And Chicago was #4 in RW's List of Best Running Cities?
Unwitting marathon runners go extra mile:
Lakeshore race turns out to be too long
CHICAGO TRIBUNE
All 529 runners who finished Chicago's Lakeshore Marathon set a personal record for the distance.
The problem was the race--27.2 miles--was a full mile longer than a traditional marathon. But participants didn't know about the mistake until the event was over Monday.
This gaffe, along with other organizational disasters, including missing mile markers and unstaffed aid stations, unleashed a firestorm of criticism from Chicago's running community over Illinois' only spring marathon. Some runners are so livid they are urging the city to stop issuing permits for the Lakeshore Marathon until it's under new management.
On Thursday, after nearly a week of mounting fury on Web sites among many of the marathon's entrants, race founder and organizer Mark Cihlar issued an apology on www.marathonguide.com.
"[Last-minute changes] caused us to miscalculate and we foolishly added an extra mile--how terrible!" he wrote in the memo to Lakeshore participants.
For the first time in four years, Cihlar plans to relinquish control over event coordination--he has had sole responsibility for 90 percent of the marathon's planning--and is seeking qualified directors and coordinators to help on the 2006 race.
But some participants, who first suspected the race was too long when they checked their GPS watches during and after the event, were not immediately mollified. Though there is good support for a spring marathon to serve as a smaller alternative to the LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon, Chicago's marquee 26.2-mile race held each fall, participants like Hugh Mainard of Chicago want Cihlar run out of town.
Mainard, an attorney, was so furious that he complained about Cihlar to the officials at Chicago Area Runners Association, the Chicago Department of Special Events, the Chicago Park District and the Boston Athletic Association.
Dozens of participants from as far away as Seattle were running the Lakeshore Marathon, hoping to qualify for the Boston Marathon. Though the Lakeshore course was too long, Boston officials have made exceptions in the past.
"It's hard for me to fathom how someone can get the most basic element of a race wrong," said Mainard.
The competition, which filled a gap in the running calendar when the Lake County Marathon folded in 2000, was not registered with the Chicago Area Runners Association this year. But CARA officials are concerned that its poor reputation could hurt the running community. Leesa Drake, CARA's immediate past president and a member of the board, said it's possible that CARA could offer technical support if Cihlar asked.
"It does reflect on CARA if there is a bad race that isn't getting any better," said Drake, who ran the Lakeshore Marathon but vowed she'll never do it again. "[Cihlar] has good ideas but trouble executing. He really doesn't have an infrastructure in place."
Cihlar said the 27th mile came from last-minute second-guessing and adjustments, such as the inclusion of Navy Pier and Park District construction at Diversey Harbor. That extra mile -- a mental and physical blow to some runners -- showed up near Montrose Harbor. Ultimately, Aurora's Dan Martin, 46, won the men's race in 2:50:24. The top woman was Chicago's Megan Smiley, 30, who clocked a 3:12:53.
Lakeshore race turns out to be too long
CHICAGO TRIBUNE
All 529 runners who finished Chicago's Lakeshore Marathon set a personal record for the distance.
The problem was the race--27.2 miles--was a full mile longer than a traditional marathon. But participants didn't know about the mistake until the event was over Monday.
This gaffe, along with other organizational disasters, including missing mile markers and unstaffed aid stations, unleashed a firestorm of criticism from Chicago's running community over Illinois' only spring marathon. Some runners are so livid they are urging the city to stop issuing permits for the Lakeshore Marathon until it's under new management.
On Thursday, after nearly a week of mounting fury on Web sites among many of the marathon's entrants, race founder and organizer Mark Cihlar issued an apology on www.marathonguide.com.
"[Last-minute changes] caused us to miscalculate and we foolishly added an extra mile--how terrible!" he wrote in the memo to Lakeshore participants.
For the first time in four years, Cihlar plans to relinquish control over event coordination--he has had sole responsibility for 90 percent of the marathon's planning--and is seeking qualified directors and coordinators to help on the 2006 race.
But some participants, who first suspected the race was too long when they checked their GPS watches during and after the event, were not immediately mollified. Though there is good support for a spring marathon to serve as a smaller alternative to the LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon, Chicago's marquee 26.2-mile race held each fall, participants like Hugh Mainard of Chicago want Cihlar run out of town.
Mainard, an attorney, was so furious that he complained about Cihlar to the officials at Chicago Area Runners Association, the Chicago Department of Special Events, the Chicago Park District and the Boston Athletic Association.
Dozens of participants from as far away as Seattle were running the Lakeshore Marathon, hoping to qualify for the Boston Marathon. Though the Lakeshore course was too long, Boston officials have made exceptions in the past.
"It's hard for me to fathom how someone can get the most basic element of a race wrong," said Mainard.
The competition, which filled a gap in the running calendar when the Lake County Marathon folded in 2000, was not registered with the Chicago Area Runners Association this year. But CARA officials are concerned that its poor reputation could hurt the running community. Leesa Drake, CARA's immediate past president and a member of the board, said it's possible that CARA could offer technical support if Cihlar asked.
"It does reflect on CARA if there is a bad race that isn't getting any better," said Drake, who ran the Lakeshore Marathon but vowed she'll never do it again. "[Cihlar] has good ideas but trouble executing. He really doesn't have an infrastructure in place."
Cihlar said the 27th mile came from last-minute second-guessing and adjustments, such as the inclusion of Navy Pier and Park District construction at Diversey Harbor. That extra mile -- a mental and physical blow to some runners -- showed up near Montrose Harbor. Ultimately, Aurora's Dan Martin, 46, won the men's race in 2:50:24. The top woman was Chicago's Megan Smiley, 30, who clocked a 3:12:53.
posted by WalkSports.com | 2:00 PM
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