by Tom Atwood
Race Director When I think about Saturday’s 13th running of the Mud Mountain 5K, I am reminded of the old, bad punch line: “Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, did you enjoy the play?”
The race itself went perfectly. A record turnout. The 5K Started on time. No injuries or heat-related problems. The fun-run was fun. There was plenty of water, free fruit, and energy bars at the finish line.
But when it came time to announce the results, the winners of the race, and the top finishers in each age category, things seemed to fall apart. What happened? It looks like several events combined to produce initial race results that were flat-out wrong.
First, several runners crossed the finish line--and were timed--who either did not register, or did not have a race bib (like #94 in photo above). The tags from those bib numbers are used to record results, and when they are out of order or some are missing, it throws off all the results.
It also appears that in the crush of almost 500 runners in the chute, some of the tags got shuffled.
Fortunately, we also use a backup method in the chute: literally writing down the number of each runner so we can cross check those numbers with the tags from the bibs. Since it soon became clear the tags were not correct, we switched to the backup, handwritten numbers to, in effect, score the race the old-fashioned way: by hand. That will be completed by this evening and the final, official results will be posted.
None of this is an excuse, just an explanation for those of you who might be curious about what happened. Again, as race director, I apologize for the delay in getting the final results, which will be posted later today on
www.mudmountain.org.Needless to say, we are already looking at ways to prevent this from happening again at next year’s Mud Mountain. And we hope to see you there!
Again this year the Edwardsville Fire Department has agreed to provide an ambulance and two paramedics at Mud Mountain. The paramedics will be there to provide assistance to any runners who are injured, or who have any heat-related problems during the race.
Stephen Pifer wins Mud Mountain 2004.
The Mud Mountain planning committee will meet at 6:30 p.m. at Imo's tonight. On the agenda: t-shirt design, course conditions, medals and awards, ambulance, and followup sponsor calls. See you there!
Some years, if it rains heavily, the 5K course at SIU Edwardsville can get sloppy, especially the hill on mile 3 known as "Mud Mountain." But during a particularly dry period a few years back, race organizers created large "mud pools" out of inflatable swimming pools for younger runners to enjoy after the race. That practice was discontinued in 2007, mainly because it was too much trouble, and disposing of the mud was a problem.
Thanks to Conoco Phillips for once again sponsoring the Mud Mountain 5K Cross Country Classic. More sponsors are being sought for this year's race. For more information, click here.
The Momentum Walk-It Challenge encourages all Weight Watchers meetings members and Weight Watchers Online subscribers to get active this spring. As a measurable goal for the members we are encouraging them to sign up for their first 5k walk/run and are providing them with access to the tools they need to reach their goal.
Last year a record number of runners signed up for Mud Mountain XIII and the One Mile Fun Run--a total of 567. So far this year, 48 entries have been received (38 online through Active.com, and 10 mailed to PO Box 135). That may seem like a small number, but one month before race day last year, just 38 runners had signed up, and the year before, only 6. So, the early indications are that this year's race might, just might, set a new record. Stay tuned.
