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Editorial

“CLOSED COURSE” ROAD RACING

For the most part, road racing—especially marathoning—isn’t much of a spectator sport. Clearly, there are exceptions, but they come primarily in the form of spectacles, such as Boston and New York, where the marathon is a happening that draws even those who don’t know what’s going on but want to be part of the fun (especially if the fun involves hanging outa third-story window on Commonwealth Avenue to spill beer on the revelers below).

As unlikely as it seems, it’s difficult even to get up a substantial crowd at an Olympic marathon once the field leaves the stadium. Don Kardong, who placed fourth in the 1976 Olympic Marathon in Montreal, shows some slides of his race where it looks as though he’s out for a workout running through a semideserted suburban neighborhood.

Most spectators at most marathons are friends or relatives of participants. Why the low turnout? Well, some intrinsic drawbacks to spectating amarathon come to mind. First, it’s virtually impossible to see the whole thing, which diminishes spectators’ sense of drama and appreciation of racing strategies. Second, the runners blur into a mass, making it hard to separate who’s who and what’s going on. Third, spec-

January/February 2000

tators are not exactly bombarded by readily available amenities along the course; rather, they are forced to fend for themselves on city streets or country roads, where there are few facilities to make watching more enjoyable.

Several years ago an idea began growing in the back of my brain that could make marathoning (and road racing in general) a much more interesting, enjoyable, profitable, safe sport by making it much more accessible to one and all. It seemed to me one of those ideas that’s so incredibly simple it could have almost thought itself into existence.

Now, as we kick off the year 2000, seems a perfect time to foist my idea on an unsuspecting public more obsessed with things like the Y2K threat and a shortage of champagne to celebrate the New Year. But first let’s look at the drawbacks to putting on a road race, participating in aroad race, and spectating a road race.

1. Drawbacks to putting it on: road closures, permits, hiring lots of police to keep the course open to runners and closed to traffic (and thus theoretically safe); finding lots of volunteers to man (and woman) intersections built for motorized traffic, not foot traffic; finding adequate facilities at the start and finish and along the way to supply participants with

EDITORIAL @ 5

fluids, toilets, and such; if it’s a pointto-point course, securing and paying for buses to get runners to the start from the finish; and I’m sure there are others, but that’s enough to mention.

2. Drawbacks to participating: finding a place to park; finding a way to get the car to the finish from the start; getting seeded properly; fighting your way to an aid station; finding facilities along the way; arranging to accommodate friends and family who came along (sometimes begrudgingly) to support your efforts; and so on.

3. Drawbacks to spectating: finding acomfortable spot from which to spectate; being satisfied with seeing only asmall portion of the whole race (in the case of amarathon, maybe less than 50 yards of a 26.2-mile course); finding a good parking spot; finding something to eat when you’re hungry; finding a restroom; and more.

Now that we’re clear on the many potential drawbacks to marathoning, what’s my oh-so-simple idea to make everything better? Here you go: Hold road races, including marathons, on “closed” auto-racing road courses. Such courses include Watkins Glen (3.4 miles), Laguna Seca (2.238 miles), Road America (4.0 miles), Sears Point (2.52 miles), Road Atlanta (2.54 miles), and many more. “Closed” in this instance means simply that the road courses are not open to public auto traffic; they are “closed” as in “secured.” Call up www.searspoint.com for a look.

Most of the auto road-racing courses are booked for big racing events only several weekends per year. The track owners are always looking for additional events to fill open weekends—from flea markets to antique car gatherings to rock concerts to lowkey Sports Car Club of America club races.

What are the advantages of auto road-racing courses?

