Boilermaker was less than expected

I don't know if we will be coming back to the Boilermaker any longer. Each year it gets less organized and seems more like a moneygrubbing free-for-all. We got goughed for our hotel rooms ($232) when the employee even told us that the rooms were usually $110 a night!

The city looks like a brownfield, and to top it all off we couldn't even get our real times.

The after party seemed like half the people in town off the street showed up for free beer and didn't even care about distance running. People serving were rude, and anyone who had the green security shirts we learned to stay away from,. This thing was a mess everyone seemed more iterested in bossing people around and being "in charge" of a mess. People were throwing things at the runners too and using the race as a political opportunity to harrangue the various politicians it seemed. We have been boilermakers for 5 years now but unless thye timing issue is addressed I see no point in returning to that place next year.

Please make the necessary changes for next year and make sure people know you have corrected them because unless things get back to the way they were, without even a real time there IS NO REASON to go running through the streets of that tow.

Good luck, see you next year ONLY if changes are made to the rude personale and the timing.

PD

This was my first Boilermaker, and to be honest, it surpassed my every expectation. I was telling my wife that we'll be talking about this race when we're 80!!! I'm quite sure every complaint you have is valid ( I was disappointed about the chip times as well ), but there were so many more positive aspects to this race to dwell on that far outshine local opportunists getting free beer. This was a HUGE event to plan and pull off and I am amazed at how well they did. Thank you Utica for the life long memories!!!!!


Your level of expectation determines your level of enjoyment/disappointment.

Then perhaps you haven't been to many other races Shelly? Why would you say "to be honest"? Like I wouldnt't believe you? As for "HUGE" i think that that's in the eye of the beholder dear. Like I said we have ran for 5 years now so please don't ask me to lower my expectations to yours. You sound like someone who ignores problems and trys to make everything positive by just wishing it were so. Again, this race has seen better days, hoping next year will be better whether your head is stuck in the sand or you see it for what it is.
At least we can get the pins, but next years there should be some changes.

shellerz
This was my first Boilermaker, and to be honest, it surpassed my every expectation. I was telling my wife that we'll be talking about this race when we're 80!!! I'm quite sure every complaint you have is valid ( I was disappointed about the chip times as well ), but there were so many more positive aspects to this race to dwell on that far outshine local opportunists getting free beer. This was a HUGE event to plan and pull off and I am amazed at how well they did. Thank you Utica for the life long memories!!!!!


Your level of expectation determines your level of enjoyment/disappointment.

Glad you had a great experience-----Boilermaker 01 was my 1st race---no, I didn't race it, I ran in it and I can relive that day just by looking back at the many pictures I have. Since then, I have run 9 marathons, 22 1/2 marathons, numerous 10k's,15k's and 5k's.All races have their good years and bad years. As for the person who complained about hotels charging so much more on race weekend. Have you checked the hotel prices in any city during a major event? For instance at the Cooper River Bridge Run 10K in Charleston---the rate increased by $200 per night.
So, shellerz, glad you enjoyed the Utica Boilermaker.We would love to have you come back again next year.
BTW....I ran with a woman from Rochester who had knee surgery and was going to run GOOFY in Disney World....it wasn't you. was it??? No it wasn't because I just realized that you said that you had talked to your WIFE :oops:

Edited Tue Jul 15th 2008 1:25 am by dhp

dhp - no, that wasn't me with the knee surgery. i am a woman - the previous post under my name was written by my husband jim. though i suffered from heat exhaustion, i truly had a blast and cannot wait to run it again next year. you have many more accomplishments than me as i am newer to the sport, but i hope one day to have some marathons and (dare to dream) an ultra under my belt. it's so nice to see that not all veteran runners are condescending and smug. in fact i found everyone i ran with and every volunteer about as helpful and polite and lovely as could be. you can bet these 2 rochestarians will be back next year!

PD - Well than maybe next year the Boilermaker will just have to get by with 11,299 racers. Minus, of course, one self-important runner with a piss poor attitude.

Edited Tue Jul 15th 2008 4:21 am by shellerz

Wow talk about a poor attitude? Oh and who's counting but less than 10000 ran.

I'm so glad you deemed me self-important Ma'am. You're just one of the sock-puppets that squish anyone with an issue. Again I say I won't let my standards down to yours.

