Bring back that BQed feelin'
Ok.. so this isn't about my training, but it is topical. As a result of this year's "interesting" registration dilemma, the Boston Marathon is changing their registration process and their qualifying standards. For those who don't already know (which is probably only a few of the people who actually read this) here's the scoop:
New Boston Registration Process
I'll never forget working so hard in the 2008 Austin Marathon (not to mention the prior 6 months) and crossing the finish line knowing that I just made it into Boston. Well, "never" is a strong word, and I can think of several horrible situations that might cause me to forget that. But I digress. If the ultimate goal of the race you are running is to BQ, and you're on the hairy edge, I think that a lot of people realized that feeling became a thing of the past back on October 18th, 2010. And this new registration system doesn't change that.
Don't get me wrong - this is definitely an improvement over the "rush to register" option from this year. And it is a hard problem to solve - it doesn't have a solution that makes everyone happy at the same time. I am one of the lucky ones who got in this time, but it did make me think about the whole thing and what alternatives they might have. I thought about it a lot. Way too much, in fact.
Without increasing the field size or raising qualifying standards, how do you create a system that still says "If you run this fast, you qualify (and get to) run the Boston Marathon"?
The best thing I could come up with, which (in my mind) seems fair to both the faster qualifiers and the slower qualifiers would be a kind of tiered structure, where there's two qualifying times for each age group.
The first-tier / faster qualifiers are guaranteed entry that year. Maybe this is ludicrously fast - 20% of the field.. or maybe its a more reasonable 50%. Whatever it is, it would be something that would guarantee plenty of spots for the second tier - and perhaps it changes each year based on previous year's entrants, to accommodate the growing running population.
Then the more relaxed standards of the second tier would allow you to put your name on a "wait list". First in, first out, and -this part is important- only one entry per person. This wait list would roll over to the next year. That allows anyone who meets the minimum standards to run the race at some point.
The drawback is that It basically limits how often the second-tier qualifiers can actually run the race. It is kind of like increasing the field size by spreading it out over multiple years. But I feel like that's a fair trade for that "just BQ'ed" feeling.
New Boston Registration Process
I'll never forget working so hard in the 2008 Austin Marathon (not to mention the prior 6 months) and crossing the finish line knowing that I just made it into Boston. Well, "never" is a strong word, and I can think of several horrible situations that might cause me to forget that. But I digress. If the ultimate goal of the race you are running is to BQ, and you're on the hairy edge, I think that a lot of people realized that feeling became a thing of the past back on October 18th, 2010. And this new registration system doesn't change that.
Don't get me wrong - this is definitely an improvement over the "rush to register" option from this year. And it is a hard problem to solve - it doesn't have a solution that makes everyone happy at the same time. I am one of the lucky ones who got in this time, but it did make me think about the whole thing and what alternatives they might have. I thought about it a lot. Way too much, in fact.
Without increasing the field size or raising qualifying standards, how do you create a system that still says "If you run this fast, you qualify (and get to) run the Boston Marathon"?
The best thing I could come up with, which (in my mind) seems fair to both the faster qualifiers and the slower qualifiers would be a kind of tiered structure, where there's two qualifying times for each age group.
The first-tier / faster qualifiers are guaranteed entry that year. Maybe this is ludicrously fast - 20% of the field.. or maybe its a more reasonable 50%. Whatever it is, it would be something that would guarantee plenty of spots for the second tier - and perhaps it changes each year based on previous year's entrants, to accommodate the growing running population.
Then the more relaxed standards of the second tier would allow you to put your name on a "wait list". First in, first out, and -this part is important- only one entry per person. This wait list would roll over to the next year. That allows anyone who meets the minimum standards to run the race at some point.
The drawback is that It basically limits how often the second-tier qualifiers can actually run the race. It is kind of like increasing the field size by spreading it out over multiple years. But I feel like that's a fair trade for that "just BQ'ed" feeling.