They are almost always closed courses, which means the only traffic onthe road course is what you want to put on it; there’s no errant traffic to worry about, no intersections thatneed to be blocked and staffed. There’s more than adequate parking for participants and spectators. There are usually grandstands near the start/finish area for good spectating; there are usually acres upon acres of raised grassy areas where spectators can picnic while they watch the races. There are more than adequate restroom facilities; some of the auto races bring in a quarter-million spectators for arace weekend and are well used to accommodating crowds. There are concession stands. There is a pit area that would be perfect as an elaborate aid station complex. Most of the major races on the road courses are televised, so there are television camera sites already established. There’s an excellent public address system. There are excellent timing systems in place. The course is accurately measured. There are usually tall, easy-to-see leader boards and sometimes even JumboTrons that can

6 @ MARATHON & BEYOND

January/February 2000

broadcast up-front action to track spectators. The track is experienced in moving people onto and off of its property. There are excellent facilities for sponsors. The tracks are designed for easy crowd control. There are extensive garage areas that could be used for arunning expo. The tracks already have names and reputations that resonate with the public.

Doesn’t all this sound great? OK, let’s look at the drawbacks.

Most of the road-racing tracks feature hills, so there would be no world records set. (Exceptions are superspeedways, such as Daytona, whose road course is in the infield area and thus dead flat.) To run a marathon, participants would have to do multiple loops; most of the road-racing tracks are in the 2.5 to 4.0-mile range. (This is not necessarily a drawback. Some of the fastest courses in the world have been multiple loops, such as Rotterdam in its first year or West Valley T.C. Marathon in San Mateo, California, in the late 70s and early *80s).

What would a marathon at sucha facility look like? Well, it would probably involve holding two marathons on race day: an elite (moneyed) marathon and a citizen marathon. Saturday could be dedicated to a huge runners’ expo in the garage area, one-lap races on the road course, and perhaps a late-afternoon concert and outdoor pasta-feed on one of the large grassy areas fronting the concert stage. Sunday? A citizens’ marathon first thing in the morning. With the

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ChampionChip, the scoring could be simplified for even a field of 10,000 on a 2.52-mile course. (The West Valley T.C. in Northern California used to hand-score hundreds of runners on a 5-mile loop course in the late ’70s.)

As the citizen marathoners finish, eachis given a bag lunch (a PowerBar, bottled water, yogurt from the local dairy, a sandwich, etc.), the runners’ expo is still open, concession stands are open for family and friends. When the citizen marathon is finished, the course is swept clean and prepped for the elite marathon, which the weary marathoners and their friends can view from the comfort of grassy hillsides, watch on the JumboTron, follow on the leader board. When the elite marathon is finished by midafternoon, The Beach Boys play a90-minute concert, and everyone efficiently drives away from the professionally administered parking lots, sated by a more-than-full weekend.

What are some of the obvious advantages? The closed course concept is perfect for sponsors and television. There are no local residents irate about their disrupted weekend schedules when marathoners fill their streets. Parking and all essential facilities (including RV parking) are readily available for citizen marathoners, their families, and friends. The citizen race can be easily watched by family and friends instead of being viewed in bits and pieces after frantic high-speed drives along an often unfamiliar course. The citizen marathoners, from

EDITORIAL @ 7

the comfort of a grassy hillside picnic postmarathon recovery spot, can actually see and appreciate world-class marathoners weaving their art. Running clubs can reserve specific patches of grass for their members and may even be able to sign up new members from the runners hanging around for the postrace fun. Auto racing pit areas are huge and could easily be turned into the world’s largest—and most complete and colorful—aid station, with plenty of wall space for sponsors’ banners; you’d need only one pit area/aid station, as every 2.5 to 4.0 miles, the field would be coming past it again.

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Naturally, all of this applies to shorter road races as well. In fact, the idea lends itself to shorter road races more easily than to marathons because it will allow more time for races at various distances, a trend gaining in popularity.

On the flip side, all of this may be silly nonsense brought on by the millennial brain fever that seems to be infecting everyone. But, seriously, I think race directors like Fred Lebow would have appreciated if not the potential reality of this idea, at least the concept for its own sake. What do you think?

—Rich Benyo

8 @ MARATHON & BEYOND

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