Marathon Weekend 2021

[Sleepless Knight]

I like to believe that they can figure out something for distanced character meets during the races if they can safely hold the race. Maybe something like put the character(s) up on a stage/background and then have the runners stand 6 feet in front of the stage. Is this the norm? No. But I happen to think that distanced character opportunities are a better option than no character opportunities.

 

[huskies90]

The hard part about this is things change daily/hourly. I think that’s why they don’t want to make any sort of major public decision just yet.

Huh, what is changing daily/hourly? Seriously, nothing has really changed since March. We are no better off now than we were then or since. Doesn’t this feel like the same conversations we were having two months ago about Wine and Dine? We know it won’t be gone by January even if a vaccine does get approved before the end of the year.

That being said, the races can be run safely with modifications especially given the reduced field - even if it is several thousand. Disney has the advantage of having much more control of the course than your typical marathon. Smaller half marathons are happening now. If anyone can pull off a larger race, Disney can.

Now, it would be nice if Disney provided some info about what they are considering like parameters and/or metrics for moving forward with the race and with what modifications. But we know we will never get that kind of transparency from Disney.

 

[rteetz]

Huh, what is changing daily/hourly? Seriously, nothing has really changed since March. We are no better off now than we were then or since. Doesn’t this feel like the same conversations we were having two months ago about Wine and Dine? We know it won’t be gone by January even if a vaccine does get approved before the end of the year.

That being said, the races can be run safely with modifications especially given the reduced field - even if it is several thousand. Disney has the advantage of having much more control of the course than your typical marathon. Smaller half marathons are happening now. If anyone can pull off a larger race, Disney can.

Now, it would be nice if Disney provided some info about what they are considering like parameters and/or metrics for moving forward with the race and with what modifications. But we know we will never get that kind of transparency from Disney.

I beg to differ. This entire world is changing hourly. In terms of the pandemic new research, findings, testing, data, etc. comes out all the time. The big thing as of recently is rapid testing. That rapid testing is a huge thing for sports of all kind, travel, and so much more.

Races of size have yet to go. We’ve seen smaller races of maybe a couple hundred. Those are fairly easy. Races of thousands are much harder logistically and present a lot of challenges.

Disney saying nothing now is no better than them saying we are still monitoring the situation. All race companies are in the same boat. They are looking how and when they can safely come back.

 

[camaker]

I'm not sure a single marathon has happened in person with over 1k participants since March in the US.

Honestly at this point I think the best chance of the weekend happening at all is to cut the full (and maybe the half) and try to get the shorter distances in. I think this year the full is just going to be too problematic.

It will be interesting to see what happens with Space Coast. They seem pretty confident that they’re going to be able to run their races with 2-3k participants. They also typically provide a good amount of transportation from hotels to the races, so that may provide some insights, too, if they continue the practice this year.

I’m on the other end of the spectrum as to the races most likely to be run at Disney. The 5k and 10k corral situation is so constrained, I think it would be difficult to space runners effectively pre-race. The half and marathon corral areas are much larger, with room to potentially expand in their locations. I can see a return to more, smaller capacity corrals (they used to go up to P) to allow for additional pre-race spacing with the reduced field size. The larger, wider courses would also allow for more on-course spacing. During races is the time I’m least concerned about, anyway, as both time and proximity are factors in transmission. The definition of primary contact for transmission purposes is being within 6’ of an infected person for 15 minutes. I don’t think those conditions will commonly be met on course with the reduced capacity and, hopefully, more spread out start.

 

[huskies90]

I beg to differ. This entire world is changing hourly. In terms of the pandemic new research, findings, testing, data, etc. comes out all the time. The big thing as of recently is rapid testing. That rapid testing is a huge thing for sports of all kind, travel, and so much more.

I applaud your optimism. And I too have hope. Rapid testing has been talked about for months. But there are still accuracy and supply issues. We have heard about promising treatments and have heard vaccines are making progress. Yet here we are months later. Same place were two months ago with W&D. This thing will eventually end. But we are a long way from things going back to “normal” - even a new normal. There are still too many unknowns and with unknowns comes precautions. Look at colleges trying to go back to school. Less than 1% test positive and they are sending students home. The public opinion will be if we are not allowing our children to get a proper in person education, how are we allowing Disney to put on a big race?

