What a differance a few years can make?

I was in Ashland, WI, this weekend for Shelley's first half marathon, The Whistlestop Half-Marathon. I used to have very high regard for this race, but after this weekend, I left with a new impression. I think some of the problems are that it is hurt by past success. Thank God there is a great course and a scenic course, but I am not sure I would suggest anyone go there again.

It all started going wrong Friday after I got to the event check-in... At check-in, we were informed that we had to pick up the race chip at the start. That seemed goofy. (Later, when we looked in the bag, we learned there were also no pins for the number.) We went to the pasta dinner... The lines were long. They needed to be prepared for the number of people waiting. When we reached the end of the line, there was no pasta. As we waited about 3 minutes, a guy came out and said, "We can not cook it fast enough." This was early in the night, about 6:15 PM... When we left, the line was longer, and people appeared to wait longer than we had.

Okay, it was not a great start, but we went back to the cabin and went to sleep. We woke to howling winds and snow—about an inch. The road was a little icy. The temperature was near 30, but the wind chill must have been single digits. Great...

We went to the start I had Shelley wait in the line for the biffy while I got the pins and the chip. I went to a barn to get the chip (and there was again a line!) and asked about the number's pins. No one knew. One person suggested I go out by the start (a few hundred yards across a field) and check there. At that location, a person told me to go back to a table near where I got the chip, and they were on the table... less than 50 feet from where I got the Chip.

Then, an announcement was made that the race would start 10 minutes late. After waiting so long for the biffy in the frigid cold, Shelley and I went to the car to warm up. Fortunately, the car was parked about 30 feet from the start. We saw people lining up to start and exited the car to see what was happening. Before we knew it, did the start gun go off? But there were less than 200 people in the race. I thought there were 1,500+... THEY STARTED IT ON TIME WHEN WE WERE TOLD 10 MINUTES LATE... I really felt like they had no clue what they were doing!

People were still coming to the start, confused when the male leader came by (3-mile mark). Over a thousand started over 5 minutes after the real start, as they were told the race would start 10 minutes late. Many people just sat in the cars trying to stay warm and exited the car 8 minutes later, 2 minutes before the assumed start.

The road was slick, but the sun was coming out and warming up. I just stood there waiting for Shelley and saw so many people confused as they came to the start line, and there was no official start for them.

Then, my day was spent seeing Shelley every two miles. Watching the aid stations, I was so happy I had her carry a bottle, as the stations were too small to serve the crowds that were there—very short and understaffed.

The race was a success for Shelley. She was about 2:35 and really was fresh the whole way. She said it was an enjoyable course. She wanted to get out of her wet clothes and get her finisher's shirt. Oh, they put that a block away in another tent... She went to the tent to get her finisher shirt. GUESS WHAT? They were so understaffed that she stood outside the tent for about 10 minutes, waiting in line to get her shirt.  And the wind chill was easily in the low 30s. She got really chilled being in wet clothes.

So we really had a sour taste of the experience when we decided to pay $7 to have her time posted on her medal. We dropped it off, and they said about 30 minutes. We waited 30 minutes, then I checked, and we were 14th in line, and it took about 2 minutes each. So we went to the entertainment tent and got Hot Chocolate. We waited in the tent for 30 minutes and went back, we were now 13th in line... I asked what that was all about, and he said, "We put all these ahead."... They were from the other races (10K/5K). He said another 30-40 minutes. Now, we could have gone to shower and eaten already... But we had wasted over an hour waiting for the medal the way it was. So we decided to go to the grocery store and return in an hour. The medal was done... BUT THEY SPELLED HER NAME WRONG! We just shook our heads and left.

Fortunately, Shelley loved the course and the success she had. She did not like the weather, and as she has little experience with races, she was not bothered by the rookie effort I saw from the under-prepared organizers this weekend. There are so many errors and a lack of communication. There are so many ways to make this easier (Like giving pins in the packet, giving the chip the night before so the race site is not so congested and packed trying to get people the chip, putting the shirts near the finish, and hand them out near the medals, by learning to spell, by being prepared for larger numbers.)

I felt they needed help handling a larger, high-class event. Based on my experience with a smaller race, they have done a great job, but this was way too much for them to handle. If they try to get the size down and make it more manageable, they are succeeding, as I will no longer suggest this as a half or full marathon to participate in.

I did take many pictures. They can be seen at: http://picasaweb.google.com/peasemines/DropBox?feat=directlink

Carry on...