Saturday, September 12, 2009

volunteering at NYRR.jpg

For the average schmo who wants to beat his or her body to hell and run 26.2 miles through five boroughs of NYC there are only a few things to know about: you have to train and you have to play some politics.

Today's TOR isn't about the marathon training but rather about getting into the marathon. 100,000 people apply through a lottery system for roughly 20,000 spots. The other 10,000 spots are filled in three ways: invited runners, ones running for a charity and . people who qualify by running 9 races and volunteering at a 10th race in the previous season.

A 4 hour marathoner doesn't get invited so I'm outa luck with that so my options are dumb-luck in the lottery but my luck isn't that good.
run for a charity which involves raising a couple thousand bucks or pre-qualifying by running 9 races throughout the year (at $20 a pop) and volunteering for 1 more.

I have gotten into the marathon through all three options but the funny thing is the last one involves this 'volunteer' business which is such a scam name for it.

Nobody standing here with me this morning is volunteering out of the goodness of their heart, everyone of the 200+ people is here to fill the requirement for the marathon. Calling it volunteering is a disservice to people who work in soup kitchens or the like. This is the dirty game which is marathon qualification and everybody knows the drill: stand around for 4 hours and make sure they sign you out. It's not about helping people or communities, it's selfish in every respect.

Years ago it took only 6 races to qualify, now the pumped it up to 9 plus the volunteer day, with the popularity of the sport rising and people using the system to get themselves in, I wouldn't be surprised if they increased the qualification to 12 and 2.next year.

If Mary Wittenberg CEO of the New York Road Runners really wanted to have her NYRR members make a difference she should require that each marathoner spend one Saturday working in a soup-kitchen or community center in order to qualify to run 26.2.


Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

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