Amazing seeing all the runners out at dawn this morning. I get they set the threshold ahead of time so there’s no indecision about making a cancellation on race day, but it’s pretty mild as far as “severe conditions” go. Maybe there was a way to move the start time earlier?

They said it was going to be black flag weather conditions. They are lying. the WBGT forecast for the region is yellow flag conditions.

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Washed up footy player turned Triathlete.

I’m in Minneapolis and it is hard to beat the weather this morning, especially in October. I believe it was mid-sixties when I woke up. For running weather, it is warmer than desired but the temp at noon is predicted to be 79 degrees and 59% humidity. There are a lot of angry runners commenting on the socials. Many trained through the hot summer months only to be turned away at the last hour. Maybe the biggest insult is the statement from the organization about a ‘possible’ refund. I ran the 10-mile race last year and it is one of my favorite races. I’m glad I didn’t sign up this year and this will make me pause before signing up in the future.

hilarious how soft thing have become. I have a buddy going up there from a place where that is the daily weather!

Imagine running Kona at 79-80 with 59% humidity. That'd be awesome.

haha, send the note to Messick, I hear they need to cancel the Women's Kona and pocket the cash on account of it being too hot!!!

Very disappointing they cancelled the marathon and the 10 miler! It was a beautiful morning here, not perfect but it didnt start getting really warm until after 11am. Lots of people decided to do it on their own and the crowds still showed up along Summit Ave to support the runners. It ended up being a great day for everyone who participated.

Just so we’re clear, it’s 87 degrees five and a half hours after the slow runners would have been starting.

I am wondering if the issue is actually the slow runners. Race organizers could end up with thousands of runners way into the 4-6th hour of their race at like 20 miles running in 80 F weather with some humidity and not enough water at the aid stations. Didn't they cancel one of the big marathons (Chicago?) like five hours after the start because they ran out of water?

Yeah, it's kinda funny how there's a thread talking about how the sport is losing popularity then you have this thread calling people weak for not being able to do it in the extreme heat. 90 degrees in October in Minnesota is extreme. People sign up for a fall marathon expecting fall weather, and may try to go for it when they're not prepared for it. Just because you're from Florida doesn't mean everyone should be as tough as you, if you feel this way I'd invite you up north in February for F3 here in Chicago.

Also here's what happened in Chicago. I think there was another year where aid stations ran out of water near the end of the race which was pretty serious too, so maybe the organizers cancelled knowing they weren't prepared for it.
https://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/08/us/08chicago.html

All they had to do was move start time to 6am. At noon it's still under 80 degrees. I mean if you haven't finished in about 6 hours, you're walking and walking in 80's temps is perfectly fine.
They even cancelled the 10m race and take takes 2hrs max even for the slow folks.
I expect participation for this race to dwindle.

Please, let me know in detail, how you're going to be able to move the start time of a marathon up the night before the race, and have all of the proper permitting and policing authority.

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I will admit it did get warmer than predicted. The highest predicted temp I saw when I checked this morning was 81 or 82 around 2pm with the humidity staying around 60%.

I don’t think this will affect the popularity of the race. During the Covid era, Grandma’s marathon cancelled the race months in advance of the race date, and didn’t offer any refunds. Two years later it was selling out. The 10-mile race is currently a lottery and I don’t see that changing in the near future.

5-6 hour marathoners aren't walking the whole thing. Most people walk a bit slower than that. 5 hour marathoners are doing a combination of jogging, run-walking, shuffling, etc. I can tell you from volunteering at our local marathon that plenty of these 5-6 hour folks are actually working hard and suffering past the 30 km mark. I do agree that at 5 or 6 am start time would have been a better solution than a full on cancellation but I can only imagine the logistics nightmare of having to do that last minute.

The weather forecast was known days in advance and nothing changed. You don't have to do it last minute. That could have been done days in advance. Just requires forethought and determination.

See my post above. Didn't have to be last minute.

Which races do you organize?

It is highly unlikely you're getting a start time move without a few months of planning around it, particularly for a major city marathon.

Whether we like it or not, these types of cancellations are going to become more and more common due to climate change. We may have more race starts move up on a permanent basis to accommodate (e.g., everyone remember how Boston used to start at noon? Pepperidge Farm remembers.)

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Editor-in-Chief, Slowtwitch.com | Twitter

To the thread in general, it was hot as hell for MN in October today. I did a cyclocross race just outside the cities that finished around noon and it was awful hot, pulled the pin on doing the second race. A 6am start would be in the dark dark dark, sunrise is after 7 these days.

The cancelation is for the the sub 4 hour finisher, it is for the 5 and 6 hour that are still working hard, but very much in the heat of the day.

It sucka that the race was canceled, but it was 90+ degrees at 1 this afternoon. There are summers that barely break 90 here, we are not warm weather people.

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That's considered to be a fast weather for the LA marathon. In Spring. Just sayin'.

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Next races on the schedule: none at the moment

That's crazy. Looks like comfy weather to me! I'm wondering what's happening to people these days...

Yeah, and probably green for most of the time.

Certainly a sucky situation for the race director to need to deal with. Very reasonable to decide to cancel the marathon if they felt understaffed on aid tents / water / etc or under-guarded on their waivers against heatstroke liability (which, TBH, you might not super carefully consider for MN in October...).

But black flag is either a baldfaced lie, or a bad error in calculation. No way Wet Bulb Globe temps were anywhere near 90. (I'm using this as a guideline: https://www.hprc-online.org/...conditions-explained). Perhaps there is a separate "civilian" black flag system they are referring to? But I suspect someone may not have understood the difference between heat index and WBGT and saw values in the 90s and freaked out.

It's absurd that the 10 miler didn't still run.

I used to volunteer quite a bit with the marathon and associated events, though I haven't been involved with the marathon for quite awhile. I know they have had a very detailed operations manual and crisis plan for at least 15 years and they have criteria laid out for how to handle all sorts of events, including weather. This is what the breakdown for THEIR different flags was in the version I have (obviously these thresholds could have changed since then):

White Flag = Hypothermia Risk, <50°F
Green Flag = Low Risk, 50°F 58°F
Yellow Flag = Caution, 59°F-63°F
Red Flag = Extreme Caution, 64°F-68°F
Black Flag = Extreme Risk, >69°F ("Event Cancellation Threshold" = 69°F).

Once you have anything like that in a policy manual, that's what they have to follow, and I have no doubt that they did everything according to what they should have per their policies.

Edit: Here is the research that went into determining that 69ºF threshold. It's written by Dr. Bill Roberts who was the long time medical director for the Twin Cities Marathon. It isn't just some number they decided on on a whim.

https://www.fisiologiadelejercicio.com/...adverse-outcomes.pdf

It's actually not completely unprecedented. While it was a record, there has been 90 deg. weather in the past in October. So the risk of it getting to be an uncomfortable race for most is always there, just unlikely. It was the hottest October 1st in Saint Paul since 1897.

https://www.startribune.com/sunday-warmest-october-day-ever-more-records-possible-monday-cooler-with-showers-mid-week/600309046/

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