FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Jack Fleming
B.A.A. Director of Communications
617-236-1652 ext. 2627
617-694-8218 (mobile)
This Year's B.A.A. Boston Marathon To Implement Wave Start
Improvement will have positive effects on participants and residents
in the Town of Hopkinton; entire race will be more efficient.
Also, a minor change in course near race's finish will allow pedestrian and
vehicular traffic on Massachusetts Avenue to pass above while race is in
progress.
BOSTON - In a change designed to provide a better experience at the
beginning of the race both for participants and residents, the Boston
Athletic Association in cooperation with the Town of Hopkinton will
implement a wave start for this year's Boston Marathon.
In employing the change, all participants will be staged and begin on a
single commercial street (Main Street, also known as Route 135) in two
waves of approximately 10,000 athletes in each wave. No longer will runners
wait to begin the race while lined-up on residential streets. Hundreds of
volunteers will escort runners from an expanded Athletes' Village at
Hopkinton High School to their starting corrals, preventing them from
stopping on or in front of private (residential or commercial) or public
property. Approximately half of the anticipated field of 20,000 official
entrants will begin in the first wave, and the remaining half of the field
will begin one-half hour later in the second wave.
The starting time for the first wave of runners will be Noon, and the
second wave will begin at 12:30 p.m. Remaining the same as in each of the
last two years (since 2004), a few mobility-impaired participants will
begin at 10:00 a.m., several dozen wheelchair division competitors will
begin at 11:25 a.m., and approximately 50-70 of the race's fastest women
will begin in a separate Elite Women's Start at 11:31 a.m. The exact
starting line itself, adjacent to the Hopkinton Town Green, remains
unchanged.
"This improvement will result in a vastly more efficient race," said Dave
McGillivray, Boston Marathon Race Director. "This change is all positive
and will benefit everything about the Boston Marathon, including our
transportation plan and our accommodation of runners in the hours leading
up to the race. The effects of this plan will be extensive: we are
sensitive to our impact within Hopkinton, and this operational innovation
addresses the concerns of town residents and officials."
Another of the benefits of the wave start is that it will reduce the amount
of time that it takes for runners to cross the starting line. Last year,
with approximately 20,000 official entrants, the last official participant
crossed the starting line approximately 30 minutes after the starting gun
was fired. Although the B.A.A.'s timing and scoring system records
participants' net times, in the past it may have taken runners until
several miles down the course before they could begin to run freely and
without obstruction due to the density of runners during the race's early
stages.
"Whereas it took the last official runners 30 minutes to cross the starting
line last year, this year it will take fewer than 10 minutes for each wave
to cross," said McGillivray. "It is important to note that the anticipated
net difference in this method versus previous years' 'one gun, one start'
is only about 10 minutes, meaning the last runner will be crossing the
starting line this year at 12:40 p.m. as compared to 12:30 p.m. last year.
We get the benefit of a wave start without any significant delay in
anyone's starting time. Runners will continue to be seeded and started
according to their qualifying time, which means that - in theory - no one
from the second wave will ever catch anyone from the first wave. In
practice, of course, due to a number of variables, some runners from the
second wave will mix with the last runners of the first wave far down the
course. However, by that time, the race will have thinned itself enough so
that no issue will arise for runners who are passing other runners, getting
the fluid replacement that they need, or other race services."
Another change will be that runners will be scored and ranked by their net
time, which means that - although they will be starting 30 minutes later
than those in the first wave - runners from the second wave will be timed
and scored from the time they cross the starting line until the time they
cross the finish line. Prize money winners will continue to be awarded by
gun time (not net time).
Because the second wave will begin at 12:30 p.m., the finish line timing
and scoring operation will remain open until 6:30 p.m. Since 1997, the
Boston Marathon finish line has stayed up and running until just after 6:00
p.m., recording all official participants who run within the six hour time
limit.
"These changes represent a major step forward for the Boston Marathon and
its runners," said the B.A.A.s' Executive Director Guy Morse. "Everyone
wins with this plan. Wave starts have been implemented and received with
overwhelming and widespread success in road racing, as well as in other
sports. There is no anticipated down-side with our plan."
Benefits of the B.A.A.'s plan to begin the 2006 Boston Marathon in a wave
start, consisting of two sections of 10,000 participants each:
- An expanded Athletes' Village will be used to implement the plan,
resulting in more space and greater comfort for athletes prior to the race;
each wave will have its own designated section of the Athletes' Village;
- Athletes will be staged for a shorter time in downtown Hopkinton;
- Athletes will be staged on a smaller geographical footprint in
Hopkinton, and they will occupy less real estate in Hopkinton, minimizing
impact on town property;
- The last runners of each wave will cross the starting line 20
minutes sooner than recent past years;
- Once crossing the starting line, runners will be able to run free
sooner;
- Runners can be transported to Hopkinton later, decreasing the time
they will need to be accommodated while in Hopkinton waiting for the race
to begin;
- On the course, between Hopkinton and Boston, the wave start will
reduce the density of runners on the route, enabling systems such as fluid
replacement and emergency facilities to stay ahead of the needs of the
participants and spectators with the services they are providing;
- Runners - except for prize money winners - will be timed, scored and
receive age division awards according to their net time;
- The finish line in Boston will remain open to time and score
official participants until 6:30 p.m.
Start timeline for the 110th Boston Marathon on Monday, April 17, 2006
10:00 a.m. Mobility-impaired athletes
11:25 a.m. Wheelchair division competitors
11:31 a.m. Elite Women
Noon Elite Men and first wave of approximately 10,000
entrants
12:30 p.m. Second wave of approximately 10,000 entrants
Unrelated to the wave start, the B.A.A. and the City of Boston will make a
minor course change within the last mile of the route. In the 25th mile
not far after the runners pass through Kenmore Square, participants will go
under Massachusetts Avenue as they make their way along Commonwealth
Avenue.
In the past, the course has taken runners across Massachusetts Avenue on
Commonwealth Avenue. The change allows for pedestrian and vehicular traffic
on Massachusetts Avenue while the race is in progress, providing an outlet
in the Back Bay on a major roadway which previously did not exist. The
course has been re-measured and the course change does not necessitate any
alteration of either the starting line or the finish line. The exact
distance from the existing starting line on Main Street in Hopkinton to the
existing finish line on Boylston Street in Boston is 26 miles, 385 yards.
This year's marathon will be held on Monday, April 17; it is the 110th
edition of the world's oldest annual marathon. The Boston Marathon has
started in Hopkinton, Massachusetts since 1924. From the race's inception
in 1897 until 1923, the Boston Marathon began in neighboring Ashland, Mass.
Established in 1887, the Boston Athletic Association is a non-profit
organization with a mission of managing athletic events and promoting a
healthy lifestyle through sports, especially running. Besides the Boston
Marathon, the organization manages other local events and supports
comprehensive charity, youth, and year-round running programs.
###
|
