I know some guy who BQd but didn’t sign up in time. He doesn’t want to waste his fitness and is scared due to family commitments in the upcoming year that he wont BQ again. He said he is going to bandit the race. I said but the dudes on ST will get pissed. He said WTF is ST? Then I sent him a link to this forum. He said he is going to do it anyway.
What’s his name? I’m sure there’s plenty of STers who wouldn’t mind, err, helping him out on course.
I might do it. I have always wanted to run Boston. When is the race?
LD
So he’s a slack ass and doesn’t sign up in time and now wants to be a putz (Yes, putz) and bandit the race. When I qualify I will register within days, not sit on my ass. Nice, let’s encourage people trammeling on the race…He BQ’ed, but didn’t register at all. Sounds like it wasn’t a priority to him. No sympathy here.
Let’s post his picture so I can send it to the BAA and watch out for him.
Bob
Boston, what’s so the big deal about Boston? I don’t even think I’ve heard of this “race”. 
JUST KIDDING!!
I’m with Macho Grande…part of actually making it to the start line in Boston is not just the BQ time, but committing to hit “submit” on the on line entry many months before the race. If he missed it, it really is too bad, but that will give him the added fire to make it happen again…and realistically it is just another marathon with a lot of hype…if he has good fitness, there are a ton of other spring marathons to go to!
slacka$$ and cheapskate it sounds like
.
Certainly I agree that he should have signed up in advance. The problem is that the hype of the race is the reason why anyone does it. Doing any spring marathon is not the same. Also, like I said, he doesn’t think that he will be able to run as fast due to upcoming family and work commitments. He is pretty committed to being a bandit. I’ll try and get him to post a race report afterward.
He will be nabbed near the end then - even last year (worst weather in 110 years of Boston) they had “catchers” for expected bandits near Boyleston St. and made referrence to it verbally, in print, etc.
He may get the “experience” of running the hills early, the girls at Wellesley, but also the certain guilt forever. Forget that it is so jam packed in the middle ranks that you can hardly move until 5k or medical-legal issues if he gets hurt out on course …
Well, I think he has a way to not get nabbed.
i heard MITRI’s going to bandit boston…
not really. he qualified on his own & is going to kick ass.
Why not just run the course self supported the day after Boston? Same course, no wasted fitness, and no unethical bullshit (comprimising the safety of other runners and the ability to put it on year after year)? Seems like a good way to go to me, plus its cheaper than registering.
Sure let him try…The BAA folks have no issue being, um, physical (I think the Bruins train the catchers) with those who try to cross the finish line (Or even make the turn to home) without a number…
I gotta call Bullshit on this one. IF he qualified for Boston and his goal was to run Boston HE WOULD HAVE SIGNED UP IN TIME!!!
I know when I qualified I registered for Boston the day after my BQ race…
Running Boston Bandit is not running it. Your’e not registered and you did not officially finish. Rationalize all you want but facts are facts.
How hard would it be to come up with something resembling a race number the day before when everyone else has picked theirs up from registration and you get a good look at it. As long as hes not helping himself to the on course refreshments and he does the whole thing self-supported -go for it. Just my 2c worth
Fuel belt + color photocopier is all he needs.
Cough, bullshit.
First, before I was a true athlete, I bandited Boston, there are no officials looking to stop you, no one to haul you off the course. In fact they have a spot in the corals especially for bandits. They tried to stop bandits one year and the had triple the number of normal bandits show up, Boston has always had a tradition of bandits, so I say Bullshit to those claiming you will get accosted or stopped.
Second I just qualified, came home and tried to register and it was closed, it NEVER fills up (this is only the second time.) So many people were caught off guard. Now I have searched for a charity to join up with and they are all full. There are a number of reasons I want to do it, family in Boston, end of an epic training weekend, and the cheesecake factory. So I will still try and find a number through a charity, I have several inquires out, but if all else fails I will donate and run. Any bandits looking to meet up before the race just send me a message and I will show you the ropes.
rover
I’ve run Boston a few time legit, but one year I got a stress fracture before my qualifier. A bunch of my friends were running it that spring, so I decided to run it with them anyway. Being very anti-bandit myself, I was having a severe ethical dilemma.
The thing that POed me most about bandits were clogging up the start area and taking water, etc. on the course. Aha, I could just run the second half and carry a Camelbak. I had a good time pacing my friends and didn’t feel too guilty afterwards. I also didn’t get crap from other runners because they must have seen me as a pacer (I was the only runner cheering others up Heartbreak). I’ve had lots of friends help pace others in Chicago, NY, etc. I was a pacer, not a bandit. Ummm, OK that’s a grey area.
If you bandit Boston to run the full race and had never done so before or gotten a qualifier, you’re scum in my opinion. Like Kona, Boston is the best most of us “mere mortals” can aspire too who have no shot at the Olympics. For those who aren’t capable of qualifying, hopefully you’ll get a chance to run Boston when they do the lottery. I know that sounds elitist, but that’s why it’s an elite race.
Boston is nothing like Kona. Boston is just a race that requires a qualifying time to enter. The qualifying times have been getting slower and slower and there is no limit on the qualifiers. You run the time, you sign up, you run Boston. No big deal really.
Kona is different story entirely and to equate the two as being equal is blasphemy!
Alright, continue on in your bandit discussion.