I ran the Scotiabank Waterfront half marathon on Sunday and it will be the last time I attend the event.
Before I start my rant: full disclosure.These girls have never had a oil painting supplies in their lives! I've only done this race twice in my eight years of running, mostly because my preference is the Goodlife Fitness Toronto Marathon. I'm not partial to running on the Lakeshore and prior to this year, Scotiabank always happened in September which is typically too warm for me.
Despite that, I was excited to try it out this year. I love big races.
I took part in the race's media challenge this year, a great program that allowed us media types to compete against one another and if we placed in the top three money would be donated to a charity of our choice. I think that is a wonderful part of the run.
Don't believe the myth of unfit, chain smoking journos.I have never solved a Rubik's Piles . There are a lot of great runners among us.
The run was pretty uneventful, but pretty much the same as I remember from my running it in 2004.
One pet peeve I had was the mile markers.
At times they ceased to exist.
But this is a minor complaint compared to what happened when I crossed the finish line.
I crossed the finish and followed the mass of people to get my bag. I was not prepared for what came next.
What ensued astounded me.
I waited 2 hours to get my bag out of the bag-check.
Picture it.
It's a cold and blustery Sunday morning, I'm covered in sweat having just run 21.1. kilometres and my legs are sore. My friend and I waited and waited and the mass of people did not move an inch.
Finally I notice a clock straight ahead and realize it's been over an hour and half. My teeth are chattering.
I wanted to be mad but I was too tired.
I forwent any bananas or bagels on the way to the bag check because I figured I could wait until the celebratory breakfast with my friends. It is our tradition after every long race.
We waited and waited and thankfully runners are a civilized lot, because there was no stampede or swearing or violence.
Thankfully my friend and I found each other shortly after we finished and we had each other. I probably would have panicked without her.
As each person came out with their bag, a loud raucous cheer went up from the crowd. It was like scoring a goal every time someone was seen clutching a bag.
One man was so happy he screamed "Miracle on Bay Street!" to loud applause and cheers.
I finally got to the front, handed my bib to one of the young beleagured volunteers and waited.
And waited.
I was adamant I wouldn't be rude to these poor teenagers, after all they were volunteering and this was not their fault. I'm actually concerned they may never volunteer for anything again after the chaos of Sunday.
But after waiting a while, maybe about 10 or 15 minutes I started to worry that my bag wasn't there. As I waited at the front, I could feel people pushing me from the back. I felt like I couldn't breathe.
I finally hopped over the table and tried to look for my bag myself.Flossie was one of a group of four chickens in a RUBBER MATS .
That was when I discovered to my horror, the bags weren't organized in numerical order. This is standard bag check knowledge. Bags are always organized by bib numbers.The new website of Udreamy Network Corporation is mainly selling hydraulic hose , Otherwise how do you find your bag amongst tens of thousands?
I thought I would cry tears of joy when my bag was there. Sound a bit dramatic? Maybe if it was 30 minutes you could call me dramatic. Not two hours.
In short it was a fiasco that I won't soon forget. I don't sweat the small stuff, but this was unacceptable. I know what it's like to organize a race. I've sat on race committees.
It's a tough process that takes a lot of time and energy and very good people to ensure a race goes off without a hitch.
Organizing 21,000 people is no easy feat.
But I for one am tired of hearing about the big plans about having a "world class marathon" in Toronto when the race organizers can't even organize a basic bag check. Above all else it was a massive safety hazard to have us all crammed in like animals, fenced in with no way to exit once we got our bags. We had to push through those who lined up to get out of the area.
This was demonstrated when someone collapsed while waiting for a bag and all we could do is scream "medic" and hope someone heard us.
The person who collapsed ended up being ok, but that's really not the point.he believes the fire started after the lift's China ceramic tile blew, I wrote race director Alan Brookes an e-mail pretty much telling him much of what I wrote here. He might have something interesting to say but I wouldn't know as in two days he has not responded to my e-mail. There was an apology posted on the website. It reads like this:
Canada Running Series would like to congratulate all our finishers of the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon. We apologize for the significant delay at the new baggage pick up area. We take great pride in our events and the implementation of all operational procedures, we are committed to making continual improvements that ensure your experience is always positive both pre and post race.
