Straight no Lance!: In the Rio Marathon, a love and hate relationship
And the Rio Marathon ended up fulfilling its current main objective well: to entertain! For better and for worse. In extreme moments, it becomes necessary to seek reason and explanation in the past. Thus spoke Zarathustra! Thus wrote Nietzsche.
Let's turn back time, then...
More precisely, the year 1985, exactly 40 years ago. Running (yes, you know I love this!) was the year the military dictatorship ended, which had been dragging on, poisonous, since 1964, in my Rio de Janeiro. It was, among major sporting and musical events, the year of the sixth edition of the Rio Marathon, which received the largest number of runners, with more than 7,000 entries, and the best organized. Another like it would not be repeated for a long time.
Also in 1985, for the first time, a gigantic music festival took place in an almost deserted location, more than 40 kilometers from the South Zone of Rio, on a muddy vacant lot, where the magic happened: the Rock in Rio was born, bringing world music to the middle of a delightful giant mud bath, where over 1 million insane people had fun for 10 days of festival. There the concept of "Cidade do Rock" emerged, to the sound of Queen, Yes, Whitesnake, Iron Maiden, Al Jarreau, among other foreigners. And a Brazilian selection that fills the eyes, ears, and soul - Ney Matogrosso, Erasmo Carlos, Gil, Lulu, Blitz, Paralamas, Barão Vermelho... Those who lived through this true odyssey never forget. And every 2 years, new generations can experience it, keeping their expectations in check, feeling life pulsing again, in the heart of the Rock City.
Yes, that's right, it's pure entertainment! But what about the Rio Marathon?
Well, first of all, a marathon is inherently an athletic PERFORMANCE EVENT, where its participants must, above all, be trained to fulfill the sole unquestionable purpose: to cover the distance between the START and FINISH lines, exactly 42.195 meters! For this to happen, it is necessary to create a partnership between runners (who commit to training in the best possible way, dedicating months of training) and organizers (who strive to make the task of the runners less arduous and tedious).
Rio Marathon Organization
And how do the organizers manage to do their part?
Simple, by listening to runners, especially those who are already marathon runners!
Let's start with registrations: Having a website or portal with an easy and intuitive ticket-selling system, minimizing the number of "clicks" until purchase completion. Charging a fair price for the "merchandise" purchased, and most importantly, having a decent logistics system for distributing kits to avoid huge queues on kit pickup days. If possible, decoupling entry to the race from the kit pickup. Runners would be very grateful. It is essential that organizers visit the kit pickups at Major races (World Marathon Majors) and those in Valencia and Paris. They should understand the need for specific logistics for this!
Maintain a strict checklist: don't forget the unforgettable (forgetting in a distant warehouse, the medals from the 5K race at a Running Festival where this race is "opening the services," is fatal).
Let's rethink the scheduling of exams, review the route of the MARATHON in the city center! Remember that next year there will not be an optional holiday on Thursday. Avoid annual changes in the format of the exams.
➡️ Check more Lauter reviews on UD News
Let's rethink, actually, THINK, a thousand times before creating a special start wave for payment, right after the ELITE start, where access to this start costs just R$ 200,00!! Hundreds, almost a thousand, of people took advantage of this "benefit," which simply congested the race with a human traffic jam, caused by athletes without the slightest condition to impose any pace in their walks/processions. This VIP special wave could never have started before ALL amateurs!! Yes, those up there, who trained hard for months, to have a day of performance, found themselves trying to cross a long and wide pack moving at a nearly walking pace! Result? Traffic jam and protests inside the tunnel, to increase claustrophobia and hatred.
Let's rethink the water replenishment logistics, since the much-desired isotonic drink was not available. Due to the delay in restocking, and when it was restocked, the water came plain (perhaps from Miami or Crato). Even on a nearly cool day, cold water is a vital need for a marathon runner.
Let's rethink reducing the distance that the athletes had to cover in that damned dispersion. They had to cover 1610 meters, a whole mile, after completing more than 42 km? Forcing the poor anonymous hero to twist, feel sick, beg for help, for those long 1610 meters?
Okay, in the spectacular New York Marathon, it has already made this mistake under this detail, but only once! The following year, the dispersal that takes athletes who completed the race out of the venue and out of Central Park returned to acceptable 700 meters, at most. And there, after crossing the finish line, until the end of the dispersal, athletes pass by 2 enormous field hospitals, countless tents for food consumption, fruits, and isotonic drinks.
Remove the marching band from the middle of the athletes' course!!! The lack of space for the athletes to run was already alarming in many points of the route, causing discomfort to the athletes (good organizers do the opposite, they try to surround the athlete with COMFORT who paid dearly for this unique moment of sporting performance, for which he trained and sacrificed himself for months!), and to increase the friction, nothing better than a band in the middle of the way. When I saw this, I automatically remembered nostalgically Nara and Chico singing "... to see the band pass, singing things about love...". My suffering people, in the marathon, had to dodge one more obstacle!
Due to lack of space, I'm staying here, watching from afar the beautiful arena (which is spectacular for shows and entertainment), and enjoying the nostalgia that occasionally overwhelms me, I remember the Rio Marathon of 1985, with a special Start for the Elite, with hundreds of truly Elite athletes, and shortly after, a single and enormous group of more than 7 thousand athletes, who were positioning themselves in the starting area corresponding to their expected race pace. A huge mass of people, happy, began their race along the Leme coastline, on a beautiful winter afternoon, without a traffic jam of people, without accidents, knowing that the best place in the world was there, at that moment, as sung by Gil in 85, in the midst of the City of Rock. How many of these happy marathoners were also among that million-plus crowd that went to the first and unforgettable Rock in Rio?
I WAS THERE! And I bring to memory every drop of rain, of sweat, and tears from those nights!
In marathons, the main artist is the marathoner, and the stage is of asphalt and people, for long, painful, and delightful 42 kilometers, one hundred and ninety-five meters.
Let's save and use this well. Only this way can we manufacture a dream, and achieve a "Major label" seal.
Lauter Nogueira
*** Since late morning of this Sunday until yesterday (Thursday afternoon), I talked, interviewed, and interacted with many people who participated in the Maratona do Rio tests. Most of them had some degree of frustration with what they experienced during that big event. Those who complained the least were the participants of the 10km, on Friday.
Lauter no UD NewsRead more columns:
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