Being involved in the running scene in Las Vegas, and chatting occasionally with a wonderful individual who helps with the organizing of the race but also volunteers where I work, I received the following email this morning.
Mars
Let's start with a mea culpa. Yep. We completely buggered things up last December. No excuses. No alibis. We just flat out blew it. We deserve nearly every brick that has been thrown at us. It is altogether amazing that the same crew (us) that has put on 22 LA Marathons could have done things so badly here in Vegas in '06. Totally bizarre. Here is a rehash of the problems we introduced last year, and the simple cures we are going to apply this year:
- Last year we brought in our clock/mile marker crew from LA. Big mistake. They were unfamiliar with the course, and did not know their way around Vegas. On race morning the crew had trouble finding the mile points, so the leader of the band inexplicably decided just to put the clocks....wherever. Huh? Why? Fugheddaboudit!
This year we are using a crew from the Las Vegas Track Club. These folks know the city, and they are the people who actually measure the course for USATF certification. They will be able to drive to every mile point and every 5k split without a moment's worth of trouble. Case closed. Problem solved.
- Last year Devine tried to go cheap on the shirts and the medals. Major mistake. Completely unacceptable. Those of us on the operations arm have lambasted the financiers in Chicago, and we have won. This year we will have performance shirts instead of those [i].85 cotton wonders. And we are badgering Devine to provide a medal that is uniquely, distinctly Las Vegas, and we are winning the battle. Those Made in China wonders last year were about as ordinary as you could imagine. Never again.
- The food disaster was...a disaster. We had enough food on hand to feed 25,000 people. We had only 16,400 finishers, yet we ran out of food. How can that happen??? Well, none of us bothered to reconnoiter the parking lot at Mandalay Bay on a Sunday morning to watch the migration of employees when they change shifts at 7:00 a.m. BIG mistake. When the worker bees at Mandalay Bay and the Four Seasons Hotel changed shifts, it seems as if all 3,500 of them made a beeline for the parking lot and went straight to the food area. It was staggering to see. By the time we figured out what was going on we had probably fed 2,000 people with a week's worth of energy bars, nutrition bars, bananas, apples and oranges. There were people walking away with boxes of food, because our volunteer staff felt too outgunned to shoot back.
The placement of Marathon Foto made it even worse. Last year's finishers crossed the finish line, had their chip removed, got wrapped in a mylar blanket, and then had their medals placed around their necks. Fine. That part was perfect. It was the next step that was the problem. Marathon Foto was between the finish line and the food. That meant that nearly every one of the 8,000+ half-marathon finishers had to have their pictures taken right then and there, and at least half of them wanted family members, friends, neighbors, dogs, cats...even mortal enemies...in the picture. It was nuts. Once their entourages were in the finish corral, the whole posse would head to the food table, and Voila!...we ran out of food before most of the marathon participants had a chance to grab some grub. Like I said before, never again!
This year Marathon Foto will be banished to an area OUTSIDE the finish area. They will not like it, but tough. We have Customers to satisfy, and we aim to do it. And this year we are going to lock down the finish area tighter than Dick Cheney's bunker. We are going to construct a finish chute using a combination of bicycle barricades, orange plastic fencing and human volunteers. You are going to need serious credentials or a salt-encrusted face to get anywhere near the chow. No exceptions allowed.
You know, last year was a miserable experience for almost everyone involved. And it is all the more stunning given the years of experience our team has. We were humbled and chastened by the comments on MarathonGuide.com, so we have dedicated ourselves to making amends. This year we WILL give all of our participants a joyful and memorable experience, because all of the stupid problems we introduced last year are so easily correctable.
We are runners too. All of us have run dozens of marathons, and hundreds of road races. We know what we like, and we know what folks like you want from an event.
So there you have it. We have put our house in order, and we are ready for anything short of a meteorite shower. We truly would be delighted to have you experience the fun of the Las Vegas Marathon in 2007, so we hope you will give it a shot.
Mars
Let's start with a mea culpa. Yep. We completely buggered things up last December. No excuses. No alibis. We just flat out blew it. We deserve nearly every brick that has been thrown at us. It is altogether amazing that the same crew (us) that has put on 22 LA Marathons could have done things so badly here in Vegas in '06. Totally bizarre. Here is a rehash of the problems we introduced last year, and the simple cures we are going to apply this year:
- Last year we brought in our clock/mile marker crew from LA. Big mistake. They were unfamiliar with the course, and did not know their way around Vegas. On race morning the crew had trouble finding the mile points, so the leader of the band inexplicably decided just to put the clocks....wherever. Huh? Why? Fugheddaboudit!
This year we are using a crew from the Las Vegas Track Club. These folks know the city, and they are the people who actually measure the course for USATF certification. They will be able to drive to every mile point and every 5k split without a moment's worth of trouble. Case closed. Problem solved.
- Last year Devine tried to go cheap on the shirts and the medals. Major mistake. Completely unacceptable. Those of us on the operations arm have lambasted the financiers in Chicago, and we have won. This year we will have performance shirts instead of those [i].85 cotton wonders. And we are badgering Devine to provide a medal that is uniquely, distinctly Las Vegas, and we are winning the battle. Those Made in China wonders last year were about as ordinary as you could imagine. Never again.
- The food disaster was...a disaster. We had enough food on hand to feed 25,000 people. We had only 16,400 finishers, yet we ran out of food. How can that happen??? Well, none of us bothered to reconnoiter the parking lot at Mandalay Bay on a Sunday morning to watch the migration of employees when they change shifts at 7:00 a.m. BIG mistake. When the worker bees at Mandalay Bay and the Four Seasons Hotel changed shifts, it seems as if all 3,500 of them made a beeline for the parking lot and went straight to the food area. It was staggering to see. By the time we figured out what was going on we had probably fed 2,000 people with a week's worth of energy bars, nutrition bars, bananas, apples and oranges. There were people walking away with boxes of food, because our volunteer staff felt too outgunned to shoot back.
The placement of Marathon Foto made it even worse. Last year's finishers crossed the finish line, had their chip removed, got wrapped in a mylar blanket, and then had their medals placed around their necks. Fine. That part was perfect. It was the next step that was the problem. Marathon Foto was between the finish line and the food. That meant that nearly every one of the 8,000+ half-marathon finishers had to have their pictures taken right then and there, and at least half of them wanted family members, friends, neighbors, dogs, cats...even mortal enemies...in the picture. It was nuts. Once their entourages were in the finish corral, the whole posse would head to the food table, and Voila!...we ran out of food before most of the marathon participants had a chance to grab some grub. Like I said before, never again!
This year Marathon Foto will be banished to an area OUTSIDE the finish area. They will not like it, but tough. We have Customers to satisfy, and we aim to do it. And this year we are going to lock down the finish area tighter than Dick Cheney's bunker. We are going to construct a finish chute using a combination of bicycle barricades, orange plastic fencing and human volunteers. You are going to need serious credentials or a salt-encrusted face to get anywhere near the chow. No exceptions allowed.
You know, last year was a miserable experience for almost everyone involved. And it is all the more stunning given the years of experience our team has. We were humbled and chastened by the comments on MarathonGuide.com, so we have dedicated ourselves to making amends. This year we WILL give all of our participants a joyful and memorable experience, because all of the stupid problems we introduced last year are so easily correctable.
We are runners too. All of us have run dozens of marathons, and hundreds of road races. We know what we like, and we know what folks like you want from an event.
So there you have it. We have put our house in order, and we are ready for anything short of a meteorite shower. We truly would be delighted to have you experience the fun of the Las Vegas Marathon in 2007, so we hope you will give it a shot.
