Posted by Ben Stimpson on October 10, 2007 at 10:12:35:
In Reply to: Re: Chicago marathon posted by Monetta Roberts on October 09, 2007 at 21:15:30:
I ran Boston in 2004 and the conditions were very similar to Chicago except that the race started at Noon! There was not a cloud in the sky, 85 at the start 85 at the 1/2 and 85 at the finish. They called it the run for the hoses! A similar amount of runners were sent to the hospital but everyone showed up and 98% finished the race. There was one heart attack on the course but they revived the runner. In my opinion the difference is that Boston probably has more seasoned runners than Chicago because of the qualifying system. Chicago is known for first time marathoners, a lot of walkers, as well as a huge amount of Charity Runners (Leukemia Team etc) and they just don’t have the miles and experience to handle those type of conditions.
I agree with Monetta and Leif in that the race director had to take these factors into consideration and calling the race was probably the right thing to do. Now handling all the runners after calling it is another topic....