Boston Marathon Heat Warning: Thousands Of Runners Sit Out

By JIMMY GOLEN, ASSOCIATED PRESS

BOSTON -- Temperatures rising into the 80s slowed the field at the 116th Boston Marathon and may have convinced as many as 4,300 runners to sit this one out.

Defending champion Geoffrey Mutai dropped out at the 18-mile mark due to cramping, one year after he won with the fastest marathon in world history. Mutai, who also won the New York Marathon in the fall, was hoping a repeat victory in Boston would earn him a place on the Kenyan Olympic team.

A total of 22,426 runners started Monday's race in Hopkinton in temperatures expected to be as high as 84 by the time the last of them finish their 26.2-mile trek to Boston's Back Bay. That's about 84 percent of the registered field of almost 27,000, with many of the no-shows expected to take race organizers up on their offer for a deferment into next year's race.

The largely unprecedented offer was issued in response to forecasts that called for temperatures rising from 69 at the start to 81 by the midpoint.

The heat didn't seem to be a problem for Canadian Joshua Cassidy, who won the men's wheelchair race in a time of 1 hour, 18 minutes, 25 seconds that is the fastest in history. American Shirley Reilly edged Japan's Wakako Tsuchida during a sprint to the finish in the women's wheelchair division.

But the runners were content to pace themselves.

The women went off to a slow pace, with a first mile of 6 minutes, 15 seconds and a three-mile pace that would bring them in at around 2 hours, 38 minutes - the slowest Boston Marathon women's race since 1978. The men were more than a minute behind last year's course record at the 5K mark.

One year after cool temperatures and a significant tailwind - perfect running weather - helped Mutai finish in 2 hours, 3 minutes, 2 seconds for the fastest marathon ever, the heat had elite runners preparing for a slower pace and the recreational runners trying to figure out how to finish at all.

The wheelchair racers left Hopkinton at 9:17 under sunny skies and a temperature of 69 degrees, followed by the women's field at 9:32. It was 73 when the elite men and the rest of the field went off at 10 a.m.

The total field included 26,716 entrants, but 3,683 never picked up their bib numbers over the weekend. Another 607 who picked up their starting bibs did not show up at the start; they will be offered a chance to run in 2013 instead.

With forecasts of dangerous heat, the Boston Athletic Association warned runners to be alert for signs of heat stroke and dehydration and asked those who were inexperienced or ill to skip this race. The B.A.A. offered a limited deferment in 2010, when the Icelandic volcano eruption stalled air traffic in Europe and prevented about 300 runners from getting to Boston.

Five-gallon jugs of water - twice as many as usual, organizers said - were already lining the route early in the morning as volunteers and medical staff stood by preparing for the influx of hot and tired runners.

The Boston Marathon has had its share of hot weather, with the thermometer hitting 97 degrees during the 1909 race that came to be known as "The Inferno" and the 1976 "Run for the Hoses" that started in 100-degree heat and finished with spectators sprinkling winner Jack Fultz with garden hoses to cool him down.

The last on-course death of a Boston Marathon participant occurred in 2002, but the Chicago Marathon stopped its 2007 race after 3 1/2 hours when a runner died after temperatures climbed to 88 degrees.

Hopkinton residents Ted and Nanda Barker-Hook have been handing out sports drinks, coffee, water, bananas, and sunscreen on the road leading to the starting gate for the past five years.

This year, no one was touching the coffee.

Recreational runners who did show up said they are prepared.

"You've got to know your own body," Mike Buenting, of Minneapolis, who has run 10 marathons, said as he waited for the starting gun. "You have to know how to hydrate and the rest will take care of itself."

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Comments

[magoo190]

11:07 PM on 04/16/2012

The B.A.A "asked those who were inexperienced or ill to skip this race" 3683 never picked up thier bibs! Guess they give out way too many entries to charity runners because runners who qualify, register before it fills, plan their time off, put in the training miles, they show up and run.

[jnzcram]

01:04 PM on 04/16/2012

Unless you trained in the tropics or sub Sahara it was a good idea to pass this run up.

[Acorn Tree]

04:08 PM on 04/16/2012

and judging by who won i think you might be right lol

[natal plum]

12:58 PM on 04/16/2012

I remember the 76 marathon. What a bummer. Traveled from the midwest where it actually snowed the week before the race. There was some sort of stalled weather pattern over the Mid-atlantic states. Got to Boston the day before and temperatures were sweltering. Got to ten mile mark and threw in the towel. Ran a comfortable pace and stopped several times along the last 15 miles to walk and just missed breaking three hours by one minute

[dvglass3]

02:10 PM on 04/16/2012

Um, in 1976 if you could walk 2/3 of a marathon and finish at 3 hours you must have ranked as one of the best US runners. There were about 80 runners in the 76 Olympic Trials....I would guess you were invited, right?

[natal plum]

02:35 PM on 04/16/2012

I walked intermittently after ten miles. I was in the top 75 when I stopped racing but I didn't stop running. Yeas, as a matter of fact I was an elite runner back then. In the 1975 Boston Marathon with 1921 officials finishers my time from then would have placed me higher in 2010 than it did back in 1975. Of course in 2010 there were 27,000 or so runners. I was shooting for a 2:35 but due to the extreme weather that freakish week it wasn't feasible. Oh BTW If you don't have something nice to say don't be an obnoxious ahole