I can’t see any 18 mile finishers in the race results.
I’d argue that not being on the results list makes it fairly different compared to the actual finishers.
If a participant is angry because they ran 26 miles and got a medal, and someone who ran 18 miles also got a medal despite not finishing, I think they should consider their priorities again. Let’s maybe decide that the medal fetish has limits. Ban wearing finisher medals on airplanes?
For what it’s worth, having run those Disney races a couple weekends ago:
I ran the challenge, so did the 10K Saturday, half Sunday. I was wandering about the finish area about two hours after the initial wave having finished and collected my medals. There were pretty clearly some folks who had either a.) cut the course or b.) took the SAG wagon back from one of the early checkpoints in line for character pictures at the end. And yep, you guessed it: they had their medals.
I couldn’t have cared less. They paid their $450, which includes the medal…nothing in there says you actually had to finish the race to get said medal. (Also note that nowhere on the ribbons or medals does it say finisher on it.)
Zero problems with what LA Marathon did here.
#MakeRunningWeirdAgain
#MakeRunnersWeirdAgain
the guy in the bear costume… is shooting for a sub 3, has been trying for a while now, did 3:15 in that heat, wearing gloves too
Do you get an Ironman finishers medal and T-shirt when the swim is cancelled?
Asking for a friend.
Would you take a medal that says “finisher” (or implies you’d finished a race) even if you hadn’t made it to the line?
Would I? No.
But if a race organizer says “yep, 18 counts as far enough for one” and somebody takes one, I have zero qualms with that.
It’s a finishers medal, who gives a shit?? If it bothers you, you really need to get a life.
Why wouldn’t you take one, though? Self-respect?
Not taking one and not caring if someone else takes one is consistent with treating a finisher’s medal as not all that important.
As simple as “because I don’t want it.”
But I also accept this situation as different than, say, someone who cut the course and missed the cutoff and still wants a finisher medal. The race organizer said a certain distance is enough to earn a finisher medal. Therefore, let them get a medal.
If your race registration platform says that everyone gets a medal, then everybody gets a medal (if they want it). If your race registration platform says only finishers get medals, then only finishers (according to what the race organizer determines is a finisher) get a medal (if they want one).
Ultimately I think the only medals that really matter are awarded once every four years, but to each their own.
Okay. I just can’t imagine being proud of calling it a day early simply because I’m given the option. The whole point of the marathon is to push your limits. If someone made it to the 18-mile mark and was well and truly at their limit, then that’s great and they should be proud. Just as someone who hit the wall and couldn’t recover at six miles or 24 miles or any point should be proud. But no athletes I know who truly pride themselves on giving their all would be happy with an early exit simply because race organizers told them “Here’s a freebie.”
Also, this is something we can never know, but I wonder how many people were starting to feel the discomfort (the regular discomfort of running a marathon) around that point in the race and decided to walk off the course. I’d be willing to bet that not only would they not have quit if the option hadn’t been there, but that a lot of them will now or soon feel like they let themselves down by taking the easy way out. But, hey, as you say, to each their own…
So to clarify if you stopped at 18mi you simply got a medal and or a time for 18mi?
The people who stopped early basically get a time with an * right? They didn’t get credit with the full marathon time they just get a medal? If so meh, no harm no foul really.
IE- in the results they arent listed alongside the results ppl who ran the full distance?
On the other hand what the hell is the organizer going to do with a bunch of finisher medals that aren’t handed out? Might just look at the local goodwill later for my 18mi run finisher glory.
Hey! Why isn’t this in the Running Forum/Sub-Forum?
/p
“The real victory is waking up and showing up.” - said by some guy who runs or something
To the OP, yes it totally goes against the grain to cut a marathon short and still say you finished.
But we can turn this around and compare it to Ironman races where the swim is canceled. Do you still get a medal. Do you still say you did Ironman South Africa if the swim was shortened? What if the organizers had the ability to say, “the swim is cancelled, but you are welcome to get in the water and swim your own unsupported swim before you get on the bike.” Would the Ironman only “count” if you elected to do that? Not exactly the same, but not crazy different either. It’s kind of nice that the organizers basically gave the option to everyone to do the full distance, rather than say, “in the interest of safety we are making the course shorter for everyone.” That’s essentially what happens in Ironman racing fairly regularly.
Now all that being said, to the rest of us who do hard things, we understand if it’s hotter out, you just go slower by choice, for eventually you’ll be reduced to a walk. So while the hot marathon isn’t the same as crazy waves that might drown 3 people and cause 100 more to DNF, it could likely cause heat stroke for 10 people and cause 100 to DNF.
… And how many of them are gonna take that medal, put it away somewhere, forget about it, and never try a marathon ever again?
I always told myself I’m only running 1 marathon and that’s in an IM. So hell, if I can get an IM w as many cancelled legs as possible and get credit for a marathon by only doing 18mi……sign me up yesterday
So I thought about.. and I know Im not the OP but.. I do think those are a bit different as those are out of their control.. This is 100% an “opinion”. Like a cancel swim is 100% robbing everyone at that event the option. This is allowing them the option to bail and still pretend to have not bailed..
