cancel by email to reghelp@nyrr.org until 11:59 p.m. Saturday or by mail to Marathon Cancellations, New York Road Runners, 9 East 89th St., New York, NY 10128 with a postmark of Saturday or earlier. Include in your cancellation notification your entry number, name, address, date of birth and the words "cancel my entry." Those who cancel due to weather will be guaranteed entry into the 2013 race, but their 2012 entry fee will not be refunded and they will have to pay the fee again in 2013. Entrants who applied through an official charity partner must contact the charity directly to cancel.

8 comments:

  1. The price of NYC Marathon has been criticized, so it's good news that the participants will now get their money's worth! Especially after Ironman New York 2013 was cancelled, there is a great demand for multisport events. Hope they will add a bike leg too :)

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  2. I think all those pics are fakes....

    http://www.snopes.com/photos/natural/sandy.asp

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  3. As someone who was supposed to run the NYC marathon I find the whole situation in trying to get ANY information from the NYCRR website or social media an incredibly frustrating and sad experience. And an awful lot of people (a surprisingly large percentage) don't use ANY social media. The deadline for cancellation was noon today, news outlets report they were 'considering' changing that to Saturday but as of yet they haven't posted a single thing about it. We don't need them to drop everything but a little update would be great and not this "stay out of Central Park" stuff. I understand how over worked they are atm but really...

    I was fortunate in that Hawaiian Airlines cancelled my Tuesday flight and was honest about when I could actually get to JFK (next week maybe) so i cancelled early. Others are still waiting to find out anything. Just a bit of information on a website would have been wonderful. Too bad really, I was looking forward to this race as much as I looked forward to competing in last years IMWC. It's left such a bad taste (the lack of any information) that I'm not certain I want to bother with them next year.

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  4. Cool pictures. I want to scuba the tube!

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  5. i think the city cab one is real i did see a real picture of that on yahoo they were all parked in town and under water, one of the subways does have water up to the ceiling after they inspected 7 of them hit badly by water, statue one was fake you put up, what about battery park that had water over the top of it to.
    nathan

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  6. I found an interesting post on the cancellation of the marathon written by Toby Tanser (a NYC running legend) and here it goes:

    =====
    So, I sit here with about 400-emails to answer. To runners who signed up to do this race, the majority who signed up not just to run, but to raise money for a purpose. Who then, when they heard, or saw firsthand Hurricane Sandy AGAIN donated. Runners; the changemakers. To the ones who saved up for years, like the A
    borigines group with Rob De Castella – a once in a lifetime experience, how can we apologize? To the man whose dying daughter gave me an entry to this year’s marathon who has raised thousands for cancer research. To runners in a whole who have raised a mind boggling 650-million for Cancer research…
    Sunday will come and Sunday will go – as if it was a Saturday.

    No resources are being shifted that aren’t needed– who knows better than Bloomberg, you or I? The Red Cross are saying “We don’t need more volunteers, we need money,” and that is what the runners were doing. Who was listening to the Red Cross?

    Raising Dollars — in the first day near to $3-million before the fanfare started… All these people who are shouting, “We’re going on a clean up on Sunday instead on running” – where were you on the day of the hurricane, or the day after… Why do you have to wait to Sunday for a Clean up?
    We, as a city, voted Mayor Bloomberg to make the executive decisions; he spoke with the police, the fireman, all the city agencies who repeatedly said, “This will be good for NYC.”

    I can not tell you how many Firemen I met at the expo who were looking forward to this race, who were excited for this race… Anyway, many problems are deeper lying than the obvious… but as a Board Member of the NYRR I know I have to apologize to each and everyone of these runners. I hear all your stories and I feel pain. Am truly sorry. Every story I hear makes me feel terrible, and I know the pains, trials and tribulations you took to arrive to get to this day. What a sad resolution

    ======

    I am sure it has been a hard decision for all parties involved.

    Also from another running blog found a link showing a map
    map of volunteer stations in NYC
    for all interested in giving a helping hand.

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  7. So sad that they had to cancel it. I'm also shocked at how many people believed the photos circulating around. My brother called it Hurricane Blandy, but he was in Brooklyn where there wasn't much effect.

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