I know a lot of people bandit races. and I know a lot of people probably bandit Boston. but this just seriously pissed me off.
I often go to this other message board, where the people generally don't know much about running, but there are some people who are very knowledgeable about fitness and lifting, etc. so it's worth it to peruse the boards every once in a while. There's a girl who usually just does shorter tri races (I think she is going to try to do a half ironman this season, though) who just recently completed a 20 mile race. She generally doesn't run long races like that, and that was her first time running anything near 20 miles, and she was (understandably) really miserable the next day from the soreness, etc.
She is from Boston and decided that since she completed a 20 miler, why not do a full marathon, and wants to bandit Boston. She asked opinions. While most of the people (who aren't really running folk per se) said, "go for it!" I said, "hooooooold up a minute." I went into a long explanation about how Boston isn't just a normal race, and that it takes a lot of hard work to qualify, and that, in my opinion, it really takes away from the people who earned their spot when people just jump in and run the race without qualifying. I went on to explain that qualifying aside, it's a very challenging course due to the rigorous downhill followed by a substantial uphill portion, so having only done one 20 mile run... she was going to be miserable if she made it to the end.
the girl finally responded by saying that she didn't see anything wrong with banditing if she stayed in the back with the charity runners, who also didn't qualify. and that she's run the uphill part of the course, and it's not really that hard.
so really, I'm wondering why she asked for our opinions in the first place. I wanted to be incredibly snarky and say, "Oh, so of course you're not going to use any of the aid stations, right? and no portapotties for you. if you pass out, don't count on medical assistance. oh, and make sure you run on sidewalks or the edge of the road the entire way. because entry fees help pay for permits and police assistance to close down roads for races, you know."
I didn't. but ignorance like this just really, really pisses me off. Now every other person on that board who isn't that familiar with running is going to think that banditing is perfectly acceptable.
Not to mention that she obviously has never done a hard downhill run and realize what a pounding it puts on your quads... and that even a molehill can seem like a mountain after 5 miles of downhill pounding. I tried to explain this politely, but I know she'll come back with some stupid response. stupid people annoy me.
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I don't understand the point of even running in a race as a bandit - I mean, aside from Boston, there generally isn't a qualifying time, and the race fees aren't exactly high for most races.
Plus, as you said, the race fee isn't really paying for the swag - it's for the aid stations, the porta-potties, the road permits, and so forth.
When/if I ever get the chance to run Boston (probably as a cahrity runner, to be honest), then I'll be even more ticked at those who feel that theyr joining in as a bandit isn't annoying to those who actually worked and qualified by running fast or raising lots of money.
Bandits at Boston are a tradition and I think if you're from Boston, then you can do it. It's their city and their race. But that is the only race and the only circumstances that I agree with having bandits.
I think her mistake was breaking the bandit code. "First rule about bandit club is not to talk about bandit club."
Yeah, banditing isn't supposed to be a grand statement, it's about jumping into a race anonymously and exiting anonymously.
Given my disdain for the Boston mystique, I would point out that she no more takes away from the grandeur of the event than the 5-hour marathoners in the back, or even the softening of the standards to 3:10 for open men.
Many people could qualify for Boston without a lot of hard work; does that devalue the race for those right at the cusp of qualifying? My old coach, who's 50, jogged a 3:25 marathon last fall in order to qualify for Boston. He didn't work very hard to qualify, he ran the second half of that race at around 9:00 pace.
first of all, if your coach was able to "jog" a 3:25 marathon, I'm sure he put in some decent amount of hard work to be able to be in that kind of shape, even if he didn't perceive his effort during the actual race as being that strong.
second of all (and I just realized that I totally didn't make this clear)... my disdain was largely at the fact that she totally ignored the fact that there are things called "race fees" that pay for many of the amenities that she will undoubtedly be taking advantage of. If I'm going to be spending my hard earned money on race fees so that I can practice my technique of pinching those little cups while I sip and run at the same time (instead of spending it on beer, might I add), then so should everyone who's running the race with me. :)
but, I will say that if I work my ass off and actually qualify some day (because for this girl, it will take at least a decent amount of effort, if not an extraordinary amount) that I'll probably be more than slightly irritated if I end up having to weave around a bunch of bandits.
Mouse,
I mostly agree with you, I can never really resist an opportunity to tee off on Boston.
"First rule about bandit club is not to talk about bandit club."
Hahah, so true. :) If someone wants to do bandit a race, we can't stop them. Sadly, to say, there are ppl who feels that they must do it and I say let them. This is the world of free will. What I can tell you though is that this person will not be as strong mentally and physically as those who train years and years to qualify.
She's a bum. Imagine if everyone did that. What if they added 1000 more runners who decided to bandit the race? What if it became so popular that the air stations ran out of stuff? Its unsportsman-like to do it. If you didn't earn it, and you aren't making money for a charity, jumping in just because you can is rotten. Its like the people that grab two papers from the newspaper vending machine. She's a bum.
What a jerk. I hope she bonks, hard.
There's a reason people ENTER races, otherwise entry fees would be insane. Boston is like the Olympics for regular people, and the only way I am EVER going to run it is if I qualify, plain and simple.
We had a hard enough time trying to decide if we felt OK with Brent jumping in and running the last 10 with me in Miami. Since we both run with Fuel Belts we don't use many aid stations, but we still had a hard time with it. Some people!!!!!
So glad you spoke up! I'm generally a pretty supportive person when it comes to other runners, but no sympathy for her when I hear how horrible the run was for her. Grrrr.... how annoying!
That's the first I've ever heard of "banditing" a race (took me a few paragraphs to even figure out what it meant!) and I have to say, it's pretty unsporting. Race fees do take a chunk out of my meager student budget, but I've never found them unreasonable. Shirking them just seems bummy - it's pretty much stealing. But you're right, I doubt she'll listen to you if you push the point.
Besides... at least in my humble opinion, a huge part of the satisfaction of a race is seeing your ranking afterwards!
Three words: Karma's a b!tch.
What goes around will come around. And while there isn't anything any of us can do about it, just know that in the end, she'll get hers.
I was super torn about this when I went to Boston last year. And I got Uber pissed when a few charity runners (you can tell because of their high bib numbers) hopped into our corral last minute to avoid some of the crowd.
I worked hard for my corral placement so it kind of irks me that others think they can just ignore the rules and hop in wherever they want.
Boston bandits are kind of a part of the tradition though. So I don't know. I think you have to work pretty hard to be a bandit now though. They have Hopkinton on lock down. YOu would have to stay there the night before or literally walk into the town because the only vehicles getting through are BAA traffic.
And as a bandit she won't get the finisher medal or any of the cool Boston memorbilia. Personally I am not running that "hilly bitch" without getting some hardware for my effort!
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