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JF
3100 Posts |
 Posted - July 10 2023 : 10:21:16
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Looks like the weather was decent yesterday. As we know, Boilermaker is usually hot and humid.
Numbers down a bit---6973 finishers in the 15K
3125 in the 5K. 5K is growing.
Caps: 8800 for 15k and 3500 for 5k.
Caps used to be larger and often sold out, not the case anymore. What do you think the reasons are for declining numbers.
-Covid aftereffects?
-Cost of entries
-Less people running
-Less people interested in racing
-Aging population? People like me just can't race well anymore.
John Furgele |
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marty farrell
446 Posts |
Posted - July 10 2023 : 13:31:48
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Less people interested in racing.
marty farrell |
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JF
3100 Posts |
Posted - July 18 2023 : 10:34:20
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I tend to agree. There isn't that pack mentality that there used to be. Example: Joe Whelan is racing and winning a lot of races, but where is that chase pack; the same runners who want to train and race with him. Could you imagine Whelan running locally in the 1980s and early 1990s when there 15-20 other talented runners gunning for him?
There was a time, when we had Dunlop, O'Keeffe, White, Hulme, Carroll, Gomez, Garrett, Cauley all gunning for each other. Just look at some of the results. Then, there was the Heitzenreiter era in the late 1990s with a a new tier of elite racing in the area.
There was a second tier of runners. I'll include myself, and about 10 others who could break 16, but could never beat the above mentioned runners. I ran with Dunlop in high school and never beat him in races longer than one mile, but my tier would be at the races competing for the second tier positions.
As an example, the Subaru race is this Friday. This should be a must-race for top tier runners. It certainly used to be. When I trained in Rochester, I would do Tuesday track workouts at Univ. of Rochester and we'd all talk about Subaru. In fact, I use to drive three people in my car and we'd all meet up.
I am sure that local runners won't run this race in huge numbers. It's just what Marty said---there are less people interested in racing.
I wish there were more who wanted to race and race hard. You still see it--the Character Chase was competitive with 16:10 being the winning time. But, then you have another race where the winning time was 21:16.
I'll never understand that.
John Furgele |
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Boilermaker