 

[pixarfan24]

The way that I'm doing my training for Marathon weekend (I'm doing the Half) due to the uncertainty is simply just trying to get in a run 1x-2x a week. Even if it's only a few miles, at least it's time on my feet in case the race does happen. If we don't hear anything soon, I will most likely just start my "real training" in October/November once we have a better idea. That being said, I do have optimism that the races can happen in some sort of fashion. Obviously, W&D couldn't have taken place due to it being sold at full capacity - which wasn't the case for MW and the following races. I don't think it will be the runDisney that we're used to, but I think it has a good chance of happening. Trying to stay positive!

 

[Krandor]

Races of size have yet to go. We’ve seen smaller races of maybe a couple hundred. Those are fairly easy. Races of thousands are much harder logistically and present a lot of challenges.

Agree and best case my marathon weekend there will have only been 1 or 2 (Space Coast and I think there is one out west). Can you go from only 1 or 2 in the whole country to 4 big races in 4 days? That seems a big leap.

and disney has logistical challenges other races don't necessarily have - the transportation situation from resorts, meet and greets, and being very constrained on time (limited ability to rearrange corrals and hit time requirements)

I’m on the other end of the spectrum as to the races most likely to be run at Disney. The 5k and 10k corral situation is so constrained, I think it would be difficult to space runners effectively pre-race.

The reason I think the 5k and 10k are easier is because you have more time to work with. Instead of it just being a 5am start time you can give people dedicated start times - some 5am, some 5:15, some 5:30. You can spread the 5k and 10k people out more time wise then you can half and full. Now you then though have an issue of making sure people don't get there at normal time and crowd the festival area before their start time is called. If you don't let people into the corral area until 10 minutes before their start time you would have to avoid an "airline boarding gate" type scenario. Maybe you have separate busses for the differnet waves (and pray bus drivers don't get lost).

 

[camaker]

Agree and best case my marathon weekend there will have only been 1 or 2 (Space Coast and I think there is one out west). Can you go from only 1 or 2 in the whole country to 4 big races in 4 days? That seems a big leap.

and disney has logistical challenges other races don't necessarily have - the transportation situation from resorts, meet and greets, and being very constrained on time (limited ability to rearrange corrals and hit time requirements)

The reason I think the 5k and 10k are easier is because you have more time to work with. Instead of it just being a 5am start time you can give people dedicated start times - some 5am, some 5:15, some 5:30. You can spread the 5k and 10k people out more time wise then you can half and full. Now you then though have an issue of making sure people don't get there at normal time and crowd the festival area before their start time is called. If you don't let people into the corral area until 10 minutes before their start time you would have to avoid an "airline boarding gate" type scenario. Maybe you have separate busses for the differnet waves (and pray bus drivers don't get lost).

I don’t think the number of races is as important as having a system worked out. If there’s a system that’s been shown to work or that they’re confident in, applying it to 4 days really isn’t much different than doing it once. It could also allow for some “on the fly” adjustments as they see how things go with the earlier, smaller races.

I think Disney also has major advantages other races don’t, being entirely contained on private property. They have a lot more control over spectators, which I think are a major concern for larger races. I also don’t think timing is going to be as large a factor as it has been in the past, either. Right now and for the foreseeable future, park hours have been cut back, so later park opening times will potentially open up the time window for a rolling or more spread out start.

It’s all speculation at this point, of course, but more than ever I think Disney needs the guests that these races bring. The number of people going since reopening has, by all accounts I’ve read, been disappointing. That‘s one more incentive for them to find a workable solution. Ultimately, though, despite my thoughts above, I highly doubt that they’ll drop some of the races. I’d be willing to bet on this being an “all or nothing” situation. We’re either going to get the full Dopey or nothing at all.

 

[PrincessV]

I'm a broken record here: I see no way WDW can host races while FL hospitals are desperate for more medical professional staffing. Social distancing, mask requirements, etc. can all be worked out, but they cannot take medical resources away for races when they're needed to deal with COVID. Things have improved down here in FL, but nobody expects that to be a constant: every expert expects to see more surges in cases/hospitalizations with schools reopening. I think that's the biggest wait-and-see factor here.

