S*********k
发帖数: 507 | 1 What will you do if the marathon race you're running is held in another city
and doesn't have bag drop? I think it is a silly decision for the
organizers to make.
Source:http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/24/sports/new-york-city-marathon-eliminates-bag-drop.html
New York City Marathon Eliminates Bag Drop
New York City Marathon[1] organizers came under intense criticism from
runners Thursday after announcing that the event would veer from common
raceday practices and no longer transport runners’ clothing and other
belongings to the finish line of the marathon in Central Park.
The New York Road Runners, the club that organizes the race, said the new
policy[2] was designed to reduce the bottleneck at the end of the race, when
tens of thousands of runners are forced to walk around the park and
adjoining streets in search of the trucks carrying bags containing their
sweat pants, cellphones and wallets.
To eliminate what the Road Runners called “overwhelmingly the No. 1
complaint of our runners for years,” the bag drop was scrapped. Runners
will now be given a wrap and a fleece-lined poncho to keep warm. Kiosks will
also be set up so that runners can call family and friends, who presumably
will be able to bring them other items.
Some runners on Twitter thanked the Road Runners for the change in policy.
One, Gaylebobo, said[3], “No system is perfect but thanks #NYRRlistens[4]
because the long exit was awful.”
But hundreds of runners took to online forums to voice their displeasure.
Many signed a petition calling on the organizers to reverse their decision.
Some runners were angry that they were told of the new policy only after
they had paid their entry fee. Others worried that they would be unable to
stash their belongings somewhere in the city and pick them up after the race.
“You’re seriously going to leave me in Midtown after racing 26 miles with
no phone, no change of shoes and socks, no change of clothes, no money, no
MetroCard[5], no train ticket, no ID?” Christopher Donnelly of Maplewood, N
.J., wrote on the Web site Change.org, where an online petition was posted[6
]. “Sounds reckless, ill considered, and irresponsible on the part of N.Y.R
.R.”
Another petitioner, Jessica Ameri of Brooklyn, added: “You charge more and
then remove a service, giving no one a chance to decide for themselves
whether to run with this change and no way to get a refund. Terrible.”
Mary Wittenberg, the president of the Road Runners, said the plan to
eliminate the bag drop was made after several years and in coordination with
the city. For many years, U.P.S. hauled runners’ belongings from the
starting line in Staten Island to Central Park. Last year 76 trucks were
needed to transport bags for the roughly 47,000 runners in the race.
Those trucks parked in and around Central Park, creating a maze for runners
to navigate and a bottleneck for local residents trying to get in and out of
their apartments.
“This is a hard change to make, but we had to address it from a runner
satisfaction point of view,” Wittenberg said. “We knew the policy wouldn’
t be popular, and we knew it had trade-offs.”
Richard Finn, a spokesman for the Road Runners, said he was not aware of any
other major marathon not providing a bag drop service, but he added that
few other marathons handled as many runners in so confined a space.
With this year’s race, scheduled for Nov. 4, still more than two months
away, runners will have time to make preparations, he said. Some runners may
ask family and friends to carry their belongings, while others will begin
training with a cellphone or other item to get used to carrying the extra
weight.
The decision to eliminate the bag drop was about space, not money,
Wittenberg said. The Road Runners will spend about $500,000 as a result of
the change, mostly to pay for the new water-repellent ponchos, which are
hooded and have pockets and a fleece lining.
The organization is also going to face a multimillion-dollar bill from the
New York Police Department, which decided to start charging organizers of
many major sporting events for traffic control. The decision[7], which was
initially delayed a year, was a reason the Road Runners raised the entry fee.
Entry fees this year jumped about $60, or 24 percent to 39 percent,
depending on the entrant. Members of the New York Road Runners paid $216 to
join this year’s race, up from $156 last year. For United States residents
who are not club members, the fees increased to $255 from $196.
International applicants paid $347, up from $281. Applicants also pay a
nonrefundable $11 fee.
Some runners wondered if the bottleneck at the finish line could not be
eased by shrinking the size of the race, which has grown significantly in
recent years.
“I think N.Y.R.R. is allowing bigger to be better, and taking away from the
race experience,” Tracy Reinholt of Jersey City wrote on Change.org[8]. “
With the cost of the race so high, I should at the very least be allowed to
check a bag.”
§
References
^ More articles about the New York City Marathon. (topics.nytimes.com)
^ new policy (www.ingnycmarathon.org)
^ Gaylebobo, said (twitter.com)
^ #NYRRlistens (twitter.com)
^ More articles about MetroCard. (topics.nytimes.com)
^ an online petition was posted (www.change.org)
^ The decision (www.nytimes.com)
^ Change.org (change.org)
Readability — An Arc90 Laboratory Experiment Follow us on Twitter | S*********k
发帖数: 507 | 2 Nobody has any comment for this!!?
city
【在 S*********k 的大作中提到】
: What will you do if the marathon race you're running is held in another city
: and doesn't have bag drop? I think it is a silly decision for the
: organizers to make.
: Source:http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/24/sports/new-york-city-marathon-eliminates-bag-drop.html
: New York City Marathon Eliminates Bag Drop
: New York City Marathon[1] organizers came under intense criticism from
: runners Thursday after announcing that the event would veer from common
: raceday practices and no longer transport runners’ clothing and other
: belongings to the finish line of the marathon in Central Park.
: The New York Road Runners, the club that organizes the race, said the new
| u*********s
发帖数: 2077 | 3 fb上大家骂了两句， 反正现在也没人能qualify他家的新标准，
无所谓了....
【在 S*********k 的大作中提到】
: Nobody has any comment for this!!?
:
: city
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