Couple of thoughts from Soaring Wings...

[PT]

Couple of things... First hats off to Dustin and Rachel (and all those that helped them this year) for yet another AWESOME Soaring Wings 1/2 Marathon, and thank you... thank you... thank you to all the volunteers that gave up their Saturday morning to help us crazy runners out!!

Now, number 2... This is not to ALL the runners out there, those of you who this pertains to, well you know who you are... QUIT THROWING YOUR TRASH on the roads and in peoples yards!!!! GEL PACKS especially those that have been used are NOT VERY HEAVY!!!!
I was running today, and ran several different portions of the race route, and there were WAY TOO MANY used gel packs just tossed to the side of the road, and yes in some cases peoples front yards.
I wish I would have had some sort of trash bag with me, of course I would have never been able to complete my run. It was ridiculous how many empty packs were on the course.
I knew I was getting near the end of my run, so as I entered Centennial, on Bay Hill Drive, I started picking up empty gel packs... from the street and FROM PEOPLES YARDS!!! By the time I got to the other end, a whole 1.27 miles... I could NOT CARRY any more.
I did 14 miles of trail sweep the day after the Arkansas Traveller 100, and in those 14 miles, I picked up about a 1/4 of the amount of empty gel packs as I did in 1.27 miles.
WE RUNNERS ARE BETTER THAN THAT!!!
I would hate for a GREAT RACE to have to change it's route up, because members of one of the two neighborhoods we actually run though, might end up not wanting us to run through there any more!!

Bottom line, what I saw today was simply UNACCEPTABLE!!!!

[runlong4fun]

PT, your post its the nail on the head. Thanks for saying what needed to be said. Hopefully people will heed your advice on mot being litterbugs.

[captkirk]

I might point out that for a triathlon it is DQ for throwing things on the course. Maybe the RRCA should adopt similar legislation. There are too many trash cans on the way to throw things in people's yards

[dmeroney]

PT, good post. I really don't understand runners who litter so carelessly.

Kirk, I didn't know that about triathlons. How is that DQ determined? Ideally I'd like to see a behavior change instead of putting in a DQ rule. I just wonder how it's been done elsewhere. Do other racers report or is it just up to race officials to see the offense?

[captkirk]

Anything thrown on the ground , water bottle hat, or any gear outside of the transition zone is grounds for DQ which would have to be witnessed by race officials. They usually have someone on the course on a motorcycle looking for drafting offenses as well as throwing things down I have never heard of it happening but I'm sure it has. Probably more of an issue in an Iron man or half iron man

[PT]

I mentioned it at our club meeting Monday. Basically told folks that as runners we needed to make sure that didn't happen. And when we saw an influx of "newbie" runners, that should be part of our knowledge sharing with them.