Comments on: The marathon blame game

By: Noga Martin

Noga Martin — Wed, 20 Mar 2013 21:20:32 +0000

Sam Ser, I found this documentary quite interesting: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HH8nQiILe1Q

By: Noga Martin

Noga Martin — Wed, 20 Mar 2013 12:41:22 +0000

Precisely.

By: Bill Bilek

Bill Bilek — Wed, 20 Mar 2013 12:32:38 +0000

I am confused. Who was forcing anyone to run a marathon? Is there no level of personal responsibility any more? Is the government responsible to decide for us all what we do, when we do it, how we dress for whatever, what we eat, and drink? Runners that freely choose to run; skiers who ski down a hill, bicyclers, rollerbladers, etc., etc as long as their actions do not risk the well being of others, have the freedom to do, or not; and to bear the personal consequences of their choices.

By: Bill Bilek

Bill Bilek — Wed, 20 Mar 2013 12:32:38 +0000

By: Sam Ser

Sam Ser — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 18:48:17 +0000

funny — i remember our facebook discussion about the inherent dangers of long-distance running. i think you touched on an important point in your blog post, which is that extreme endurance events demand certain precautions, that you don't just strap on a pair of shoes and a name brand t-shirt and run a marathon because it's the cool thing to do. i am a big proponent of powerlifting as part of a well-rounded fitness program, as you know — but i would shudder to think that any jackass would step up to a heavy barbell and start yanking on it without understanding what they were getting themselves into.

By: בן וקסמן

בן וקסמן — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 15:13:41 +0000

Noga Martin since barkat is a runner, he could easily teach huldai a thing or two

By: בן וקסמן

בן וקסמן — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 15:13:41 +0000

Noga Martin since barkat is a runner, he could easily teach huldai a thing or two

By: Eric Sommer

Eric Sommer — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 13:02:58 +0000

TA indeed has a poor history with the marathon. I was personally affected in 2010, when they moved it from March to May. (Think it's hot in March? Then why May!?!?) I agree that this latest debacle will cause people to think twice before signing up. It's a pity though. We have so few options here and the idea of having 3 marathons was nice. (Though I still don't understand why TA and J-m need to be only weeks apart.) Then again, my coach has never been big on TA. For a serious marathon effort, he always prefers Tiberias.

By: Noga Martin

Noga Martin — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 13:02:07 +0000

The funny thing is, Tony, and this is a preview of my next blog post, that Jerusalem – a city beset with problems – manages to pull of an excellent marathon, despite challenging running conditions. I would love to see Barkat offer to teach Huldai a thing or two

By: Tony Jassen

Tony Jassen — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 12:59:53 +0000

It must be a conspiracy by the organizers of the Jerusalem marathon to do away with the competition. :p

By: Noga Martin

Noga Martin — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 12:54:59 +0000

Just because a government entity issued a recommendation doesn't mean it's right. Official bodies are more interested in limiting liability than providing accurate information. People think distance running is dangerous because they don't understand the nature of the sport. Last year we had cool weather and over 100 runners needed medical treatment. In 2011, a man died of heat stroke running the half marathon and the weather was temperate. The organizers did all they could to provide a safe race – moving up the start times, adding water stations. Runners are ultimately responsible for themselves. The city's decision to cancel the marathon is not only a slap in the face to thousands of dedicated athletes but a blot on its own reputation. No one will take the Tel Aviv Marathon seriously from now on, and I wouldn't be surprised if in future years the number of runners signing up for the 42.2 race drops dramatically. Why wouldn't it? People plan and train for months in advance, plan events and travel around the marathon date, and then find themselves at loose ends in face of small-minded bureaucracy. Tel Aviv has proven itself unable to take responsibility for a marathon, so you know what? Dump it entirely. Keep the event a 10K, people will flock to it, and serious runners will look elsewhere for a well-planned event that actually takes place as scheduled.

By: Eric Sommer

Eric Sommer — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 12:10:22 +0000

There is some logic to what you're saying. But the temperature at the time the marathoners would have been finishing — especially the slowest runners, who might also be the least prepared — was significantly higher, making the conditions much more dangerous. Even if you assume most people are well prepared, I don't see how you can take responsibility for letting them run in what you know are potentially dangerous conditions. And even if marathoners are, as you say, better prepared, the MoH said it was unsafe to run then. (The temperature at the end of the half marathon was high, but not excessive.) What they could have done is start the marathon at 4 and announced that the course was closing at 9 or something like that. The Las Vegas marathon starts somewhere in the middle of the night. So I'm not sure why they couldn't have done the same here.

By: Daniel Pearlman

Daniel Pearlman — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 11:52:52 +0000

The decision to cancel the marathon and stage the 1/2 marathon was probably the most baseless of the possible decisions. I think the idea was to protect people. But of course the people who need the most protection are the inexperienced and/or the untrained, the people who think they can run with a week or two of training or because they 'just can'. Maybe such people would make it through a 10K without significant danger, even on a hot day, but more than double the distance for the half marathon and I guess the risks increase. Probably exponentially. I am sure there are a good number of people who did not train properly for the half, but surely no one would be silly enough to sign up for the full marathon without taking the training a little more seriously! So it would be fair to say that nearly all the participants in the marathin, and they are significantly fewer in number, should be better qualified, experienced etc to deal with a warmer day therefore probably posing a lower risk than the half marathon runners! Yet which got cancelled. Surely the Marathon should have gone ahead and half marathon should have been cancelled, giving the half marathon runners the opportunity to run a 10K! Following the announcement to cancel this weeks marathon, a reasonable number of people plan to run anway. So instead of staging a properly controlled event with water stations and medical support, a large number of people will run without extra water stations and with no medical support. Did Misrad Habriyut and City Hall think of that?

By: Daniel Pearlman

Daniel Pearlman — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 11:52:52 +0000

By: Eric Sommer

Eric Sommer — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 11:19:26 +0000

I think the Huldai acted quite responsibly with the race last week. He consulted with the Ministry of Health, he moved the marathon, he moved up the start times. Given that, not only should he have not been blamed for the poor runner's death, he should have been backed by the media. They were the really shameful ones here. Their coverage was largely ignorant and sensational.