Talk about your marathon trials.
At the September 24 Quad Cities Marathon, runners took off from the start line. At about mile seven for the half marathon and mile 17 for the full marathon, all athletes stopped and stared in disbelief as a slow-moving freight train rumbled by.
About 200 runners were affected, said Joe Moreno, the race director.
"What happened was what we were afraid would happen, and that is a train would come," Moreno said. He noted that his team communicates with Canadian Pacific Railway every year about when the trains need to be delayed for the marathon.
Apparently, the message was, well, derailed.
"It's very frustrating," Moreno said. "It just puts a blemish and cloud over the great success we had yesterday. It was a wonderful day. It didn't rain on us, everybody had a good time, everything was well organized. I'm so proud of our team, but yet this happens and that is something we can't control. We have no control over the railroad trains.”
Because the race is chip timed (and because a mat had been placed at the railroad crossing in case of such an incident), Moreno said runners’ times could be recorded accurately (sans train delay).
But oddly, it wasn’t the first time a marathon in the area experienced problems because of the train. Back in July, the starting gun of the Quad City Times Bix 7 Weekend had to be delayed because of, you guessed it, a slow-moving train.
Road Race Management’s e-newsletter noted, “The start line is within spitting distance of a railroad overpass. As runners were assembling, a freight train rumbled overhead. The starter intended to set the runners off with a starter's pistol, but because he was concerned that the sound of freight cars might mask the sound of the pistol, he opted to hold off until the train had passed. Anyone who has ever waited for the passage of a slow-moving freight train can appreciate how time dragged on before the starter's pistol fired.”
Annoying and yes, a buzzkill for those who were on the start line but not as problematic as having your run stopped cold.
But September seemed to be filled with road race problems. The start of the Berlin Marathon, held on the 24th, was delayed when climate change protesters covered one area with orange paint. The protesters, representing the group, The Last Generation, were quickly subdued and arrested.
But it wasn’t protesters or even trains that caused problems for another race; it was simple human error. Canadian Running Magazine noted that the world’s attention was drawn two weeks ago, when Kenya’s Agnes Ngetich shocked the world at the Transylvania 10K in Brasov, Romania, when she broke not one but two women’s world records in one 10K race. Unfortunately, Ngetich’s records will not be ratified, as the course was found to be short by 25 meters.
The race made the announcement on Facebook, indicating that the course was 25 meters short of their usual certified circuit. When any world record is broken, World Athletics is required to re-measure the course to ensure it meets the required distance. And in this case, it did not.
Despite the problems, though, the outlook on road racing is good, and it’s getting even better, according to Running USA’s 2022 Global Runner Survey. Data compiled from more than 5,000 runners between April and May 2022 revealed that 66 percent of respondents said they plan to increase their participation in running events over the next 12 months. Twenty-nine percent will participate in the same number of events as the prior twelve months, with only 5 percent of respondents running fewer events.
And it sounds like you can kiss the virtual events goodbye; 75 percent agreed that virtual races did not match up to a real-life experience, with 10 percent disagreeing.
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