While hoping to qualify for the Boston Marathon, runners in Pennsylvania encountered a very slow obstruction in their path.
The incident occurred at the Lehigh Valley Health Network’s Via Marathon, which was held Sunday in Allentown, Pennsylvania. While running through town, runners had to run over a railroad track that was supposed to be clear.
Once again, the track was supposed to be clear. But it wasn’t.
The slow-moving Norfolk Southern freight train delayed runners substantially, with some estimating they were held up as long as 10 minutes, causing their final times to take a hit.
Lehigh Valley Live‘s Sara K. Satullo reported at least seven runners tried to jump over parts of the train as it rolled by. That’s desperation, commitment, and incredibly stupid.
To make matters worse, more than 150 runners were standing there waiting for the train to pass without knowing what it would do to their times, with no race officials present.
Runners at the marathon in Allentown weren’t just from eastern Pennsylvania either. The Lehigh Valley Marathon refers to itself as the second-fastest marathon in the United States thanks to its flat and shaded course. As a result, runners come from all over to run it in order to record a time fast enough for them to quality for the famous Boston marathon.
The marathon took preventative measures to make sure no trains would come, but that didn’t work according to Lehigh Valley Live.
“In a statement on the marathon’s Facebook page, organizers said they had “absolute assurances from Norfolk Southern Railroad” that trains would be suspended from 7 to 10 on Sunday morning but one was dispatched just before 8 a.m.”
988 runners finished the marathon, but it wasn’t clear how many were impacted by the train. Matt Cutrona, 46, traveled from Delaware and expected to qualify for the Boston Marathon with ease by beating his previous low of 3:25.
“I ended up running 3:24:07, which puts me pretty close to the cut-off,” Cutrona said. “Without the train I ran a 3:21, which would definitely get in. They are expecting anyone that qualifies to be able to get in this year.”
Gerry Yasso is the vice president of development for Via, which sponsors the race, and one of the key race organizers. He said he had a meeting with railroad officials back on June 22nd to confirm the race wouldn’t be interrupted by trains.
“This is the tenth anniversary of this race, and all 10 races have crossed the Norfolk Southern rail tracks on Albert Street to enter Canal Park in Allentown,” Yasso said. “Each and every year, we have contacted Norfolk Southern to assure runner safety, spectator safety and public safety at this intersection, and all other intersections that we cross. The incident is especially regrettable and was quite unexpected.”
Cutrona was one of many runners who as of earlier this week had no idea if their time would be changed because of the train. The latest update they heard was time changes could be made sometime in the next week or so, but Boston Marathon registration is already open for some. As of Tuesday, 95 runners had contacted marathon officials to ask for time adjustments, and some online had urged runners to boycott the race in future.