I suppose all us dissappointed runners are not welcome in "Utica" anymore? I sensed this attitude from there and now I see it's true. I will not discuss this with you any longer, you and your sock-peppet are too busy belittling and trivializing people whilst painting your race as "perfect" when it was obviously a MAJOR disaapointment. Next time stay in Rochester and run in the park. Someone will give you a button!

this was my 7th. year running. we have always had a great time, but this year was noticably differant. they didn't have a race pin for us when we crossed the finish line. we don't know our real time. the jets flew over 5 min. after the national anthem ended, they only flew over once. there were no fire works. there were a couple guys who were running with squirt guns. i'm there to have a good time too, but when i'm half way through a 15k i don't feel like getting squirted in the head with water. the beer truck we were at had 5 volunteers, two of the women were smoking and one guy spent the whole time on his cell phone. i never saw him pour a beer. the volunteers are great, but if you didn't do anything you can't say you volunteered. i did see more people than usual that looked like homeless people, walking around blitzed out of there minds. we will be back next year, because it's only a 20 min. drive for us.
if i had to fly from out of state or out of the country i might give it a second thought.

rr.....glad to hear that in spite of some problems.....you are willing to give it another shot.
There are things that are not under a race directors control---the weather if it continued to rain--there would have been less runners; the flyover (the jets just don't sit in the air waiting for the appropriate time)--with the cost of jet fuel --isn't one time OK; people running with squirt guns---have you ever had a runner take 2 cups of water,swirl it and then spit at your feet or dump water on his/her head and gotten you all wet (that's part of the running experience--I admit the squirt guns shouldn't be); fireworks--would have been nice but in light of the recent fire at the brewery--it's understandable--I'm sure the insurance company had a say in this; problems with timing chips--they worked before and come on--how did they time the race before the championchip??; protestors--they are at all races; homeless--go to the Philadelphia Distance Classic, where runners give away their food and their free spenco sandals to the homeless----perhaps we need a larger secure area for the runners (my pet peeve) before they enter the post race party ; price gouging for hotel rooms--done everywhere. What else --oh yeah, the rude volunteers at the beer tent--not at all of them. If you have issues, complaints, suggestions, please write to the race director or other official--they would love to know how to make the race better. Feedback is very important to running any race.
Hope to see you all back next year!

shelle... Good Luck in your running and training for an Ultra..Believe and you will achieve.

PauleDean
Wow talk about a poor attitude? Oh and who's counting but less than 10000 ran.

I'm so glad you deemed me self-important Ma'am. You're just one of the sock-puppets that squish anyone with an issue. Again I say I won't let my standards down to yours.

I suppose all us dissappointed runners are not welcome in "Utica" anymore? I sensed this attitude from there and now I see it's true. I will not discuss this with you any longer, you and your sock-peppet are too busy belittling and trivializing people whilst painting your race as "perfect" when it was obviously a MAJOR disaapointment. Next time stay in Rochester and run in the park. Someone will give you a button!

PD, how do you know less than 10,000 ran? Yes, over 9,700 finished but that doesn't mean there weren't people who started and dropped out for some reason or another. Those people ran! There were over 11,200 people registered, sure not all of them ran, but I want to know how you got your figure that less than 10,000 ran.

I'm going to agree with a little bit from all sides of this. I grew up in Utica but this was my first year running the boilermaker. It was also my first organized race at all so I don't have much of a baseline to compare to.

The good: I had a blast myself, the spectators were great and encouraging. The race itself was incredibly fun. Almost all of the volunteers were very nice. There were tons of water and ice stations and lots of people handing out popsicles and other things to help us out. Lots of medical stations in case anyone needed help. Respect also to the guy who ran the race as a beer can. I thought the route itself was beautiful, especially at the top of the hill. Tons of stations immediately after the finish line for re-hydrating and getting some food in you.

The meh: The post race party in general was... well meh. I don't have suggestions for what could be different but I wasn't that impressed, especially with the music and announcements which couldn't be heard if you were more than 10 feet away from the stage. It's a shame that the chips malfunctioned but such things happen and we can figure our times out from knowing when we crossed the start and the clock time when we finished.

The bad: A woman at the beer tent telling a man next to me to go :shock: himself when he asked for a beer after waiting for a while without getting one. All the other volunteers there cheered her on and ridiculed him as well. I didn't know the guy but I still felt like they were angry at me (and everyone else for that matter) when I got my drink. I was very disappointed by how rude/cold/unhappy the people working the beer tents were. It colored my entire view of the after-party. My group ended up leaving shortly after the flyby when we had intended to stay for quite some time.

The conclusion: The actions of the people at the beer tents sharply contrasted just about every other part of the race, including the volunteers at other stations who were very nice. I had a great time overall and I intend to go again next year.

