Comparing marathon start times
A WTOP article this morning about Metro being a non-option for athletes at tomorrow's National Marathon left me wondering: How frequently does this kind of logjam occur?
(For what it's worth, spectators can still use the system.)
I suspect that part of the issue is the race's relatively early starting time. With that in mind, here's a sampling of recent and upcoming starting times at several big marathons along the East Coast, using information pulled from a quick look at the Internet Archive, along with some live sites (For staggered starts, I used the first non-elite wave.)
- Boston: 10:00 a.m. on a Monday (2011)
- New York: 10:10 a.m. on a Sunday (2007)
- Philadelphia: 7 a.m. on a Sunday (2010)
- Baltimore: 8:02 a.m. on a Saturday (2010)
- Washington (Marine Corps Marathon): 8 a.m. on a Sunday (2009)
- Washington (Suntrust National Marathon): 7 a.m. tomorrow
Philadelphia's time on the list above is the only one as early as the National Marathon's. I have to admit that we drove in for the Philadelphia race last year, so I'm not sure what their metro situation was like, though I've certainly spent some time down in the tunnels. I'd be interested in hearing about situations where a pre-race metro ride went well -- or didn't.
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Categories: Baltimore Running Festival, Marine Corps Marathon, National Marathon, Philadelphia, Running, Traffic, Washington
Comments
If you want a really early start time, the Disney Marathon starts at 5:40am - but then they have their own shuttle buses for folks staying on the Disney properties. Early start times translate into the roads being reopened to traffic sooner, and generally cooler whether for the runners. Strange the couldn't get WMTA to open the Metro earlier like they do for the Marine Corps Marathon. I guess this one isn't big enough to justify that expense.
Posted by: etucker | March 25, 2011 5:01 PM
At the expo this morning, they said there were 15,000 runners combined in the three events in the National Marathon. That's WAY smaller than the Marine Corps. I expect more people will be driving because of the temperatures too. I just hope we don't get stuck in traffic on 295!
And the Disney start time is REALLY early!
Posted by: Beth | March 25, 2011 5:14 PM
Not opening Metro until 6:00 was a big mistake. In spite of assurances from hotel employees and cab drivers the day before, there were no cabs to be had in the morning, at least out on the West End where my hotel was. A bunch of runners were waiting in vain at the Fairmont for cabs, and finally around 6:15 we figured we might as well do the Metro. We ran the three blocks to the Foggy Bottom station, and had a 10-minute wait until a train arrived. We managed to get on, and it was packed to the gills with runners. It took a long time to get out of the station at Stadium-Armory, since all of the trains were taking their passengers to the same station.
Fortunately I was traveling light and didn't have to go to bag-check, as I got to the race just as it was starting (4 minutes late). I had to cross corral 3 just as they were starting to move to get to corral 10. At least I didn't have to wait long in the cold. :-)
Posted by: Hal Laurent | March 27, 2011 2:05 PM
Public transit is an option for NY but you would have to wake up super early to use it, unless you live on Staten Island.
The actual race starts late, but you still have to get to the staging area on Staten Island well before even the elites start, just to wait around in the cold until your wave is up. Getting to SI requires both a ferry and then a bus shuttle to the fort where the race starts. To get a little more sleep we ended up cabbing to the ferry terminal instead of using subway.
Posted by: Liz Kay | March 31, 2011 6:56 AM