 

[Novatrix]

My only hope is if Disney does hold the upcoming scheduled races in person, they don't massively change the courses.

Could you imagine a marathon just looping the Wide World of Sports complex because Disney wants to stagger corrals throughout the day?!

 

[BigEeyore]

I’m staying optimistic for marathon weekend!

 

[Krandor]

My only hope is if Disney does hold the upcoming scheduled races in person, they don't massively change the courses.

Could you imagine a marathon just looping the Wide World of Sports complex because Disney wants to stagger corrals throughout the day?!

Would make for a unique race weekend,.

 

[Krandor]

I think Disney also has major advantages other races don’t, being entirely contained on private property. They have a lot more control over spectators, which I think are a major concern for larger races. I also don’t think timing is going to be as large a factor as it has been in the past, either. Right now and for the foreseeable future, park hours have been cut back, so later park opening times will potentially open up the time window for a rolling or more spread out start.

It’s all speculation at this point, of course, but more than ever I think Disney needs the guests that these races bring. The number of people going since reopening has, by all accounts I’ve read, been disappointing. That‘s one more incentive for them to find a workable solution. Ultimately, though, despite my thoughts above, I highly doubt that they’ll drop some of the races. I’d be willing to bet on this being an “all or nothing” situation. We’re either going to get the full Dopey or nothing at all.

Spectators yes and no. They can control them in the parks but not as much on areas like the boardwalk. Yes it's all private property but there are a lot of people on that property. The Epcot section of the full there really is no way to control spectators there unless they want to wait till 2pm or so to open epcot which I don't think is possible.

Time wise they still only have a few hours to deal with because they have to get everybody out of MK before opening. That is the big contraint on how much you can space out the start.

Disney so far hasn't really been trying to increase guest counts. Other places in orlando are doing discounts and specials but so far disney has done none of that and are not even selling new APs right now so the idea they will run the races to get guests in just isn't supported by what they are doing.

If the decision is all or nothing, I think it will be nothing. I think the full has too may logistical challenges to do this year. The others may be possible if you can work out a lot of new proceduress and IF disney is willing to be a trailblazer on restarting running races.

 

[rteetz]

I'm a broken record here: I see no way WDW can host races while FL hospitals are desperate for more medical professional staffing. Social distancing, mask requirements, etc. can all be worked out, but they cannot take medical resources away for races when they're needed to deal with COVID. Things have improved down here in FL, but nobody expects that to be a constant: every expert expects to see more surges in cases/hospitalizations with schools reopening. I think that's the biggest wait-and-see factor here.

Orange County has been improving which is a good step.

I don’t think rD makes a decision until late September or October. That would line up similarly with what they decided for Wine and Dine. Also gives time to progress and see where those numbers in the medical professions are and if staffing can happen for an event.

 

[Krandor]

Orange County has been improving which is a good step.

I don’t think rD makes a decision until late September or October. That would line up similarly with what they decided for Wine and Dine. Also gives time to progress and see where those numbers in the medical professions are and if staffing can happen for an event.

I think around end of september will be when they make a call. Get past labor day and see what happens to numbers after that. I think everybody is expecting a spike. If it doesn't happen or it is not that high then that would be good news.

 

[Goofed98]

If they DO hold the races, is it too late for them to design medals with the characters wearing masks? I mean, would there be a better way to memorialize this insanity?

 

[rteetz]

If they DO hold the races, is it too late for them to design medals with the characters wearing masks? I mean, would there be a better way to memorialize this insanity?

Medal design starts very early on. I will say I don’t see that happening either considering they have strict character integrity rules in the parks.

 

[Krandor]

Medal design starts very early on. I will say I don’t see that happening either considering they have strict character integrity rules in the parks.

They haven't had any of the park face characters with masks on have they?

 

[rteetz]

They haven't had any of the park face characters with masks on have they?

Nope, which drew some criticism specially with the princesses. Disney is very strict on characters.

 

[MightyDuck001]

My only hope is if Disney does hold the upcoming scheduled races in person, they don't massively change the courses.

Could you imagine a marathon just looping the Wide World of Sports complex because Disney wants to stagger corrals throughout the day?!

mph dear god please don’t even put that out there have we not suffered enough???!!?!