Renaissance/ Colony Park Half Marathon

[Jon Adams]

First of all I can't believe they found so many "suckers" to pay such an inflated price ($70-$80 for Half, $30-$40 for 5K) for a Half Marathon in JACKSON, MS in the middle of June! ......unfortunately I guess I was one of those "suckers". ......well sort of.
I traveled with Richard O. to Jackson so he could run the Half and get an idea of where he truly is in his training cycle and hopefully pick up some cash in the process. The race had an early start time, 6a.m. (thank goodness) which meant that we pretty much had to travel the day before and stay overnight on Friday (you HAD to pick up your race packet by 8p.m. Friday eve.). The weather turned out fairly nice for a June day with a little cloud cover keeping the temps from rising TOO fast, but of course it was still pretty warm......it IS June after all.
From the initial looks of things it appeared that the "Marathon Makeover" people were putting on a pretty nice event......they had a professional looking finish line with cameras on booms and all sorts of high tech gadgets......this might not be so bad after all.
After the Half took off I jumped into the 5K which started about 10 minutes later. Keep in mind that I ran as a bandit so I really have no complaints pertaining to "myself"......but I DID feel bad for those who DID pay to run this race. There were no splits given, no mile markers......what's up with that?....especially when these people paid what I consider to be a PREMIUM priced entry fee.
Okay, so I finish up my run (pulled out before the finish) checking my watch and the runner that was just ahead of me, estimated my finish time to be about 18:45. I found out later that the guy ahead of me was actually the winner....and he was given the "official" time of 18:53. I found him after the race and learned that he had about 18:20 going by his watch.....so I have no idea what happened there. I also learned that the 5K course was not certified, which was a disappointment but again I had no right to "complain" since I was a bandit......BUT I would have been upset had I paid $40! All in all I had a good workout and felt pretty good....now it was time to kick back and see how Richard finished up.
We were looking for Richard to finish in about 70-minutes......as that time arrived there was still no sign of him. About a minute later we finally saw the first runner making his way toward the finish line, but it wasn't Richard. The first runner crossed the line at 1:11 and some change looking fairly strong. About a minute after the first runner crossed we see Richard making his way toward the finish with another runner hot on his trail......looks to be a close battle for 2nd & 3rd. Richard started pulling away in the final 200 meters crossing the line in 1:12:47 with the next runner a few seconds back. Hmmmmm, nice finish but I'll admit a little disappointed with the finish time.......but wait......
Come to find out the lead vehicle took Richard & Kevin (the 2nd place runner) out beyond one of the "turnarounds".......about 1 & 1/2 to 2 minutes beyond the turn. Now I heard a couple of different "versions", but it sounded like the lead vehicle simply wasn't sure of the exact turn location and it wasn't until a policeman stopped the vehicle that the correction was made and the van along with the two lead runners were put back "on course".......so basically they lost around 3 minutes running "off course".
I certainly understand that even with the best laid plans sometimes things happen.....that's just the way it goes. I guess I simply have a hard time with the fact that if I am going to pay a PREMIUM price to run a race then I expect at a minimum that the nuts & bolts of the race are taken care of. . This was certainly every race director's "nightmare"......and I have even had a similar situation happen at one of my races.....just ask Wayne. ;D
Speaking with Jay Thomson (I'll leave it to him to comment further, but I don't believe he'll be going back)after the race I also learned that he as well had "trouble" on the course and there were sections that were simply not clearly marked......not good. Also, I would love to get Bowie to check this course out. The Half course is certified, but I heard numerous comments about the length as well as "long" splits that never "came back"?
Now, after complaining this much about certain aspects of this race, I DO have to commend the race director on trying to "make things right" for the two runners guided off course......they are supposed to both receive a refund of their entry fees and the "award money" was adjusted to compensate them fairly.
Of course, the worst race infraction of all was after the race.......there was NO BEER!!!!!!
Thankfully I had brought along a couple of my own.....and just as thankfully Jay had an "extra" that he gave me while mine cooled down in his ice chest! ;D


So someone tell us about the Hot Trot!!

[Jon Adams]

Hot Trot report anyone?.............anyone?

[Jon Adams]

Wow! I just received an email from the race director......this is an excerpt from that email....(this was a separate issue from the two lead runners being led off course)

"When I ran the 2007 Chicago Marathon, I remember feeling very frustrated when the race organizers refused to accept any responsibility for the water fiasco. As a race director, I made the decision to always examine our role in a race and own it if we made a mistake.

This Saturday we heard reports from many of you that the course ran long. Although we never advertised or claimed that our course was certified, we had hired a USATF Course Certifier to measure the course and give us a certified course. He road the course twice on his bike and came up with 13.1 miles riding the straightest of tangents.

When he painted the course for cone setup, he marked the turnaround past mile three one section too far - adding two tenths of a mile to the course. Many of you noticed that the splits were different from miles three to four and brought that to my attention. At the time, the only thing I could go on was the word of our certifier and defended the length. I have driven the course and see the discrepancy at miles three and four and apologize. This will not happen again and I appreciate your graciousness. We will review the complete course and have a fully certified course for 2009!"


Mistakes will happen, and it's a shame when they affect the outcome of a race. I'll certainly give the race director credit......he owned up to the mistake and took responsibility IMO.
I guess it just goes to show that you can't take things for granted, especially the small "details".
This is a good example of why we should appreciate the attention to detail that our own Jon Bowie puts in to certifying the courses in our area (along with John Olive & Leon Matticks from previous years!)

[Brent]

I think you said it right Jon when you said suckers...$70-$80 for the race, $30 or so if you split a hotel room, $25-$35 for gas if you split it, and then another $30 or so for misc expenses. All said and done $155-$175 spent to go run a 1/2 marathon in Jackson, MS.

[Jay Thomson]

Jon, I think it is very safe to say that I won't be returning to Ridgeland, MS ever again!

Now I am going to have to nitpick here though when you say they lost around 3 minutes running off course, as I just don't see how that is possible. The turnaround was just after the 3rd mile marker....if they lost 3 minutes and I was running 5:45's for those first 3 miles, that would be saying that they were running close to 4:45's or below for the first 3 miles, especially given the fact that they were back on course before I got to the turnaround. Doesn't Richard keep his splits when he is racing? That would be an easy way to find out how much time he really lost.

And yes...I definitely feel like a sucker for running this race. You live you learn.

[Jon Adams]

Jay,I was never clear on where the lead vehicle took them off course......for some reason I was thinking it was later in the race. I'm not sure what their 1st 3 mile splits were, but I do know that their 1st mile was a 4:47 according to Kevin.

After finding out that all of you guys ran 2/10 long(in addition to the "missed" turn by Richard & Kevin)......I think that 3 minutes is a bit much as well. I was expecting Richard to run about 1:09 or a little less which would have made sense initially.......all in all it was just one big "cluster#$@!"

Richard is still not diligent in getting his splits......he's sort of hit & miss....listening to Richard and myself, with me trying to give instructions before a race is sort of like listening to an Abbott & Costello routine....it can be quite hilarious.