The Flying Pig is a great race but with the huge growth that has occurred over the past few years, the event needs major overhauling in their logistics.
I know it may distract from the experience but relying on an honor start for 20K runners/walkers is ridiculous when some runners are trying to use this as a qualifying time.
The race itself is great. Very adequate water/fuel stops. I could imagine some may have looked for vaseline a few more times that it was offered. A frequent thing seen elsewhere but entirely absent at the Pig is the offering of a water soaked sponge through the course (we didn't need it too much Sunday but I have not sen them offer this in previous years).
The Finish and Pit area is a total disatser and needs the most overhaul of anything. There just is virtually no direction gievn once the finish line is passed. There were volunteer medical releif that had their arms crossed or hands in their pants pockets as I went past. How are they going to be prepared to catch someone crumbling at the finsih like that? The nut that clipped my timing chip off actually had pulled the milk crate out from under my foot as I was preparing to place it down on it-I told him if it happened again he'd be sorry. The finish opened into a market place of apples here, bananas here, bagels here, chips over there and people walking back and forth somuch that very little movement out could be made---mine you, there had not yet been anyone pass to me a plastic grocery bag to collect all this stuff in. To ad insult to injury, there were multitudes of non-volunteer/event staff within the runner reception area.
The Pig is a great race. The coordinators of the event need to consult the event staff of a larger marathon, such as the Indianaplis MINI, to get feedback on how to correct these short comings so they may present a better appeal to the runners. With 35K runners/walkers and 30+ years of experience, the MINI staff know what they are doing.