Before I start my rant: full disclosure.These girls have never had a oil painting supplies in their lives! I've only done this race twice in my eight years of running, mostly because my preference is the Goodlife Fitness Toronto Marathon. I'm not partial to running on the Lakeshore and prior to this year, Scotiabank always happened in September which is typically too warm for me.
Despite that, I was excited to try it out this year. I love big races.
I took part in the race's media challenge this year, a great program that allowed us media types to compete against one another and if we placed in the top three money would be donated to a charity of our choice. I think that is a wonderful part of the run.
Don't believe the myth of unfit, chain smoking journos.I have never solved a Rubik's Piles . There are a lot of great runners among us.
The run was pretty uneventful, but pretty much the same as I remember from my running it in 2004.
One pet peeve I had was the mile markers.
At times they ceased to exist.
But this is a minor complaint compared to what happened when I crossed the finish line.
I crossed the finish and followed the mass of people to get my bag. I was not prepared for what came next.
What ensued astounded me.
I waited 2 hours to get my bag out of the bag-check.
Picture it.
It's a cold and blustery Sunday morning, I'm covered in sweat having just run 21.1. kilometres and my legs are sore. My friend and I waited and waited and the mass of people did not move an inch.
Finally I notice a clock straight ahead and realize it's been over an hour and half. My teeth are chattering.
I wanted to be mad but I was too tired.
I forwent any bananas or bagels on the way to the bag check because I figured I could wait until the celebratory breakfast with my friends. It is our tradition after every long race.
We waited and waited and thankfully runners are a civilized lot, because there was no stampede or swearing or violence.
Thankfully my friend and I found each other shortly after we finished and we had each other. I probably would have panicked without her.
As each person came out with their bag, a loud raucous cheer went up from the crowd. It was like scoring a goal every time someone was seen clutching a bag.
One man was so happy he screamed "Miracle on Bay Street!" to loud applause and cheers.
I finally got to the front, handed my bib to one of the young beleagured volunteers and waited.
And waited.
I was adamant I wouldn't be rude to these poor teenagers, after all they were volunteering and this was not their fault. I'm actually concerned they may never volunteer for anything again after the chaos of Sunday.
But after waiting a while, maybe about 10 or 15 minutes I started to worry that my bag wasn't there. As I waited at the front, I could feel people pushing me from the back. I felt like I couldn't breathe.
I finally hopped over the table and tried to look for my bag myself.Flossie was one of a group of four chickens in a RUBBER MATS .
That was when I discovered to my horror, the bags weren't organized in numerical order. This is standard bag check knowledge. Bags are always organized by bib numbers.The new website of Udreamy Network Corporation is mainly selling hydraulic hose , Otherwise how do you find your bag amongst tens of thousands?
I thought I would cry tears of joy when my bag was there. Sound a bit dramatic? Maybe if it was 30 minutes you could call me dramatic. Not two hours.
In short it was a fiasco that I won't soon forget. I don't sweat the small stuff, but this was unacceptable. I know what it's like to organize a race. I've sat on race committees.
It's a tough process that takes a lot of time and energy and very good people to ensure a race goes off without a hitch.
Organizing 21,000 people is no easy feat.
But I for one am tired of hearing about the big plans about having a "world class marathon" in Toronto when the race organizers can't even organize a basic bag check. Above all else it was a massive safety hazard to have us all crammed in like animals, fenced in with no way to exit once we got our bags. We had to push through those who lined up to get out of the area.
This was demonstrated when someone collapsed while waiting for a bag and all we could do is scream "medic" and hope someone heard us.
The person who collapsed ended up being ok, but that's really not the point.he believes the fire started after the lift's China ceramic tile blew, I wrote race director Alan Brookes an e-mail pretty much telling him much of what I wrote here. He might have something interesting to say but I wouldn't know as in two days he has not responded to my e-mail. There was an apology posted on the website. It reads like this:
Canada Running Series would like to congratulate all our finishers of the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon. We apologize for the significant delay at the new baggage pick up area. We take great pride in our events and the implementation of all operational procedures, we are committed to making continual improvements that ensure your experience is always positive both pre and post race.
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