Monday, April 16, 2007

Boston Marathon -- Weather -- Qualification Idea from my blog

If I was in charge of the Boston Marathon, I'd make a special rule in 2007. The wind and weather in Boston is bad. But, this is sports. The race must go on, of course.

So, here is the rule suggestion:

All runners in today's Boston Marathon who finish the race within two hours of his or her entry time get a special entry into the Boston Marathon in years 2008, 2009 or 2010.

Boston Marathon finishers in 2007 would qualify for a future Boston Marathon, for up to three years, by completion of the race within the seed time plus 120 minutes.

I'm not firm on the need of a 2-hour time range. It might be better to have a 3-hour time range to get the bonus qualifier entry. I'm not able to witness the conditions. And, it might need to be adjusted by age as well. Those in the race with sub 2:30 times might need a 2 hour window. Those in the race with a sub 3-hour time might need a 100-minute window. Those with entry times over 3 hours might need 200-minutes. Whatever.

The main motivation is to encourage the completion of the race. So, I'd really want to give a wide window. And, the idea isn't to complete the race and kill anyone. The weather is going to be brutal. Time is less of a factor.

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