Afterthought: It's a shame that you didn't enjoy the race but why ridicule someone else who did?

Edperk

PauleDean
Wow talk about a poor attitude? Oh and who's counting but less than 10000 ran.

I'm so glad you deemed me self-important Ma'am. You're just one of the sock-puppets that squish anyone with an issue. Again I say I won't let my standards down to yours.

I suppose all us dissappointed runners are not welcome in "Utica" anymore? I sensed this attitude from there and now I see it's true. I will not discuss this with you any longer, you and your sock-peppet are too busy belittling and trivializing people whilst painting your race as "perfect" when it was obviously a MAJOR disaapointment. Next time stay in Rochester and run in the park. Someone will give you a button!

PD, how do you know less than 10,000 ran? Yes, over 9,700 finished but that doesn't mean there weren't people who started and dropped out for some reason or another. Those people ran! There were over 11,200 people registered, sure not all of them ran, but I want to know how you got your figure that less than 10,000 ran.

Hi Ed,

I had seen it in their newspaper there, but couldn't find it online so I wrote an email to Pat Leone from Leone tinimg.

This is a quote:

Hi Paul,
I don't have that exact number because of the malfunction with the start timing system. The data from the split systems show that it was probably near 9815-9820.


Pat
-----------------------

If you yhink I made it up no problem just ask him yourself:
Email: pat@leonetiming.com

There's another 15k that I'll be doing next year I can't remember the race name.. I'll ask my running partner again. Utica is like running through a ghetto anymore.

While I was looking for the starting numbers I found a very interesting article at their local paper about the race. They have a funny way of overlooking problems in that town it seems. They seem to bully people who dare say anything negative about their podunk town and attitude. (As you have seen here!)

Here's an article from the local paper there about the timing. I think the comments say the truth, and they say it all.

http://www.uticaod.com/sports/x1346882916/Runners-wont-learn-accurate-time [uticaod.com]

The Boilermaker isn't what it once was.

PauleDean:
"Podunk Town?" There's no need to insult the city and its inhabitants, regardless of your feelings about this year's run.

Wow! Lots of stuff to respond to. I'll do my best to speak to some of the concerns.
The jets: We have been notified by the Pentagon that due to a safety concern that happened earlier in the year in another city jets will make no more than a single pass. On the positive side the jets clearly came a bit lower than last year.
No fireworks: as everyone is aware (or perhaps not) the brewery suffered a major fire 2 months ago. There clearly was a sensitivity with the fire started by a welding spark so this year there were no fireworks.
Rudeness by beverage servers: simply unacceptable. I'm sure there are 2 sides to every story but if people did experience it I would appreciate a call at the Boilermaker office (315-797-5838) to get more particulars. This clearly was the biggest crowd we have ever had at the post race party so perhaps long lines promoted short tempers.
Our town: The Boilermaker exists because of the hard work of it's volunteers. There are few races that can boast of 6,500 volunteers; nearly a volunteer for every runner and a half! While we may not be the most prosperous city to name-call it really not nice to the people who come out to cheer you on. I have run other races and our community support stands toe to toe against any race in the U.S..
Plans are already underway for 2009 to add even more excitement to 'the best 15k in the USA'.

1st time for our family at the race. Thought it was great. All the volunteers were great...I would say some of the incidents with the rudeness were isolated instances because I didn't see it. I was shocked at the amount of water and ice stations and medical personnel on the couse. I took a ride on the course the night before the race and I couldn't believe there was no evidence of a large race being held there the next day!!!! Can't believe how fast they set everything up. My only complaint I guess would be that I had to get my wife to the start of the 5k race then back to the finish to get the bus to the start of the 15k. I wish there was a shuttle for her because they started to shut down the roads. Other than that it was great. I just hope that the person above doing the complaining never comes back to this race. If I read his/her comments before I entered this race I never would have registered.....I'll be back next year and I'm bringing friends!!!

Leot......bring as many as you can.The Boilermaker has room for them all. Glad you enjoyed the race.
I was just about ready to post a reply about the appropriate person to send comments to-----however, that person, Tim Reed beat me to it. How many race forums has anyone been on that the Executive Director responds to? I sent comments about the Inaugural Atlanta Ing Marathon to their race director and never heard anything back--now that was a HOT race with not enough water stations and actually ran out of water with the temps in the 90 degrees and a HILLY course.
Thanks Tim for taking the time to reply and to leot and others---always take the comments of others about races with a grain of salt. If you want to run it ...go ahead..then judge for yourself.
Already registered for next year and looking forward to another great race :D