Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend

[Greenlawler]

I move right to the front because I want to be in that first group so the mile marker clocks are accurate to me! But there are a lot of empty spaces to fill in so it does not feel like I am cutting. Guys will pass me by too, especially the elite who were doing their warmups elsewhere. Just a part of being in a corral I guess…errr…a starting group!

I wonder what the logic at runDisney was in moving away from "Coral"? Was that a change people were clamoring for? Did they decide it was "dehumanizing" or offensive to animals?

That seemed really odd and clunky every time they would say it from the stage.

 

[surfsupdon]

I wonder what the logic at runDisney was in moving away from "Coral"? Was that a change people were clamoring for? Did they decide it was "dehumanizing" or offensive to animals?

That seemed really odd and clunky every time they would say it from the stage.

I believe it had everything to do with Covid. Corral as we know is a bunch of folks crammed in together. A starting group…just…sounds different. Sounds better. I fully believe that was a change that was made to gain approval for a return to in person races.

 

[Greenlawler]

I believe it had everything to do with Covid. Corral as we know is a bunch of folks crammed in together. A starting group…just…sounds different. Sounds better. I fully believe that was a change that was made to gain approval for a return to in person races.

That's probably it. Good thought

 

[drizgirl]

I believe it had everything to do with Covid. Corral as we know is a bunch of folks crammed in together. A starting group…just…sounds different. Sounds better. I fully believe that was a change that was made to gain approval for a return to in person races.

Sounds dumb enough to be true.

 

[Rteetz]

Which is against the rules.

Really a rather dumb rule. Snacks in race are a godsend.

 

[Rteetz]

I believe it had everything to do with Covid. Corral as we know is a bunch of folks crammed in together. A starting group…just…sounds different. Sounds better. I fully believe that was a change that was made to gain approval for a return to in person races.

I think it was part of it but not the full reason. They made major changes to PoT as well. I had a PoT and was put in S3 which was a mixed corral. Some had PoT and some didn't. So really I didn't have much reason to even put in a PoT if it didn't benefit me at all. Who does Disney need to get approval from anyways? They are in control of pretty much everything in these races. The outside help they get from Tack Shack who has been putting on races already and AdventHealth for med stops.

 

[CAV]

Sounds dumb enough to be true.

Every type of racing -running, road cycling, mountain biking, triathlon -has designated feed zones or you bring your own nutrition.

 

[drizgirl]

Every type of racing -running, road cycling, mountain biking, triathlon -has designated feed zones or you bring your own nutrition.

I was talking about the use of a new term in place of "corral" potentially over Covid concerns.

 

[LAKid53]

I believe it had everything to do with Covid. Corral as we know is a bunch of folks crammed in together. A starting group…just…sounds different. Sounds better. I fully believe that was a change that was made to gain approval for a return to in person races.

Which are a bunch of people crowded together.... In the case of the W&D races, kept you warm.

 

[Swissmiss]

Really a rather dumb rule. Snacks in race are a godsend.

Having volunteered for the institution mandated to test for doping substances at an event with elite competitors, it isn’t a dumb rule.

I was allowed to bring the winner of the race to where their was post race food and water, everything offered was still sealed and I could not touch any of it myself (such as open the bottle of water and hand it to the elite). Should the doping test come back positive they could turn around and say I put something into the bottle before giving it to them because I wanted them disqualified. And I had to keep them in my sight from the time they crossed the finish line until they were ready to be tested (ie that they could pee a large enough sample for the test). It was a particularly cold day, so none of them wanted to shower but if they had, the shower curtain would need to remain open (and consequently women are assigned to « chaperone » the female elites and men assigned to chaperone the male elites.

I learned that for running, the testing is « reasonably » quick (3-4 hours until they are ready to be tested) but for a sport like boxing it can take twice that because they sweat so much during a match.

It was really interesting, but it was also like herding cats!

 

[uncle jimmy]

Speaking of disqualifying people, it appears people in a fb group are combing over race times from MW and noticing time errors that would suggest a person skipped part(s) on the course. I'm not in said group, but after looking at the marathon times some of these are so obvious.

 

[RunningKoen]

Speaking of disqualifying people, it appears people in a fb group are combing over race times from MW and noticing time errors that would suggest a person skipped part(s) on the course. I'm not in said group, but after looking at the marathon times some of these are so obvious.

This (sadly) happens every year .. There are certain known points where it's easy to cut the course. I saw a map where you can finish the marathon in 13.1 mile.

Missed timing mats and very inconsistent pace are a quite solid proof of that.

 

[uncle jimmy]

The ones I noticed were clearly scoring times that would qualify them in future races.

One does wonder if rD cracks down on these individuals or those who sell their bibs online (I just read about that too).

 

[RunningKoen]

Course cutting happens to other races aswell by the way. There are sites and/or facebook groups determined to find and expose those. Can be fun to read, if you have some time to spare.

 

[Figment82]

I remember one of the night W&Ds where a group of women cut across Osceola Parkway (shaving off a bit of an out and back part of the course). Everyone was shouting at them, calling them cheaters, etc. They literally had the nerve to wave and shouted “see you at the party!” as they kept going. I couldn’t believe people would have such poor morals/disrespect for the running community/whatever you want to call it as to pull a stunt like that.

I still love rereading about the “Patty Pan” debacle at DL (I think that was her name?). It’s good to know that every now and then, karma does catch up to these people.

 

[CAV]

Speaking of disqualifying people, it appears people in a fb group are combing over race times from MW and noticing time errors that would suggest a person skipped part(s) on the course. I'm not in said group, but after looking at the marathon times some of these are so obvious.

I almost missed a timing mat. About mile 12.5, before you turn on Bear Island Road (is there really an island of bears, anyway?) There was a single Porta potty for a construction zone. I ran to the John, did my business and ran back to the course missing the mat. Luckily, someone notices and yelled to me that I missed the mat.

 

[DznyGrlSD]

One thing I do think they could've done a better job of was having the DJ or someone on the stage in the pre-race area announcing times and stuff like that. Especially Sunday with them wanting to start early. That should have been communicated better.

100% agreed

 

[DznyGrlSD]

Which is against the rules.

my friend got in trouble for handing out snacks over at the Boardwalk on Sunday

 

[DznyGrlSD]

I wonder what the logic at runDisney was in moving away from "Coral"? Was that a change people were clamoring for? Did they decide it was "dehumanizing" or offensive to animals?

That seemed really odd and clunky every time they would say it from the stage.

From what I understand it's an industry-wide change.

 

[OG Runner]

I think it was part of it but not the full reason. They made major changes to PoT as well. I had a PoT and was put in S3 which was a mixed corral. Some had PoT and some didn't. So really I didn't have much reason to even put in a PoT if it didn't benefit me at all. Who does Disney need to get approval from anyways? They are in control of pretty much everything in these races. The outside help they get from Tack Shack who has been putting on races already and AdventHealth for med stops.

I really wish the PoTs were not so low this year. A 2 hour half or a 4 hour marathon otherwise they didn't want it.
I am 60+ and have seen faster days but I really hate ending up in the last starting group.