OT: Warning About National Park Half Marathon and Marathon Series

[RockyMTblue2]

Having been in Zion last weekend for the Zion Half Marathon, in which 2 of my daughters ran, I would warn any marathon runner to avoid any of this series being run by these sponsors. They give the impression that at least part of their run is through a national park. It is not. Never is. Cannot be. But they do protest the need to have a zero footprint for their races. That equals no water stations. There are "aid" stations but they are staffed with local volunteers who are not prepared to render any aide whatsoever. They raise big $ and claim a 3rd of it goes to charity. I'm too lazy to follow that up. To me they come across like grifters. One of my daughters had to limp 5 miles to the finish after suffering a foot injury. Many such stories came out of this fiasco.

 

[bags27]

Sorry to hear that, Rocky. The extreme endurance business has at least somewhat become just that, a business. In a different lifetime, I was an ultra-distance cyclist, and I never had a bad experience: all rides were wonderfully supported by volunteers, though of course the services varied greatly, but we never thought that anyone made anything off it. But I know that since then, with the popularity of endurance sports, there are far more bad experiences with outright duplicity, such as your daughters experienced.

But congratulations on supporting your daughters' success while avoiding the NCAA semi-finals!

 

[RockyMTblue2]

But congratulations on supporting your daughters' success while avoiding the NCAA semi-finals!

LOL. I, like Olddude, have yet to watch the game. Too deep the wound, though I am glad the monkey is back up the tree 'til next year.

 

[ctfjr]

Having been in Zion last weekend for the Zion Half Marathon, in which 2 of my daughters ran, I would warn any marathon runner to avoid any of this series being run by these sponsors. They give the impression that at least part of their run is through a national park. It is not. Never is. Cannot be. But they do protest the need to have a zero footprint for their races. That equals no water stations. There are "aid" stations but they are staffed with local volunteers who are not prepared to render any aide whatsoever. They raise big $ and claim a 3rd of it goes to charity. I'm too lazy to follow that up. To me they come across like grifters. One of my daughters had to limp 5 miles to the finish after suffering a foot injury. Many such stories came out of this fiasco.

Its kind of a pet peeve of mine when organizations 'infer' they are charities or would like you to believe they are. ie like the 'clothes dumpsters' placed in strip malls with catchy phrases that would make you think they are donating to some charitable cause when they are clearly for-profit entities.

I did a quick search & it appears this series of races is sponsored by Vacation Races » Run where you play
No where on their website did I see anything that claimed they were a charity but certainly the races they sponsor would lead me to believe that these races are held in National Parks.

Amateur radio operators often provide 'chase' vehicles and communications along the route for Charitable Only long races. That they weren't there would be another tip off to me.

 

[RockyMTblue2]

While waiting at the finish area I was approached by a really good guy who's GF was running the race. He revealed to me that he was going to run the race, but dropped out after .2 miles because of the conditions. He was upset that she continued. I told him I had 2 daughters in the race. He said he knew that. Double take on that! He said he'd passed us on the way to the start and heard me say to them (and this mind you was in virtual darkness, just before dawn) ;"Don't let your competitiveness over whelm common sense." He was furious about the conditions, though in a calm fury sort of way. We talked for quite a while. Very good guy. Then he said he had to get the gear bag and go prepare to cheer his GF in. He handed me a business card and said : Send me your e-mail and mail address and I'll send you a free pair of the Next Gen of the shoes you're wearing guy.

Yup, nat'l shoe rep wouldn't run. Great guy. I do love the shoes. OBTW, his GF won her class. Very good shoes which have practically saved my life,

Strange weekend.

 

[stamfordhusky]

But they do protest the need to have a zero footprint for their races. That equals no water stations.

They claim on their website to have multiple water stations - although you need to bring/buy your own hydrapouch or other water container that goes with you. Is this not accurate?

Cup Free Racing

 

[RockyMTblue2]

They claim on their website to have multiple water stations - although you need to bring/buy your own hydrapouch or other water container that goes with you. Is this not accurate?

Cup Free Racing

Not at this race, though it was in abundance at the finish.

 

[RockyMTblue2]

OBTW before it all got bad off road in the slop:

 

[Bigboote]

The Washington Post did a series of articles on the fundraising-race business several years ago. They were looking at those races/walks for which the entrants get pledges, and they race for free if they raise a certain amount. The overhead on those is so big that they often raise no money at all for their charities. (Note that I'm not saying they're all like that.) These races might require entrants to raise $2500. But they're staffed by professionals rather than volunteers, as local races are.

I can't imagine a half or marathon with no water stops. I can't wear one of those water backpacks (break out in a rash from anything like that), and (ahem) my belly is too big to wear one of those belt things. On distance runs in hot weather, I carry a 1.5 pint bottle of gatorade, plus along my route there are water fountains every two-ish miles. I've become more diligent about hydrating after an incident ~3 years ago. I'd finished a long run in the heat, and two water fountains on the way were out of order. I drank a couple of pints of tea when I got in, and hurled it all up. Not a good sign.