Bizarre Marathon Finish

[tornado]

Chalk this one up to bad planning by the event organizers...as well as the railroad people.

they can use the excuse that this was somehow unpredictable or that the railroad folks were asked to avoid sending trains into the area...but I don't buy it...
they should have known if a marathon crosses railroad tracks, there's a chance of a weird moment where the runners would all have to stop and bunch up at the tracks to wait if a train came by.

And even worse, if the tracks were right near the finish line, then the race could turn into a mere contest to see who can sprint the best...which is exactly what happened..
anyway...don't trains have to run on pretty precise schedules, just so they don't bang into each other?
So couldn't the event organizers and railroad people have gotten together on this?

Anyway...a train crossing the marathon route right near the finish of the Des Moines Marathon caused the top runners in the field to stop and wait, then as soon as the train passed, there was a sprint to the nearby finsih line by the top two guys, and the winner was determined by who was the best sprinter...not necessarily the guy who ran the best marathon...
pretty embarrassing...and funny.

http://www.qctimes.com/news/state-and-regional/iowa/article_72a7fb9e-5eb8-592b-bf8f-270ce74f443b.html

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/olympics/2009-10-19-marathon-train_N.htm

[DUBulldog]

So couldn't the event organizers and railroad people have gotten together on this?

For some reason, they don't have this story on-line, but the Des Moines Register ran a story yesterday that showed the e-mails between the marathon organizers and the railroad people. Basically, asking the railroad not to have any trains in that area during certain times, and the railroad people saying 'no problem'. In the article, the railroad took full responsibility and blame for the screw-up.

So yes, the event organizers and railroad people could have, and did, get together on this. It was not a matter of poor planning, but a blatant screw-up by the railroad.

[tornado]

thankfully, it does sound like the guy who would have won without the train was the guy who ended up winning..but it could have been a bad mess...

[jeffsu]

The train apparently was operated by Iowa Interstate Railroad. Tom Bernau, the president of the company that puts on the marathon, produced an e-mail thread from Sept. 15 that showed race director Chris Burch had detailed the course map and marathon dates to the railroad.

Mick Burkart, vice president of the Iowa Interstate Railroad, responded to Burch that "this should not be a problem."

Burkart responded in an e-mail late Sunday night that his company was at fault.

"I sincerely apologize for this happening," Burkart wrote. "We were well aware of the race and our agreement to refrain from operating through this area during the race. Due to some miscommunication a train was allowed into the race area before it was supposed to. There is no excuse for this happening."

Sounds like it was pretty clear... and NOT the race organizer's fault, T.