Laps for the marathon 2012

[mcgato]

The forecast was rough for the OT in Central Park, but in reality the morning brought perfect running weather. The trees in CP shielded almost all of the wind, and the forecasted heavy rains never materialized. You should have come out -- it was a great atmosphere.

I concur, it was good weather and the crowds were great. It seemed like half the people around me were not speaking English, just people in town for the marathon out watching.

[gh]

And the people in Berlin were probably marvelling that half the people around them werent' speaking German!

It's a great opportunity to attract casual fans.

[bhall]

Shots of both marathons taken from the World Marathon Majors outpost and paddock- http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=1 ... 37bdcae07e

Many show the crowds at the Brandenburg Gate finish area.

[502CD]

Boston did it circuit style last year for the Women's Trials the day before the regular marathon and it went really well. Kastor afterwards said she enjoyed it with the crowds and everything.

[Al in NYC]

I was at the trials marathon here in '07. I don't remember the weather that day as being appreciably different from regular weather around these parts in November. And indeed I thought it was a pretty wonderful day overall for running a marathon - clear, cool, breezy but not too windy. After all, that sort of weather is why they schedule the big marathon for that time of year here.

I really like the idea of a stand-alone marathon run in laps for a major championship. It allows the race to be run at an appropriate time, and not the time that fits into the track program or closing ceremony schedule best, and it allows all of the local people to actually see and follow an Olympic event, rather than just glimpsing it once as the athletes run by, at a price they can afford.

[midnightsun]

The one thing that sucked that day in NY (well, apart from Shay's death obviously) is that the weather was horrible, wind gusts and blistering cold, and many people didn't show up (I remember I thought it would be neat to go watch the trials but decided to stay in bed having seen the conditions). Quite the opposite the next day when the regular marathon took place.

The forecast was rough for the OT in Central Park, but in reality the morning brought perfect running weather. The trees in CP shielded almost all of the wind, and the forecasted heavy rains never materialized. You should have come out -- it was a great atmosphere.

well you know, I had a marathon to run the next day (with an injury to make things more interesting ), so I took that morning as rest time. Not that it made me run faster to stay in bed of course!

[measurer]

OT Course New York City 2007
This one I know a little about - I designed it along with the NYRR.
The following are approximated distances:
Start to Central Park - 7th Ave & Central Park South(City Streets) - 1.4 miles
Entrance of of the Park @ 7th Ave to Finish Line (start & finish of laps) - .5 miles
Then we did the following loops-
1 x 4+ miles
4 x 5+ miles.
We used 2 of the three lanes throughout the park.
The crowds were amazing, tremendous energy.
It was the best road race I have ever experienced in New York.

I suggest that most Olympic Games/ World Championships Courses be a mimimum of 4 loops. But I can easily see 1 large loop or a point to point course being used to show off a city.

[Daisy]

OT Course New York City 2007
This one I know a little about - I designed it along with the NYRR.

How do you deal with a city with tight corners? Is there a trick to minimizing them?

[KevinM]

OT Course New York City 2007
This one I know a little about - I designed it along with the NYRR.

How do you deal with a city with tight corners? Is there a trick to minimizing them?

Running the race in the park eliminated all but a few tight corner. Maybe just the one shortly after the start?

[measurer]

Tight corners????????????
They are called turns and I don't know how you can avoid them unless you run the entire race on top of a circular particle accelerator or in a straight line. The one outside of Geneva will be 16 miles.

fyi
The five mile loops of the NY OT course only had 2 sharp (90 degree) turns per lap - lots of curves though and some nice hills.

[Daisy]

Tight corners????????????

If you look at the map above several are at 80Ëš or less (at least nevetlim seemed to think they looked tight, see above). Multiply that by four and it seems more severe than a regular course. Don't course designers try and minimise them?

[gh]

One of the highlights (?) of the marathon festivities at the gate was teh appearance each day of known marathon wacko (meant in a kindly sense) Gary Fanelli

http://wikirun.com/Gary_Fanelli

Replete in a Hawai‘ian shirt that would have done gh proud, he whipped out his harmonica, the emcee put the mike in his face, and the camera put him on the video board. For the men's race on Saturday he played a blues creation of his own making called "The Berlin Blues."

Harmonica riffs between each line or two that would have done Blind Lemon Fanelli proud. Something along the line of

(wha-wha-wha-wha)
I got the Berlin blues
(wha-wha-wha-wha)
You know, 26 miles
(wha-wha-wha-wha)
is a long-long way to run
(wha-wha-wha-wha)....

(complete with a line about hitting the wall, that may or may not have been an intentional pun)


On Sunday he did something by Howling Wolf which title escapes me at the moment. But it was all delightful fun.