I ran the Rock ‘n’ Roll Las Vegas Marathon last night and it was the worst put on marathon that I’ve ever toed the starting line for. I’ve run 42 marathons/ultras and this one took the cake for futility by a long shot.
8,000 of us full marathoners started at 4:00pm with 36,000 half marathoners starting at 5:30pm. The full marathoners started and immediately left the strip for about 85 turns in the first 13 miles before we returned to the strip. When we did we merged with the half marathoners onto 2 and 3 lanes of the road. Most of us merging were relatively fast marathoners. Not superstars but not near the back of the pack either. We were merging with half marathon corrals 30-44….slower half marathoners that were dominating all lanes of the road. Not all but many of which were walking.
The marathoners were supposed to have the far left lane but it was unenforced and unenforceable.
Bedlam ensued!
Runners were pushing slower runners out of the way. Walkers were hitting runners with their swinging arms. Several runners bit the asphalt. Runners were having to hop the sidewalk, when possible, to get past slow logjams. Runners were cussing at other runners and walkers.
I overhead a pious marathoner on the plane this morning say this. “I was running and these two walkers were swinging their arms wide leaving me no room. So I pushed their arms out of the way and ran through them. They called me a ‘f**ing a**hole’ and I yelled back to them, ‘Maybe if you were faster you could speed up and kick my a**.'”
Just horrible!
I’ve read several tweets about runners having to be rushed to the hospital last night because of the conditions and over-crowding.
And you can imagine when a combined 40,000 runners plus would come upon 3 tables of water or Cytomax that the pushing, shoving and slowdown only intensified.
Rumor has it that the RNR people want to have 61,000 at the race next year to set the world record. If they allow that many runners in next year without extreme improvement then an even bigger disaster awaits them.
I felt bad for runners running their first full or half marathon. What a bad experience and taste to be left in one’s mouth from this marathon of a disaster. I hope they find a smaller, more organic race in the near future to baptise them anew with how great and fun our sport can be under better circumstances.
Everyone I’ve talked to that ran was upset and outraged in a similar fashion. Some of the best complaints were on the RNR Las Vegas Marathon/Half Marathon Facebook page.
Comments from Rock ‘n’ Roll Las Vegas Marathon & Half Marathon Facebook Page:
Holly Miller – What is the value of a full marathon medal when you hand them out to half marathon participants? Sad and disappointed to hear the bands complaining that their fingers hurt, and the cherry on top- green bananas! I ran California International Marathon in the morning before running Vegas that night and I am blown away that for half the price CIM offered a significantly better experience.
Philip Rupp – This marathon was my 13th marathon that I have done. I have done small races that have less then 1,000 people and large races like NY and Chicago. But I have to say I would not recommend for any to do this marathon. I would recommend the half. The full is not worth it. They might as well just get rid of the marathon and only have the half. 3,766 finishers in the full and 33,123 in the half. Us in the full were treated like second class citizens and we paid more to do the race. Also agreed very unsafe.
Jason Turner – This is one of those rare occasions that a dis like or extemely dislike button would be incredibly useful on facebook. After having to literally run 3 miles from Wynn to the start, because the shuttles abandoned a few hundred people at Wynn, I found the course poorly laid out and cramped. Total crap I want a refund.
Violeta Lopez – Well I know you have been bombarded by ugly comments, its my third year running LV ..planning to go back every year EVEN if it goes UP to $175 which is kind of ridiculous… anyways I ran the full, the cut out for it was 4:30… how can u expect runners to finish in that time if there was so many Half marathoners walking right after we hit the strip, I think you planning this to be a Half marathMaybe poles with a string to divide the side for the half and the full like in the SF marathon at the Golden Bridge, Im not blaming any half marathoners here its just you and your bad organization on this event, we are already tired from running 13.1 to be putting up with this mess, not to mention the price we did PAY for it!!! thank you and i hope in one future you will solve this problem i think is a pretty neat idea but it needs to be planned a little more!
Lisa Miller – I have participated in over 20 marathons/half-marathons and the logistics following this one were the worst ever. I was one of the thousands of people trapped in the Mandalay Bay walkways with no where to go. The crowd wasn’t moving, people were trying to go in opposite directions and people were passing out all around me. It took over 30 minutes for security personnel to arrive and attempt to disperse the crowds. Once the crowds started moving there were over a dozen people on the ground that had to be treated by emergency personnel. This was definitely a nightmare!
Jason Lee Schenck – Ok, I have to get this off my chest. So, I finished the first half in 1:49, so I had a decent pace going…until we merged with the halfers. Many were walking in the marathon lane and slowed my pace to 11:00/mile. When a group of girls were walking in the marathon lane and I couldn’t get around them, I yelled, “Half to the right…please!”. One of the girls turned around got in my face & yelled..
Greta Hanson – Am completely blown away by the overwhelming lack of response by the RNR team and those who support this page. Their lack of communication and acknowledgement of what went down last night puts the final nail in the coffin: I will never run another RNR rave or event put on by Competitor. It’s clear they have no concern for the runners or their experience.
Walt Schneider – Little tired of the “What did you expect?” comments. If you are a runner and you signed up for a “Marathon”, I think you would expect it to be conducted like a Marathon and not just a clever title like the World’s Largest Night Run.
Charlene Ragsdale – You money hungry mongers! U were so ill equipped to handle this event. I spent the night in the hospital because of your lack of willingness to provide medical care. I am a 1:44 half.marathoner and hv run several night races. I am done with RnR. Hope you get sued.
Jenee’ Blundell – I won’t repost all of the previous complaints about the race itself, which are valid in my opinion. But I feel the need to repost to the half marathoners…as said previously us marathoners had a tiny, broke up, slanted, wet part of the road you all had a very large space. I spent my second half jumping up and down curbs and dodging half marathoners that were in our lane. I was pissed every time I had to scurry around a half marathoner that was rudely in our section! Respect the distance of the marathon and respect fellow runners. I love runners because everyone is so positive and encouraging and we support one another in our efforts to reach our goals. I wasn’t feeling that last night.
John Valli – I volunteered in medical at the finish line but I spent most of the time in (attempted) crowd control since it is hard to spot somebody fall when 500 people are jammed into such a small area. I saw lots of bottlenecks at photos and medals but was unable to do anything about it. I know they were well short on volunteers this year but even apart from that as has been stated many times, there just wasn’t enough planning to make a 40,000+ person race run smooth.
Gael Henville – If you want to right all of the wrongs of yesterday; you should consider the power of your bosses: runners. I do hope your PR folks are hard at work with a satisfactory response and a respectful compensation for yesterday’s epic disaster of a race. To not address these issues in a timely manner would be a great injustice to me and my fellow running mates. In advance, thank you.
Karen Schroeder – This race was ridiculous. I can’t believe you all actually CHOSE to put that many people on the strip and START them so that they could run together. That togetherness was an utter nightmare. You cost a lot of people their PRs and caused too many injuries related to over crowding. I’m sorry, Rock and Roll, but you’ve lost many customers. Get your stuff together. I’m leaving extremely frustrated that I invested and actually PAID for this “experience.”
Rachna Sizemore Heizer – And the half marathoners who complained about being asked to leave the 3 feet wide lane allotted to the full marathoners – really?? You all had 90% of the road and you complained about being asked to move into your own lane? The marathoners were given the worst part of the street – the slant of the road, the sticky part next to the water tables AND the widest turns on all the turns and you still complained because you couldn’t have the entire road to your disposal?? Respect the distance we were running and your fellow runners. Shame on you.
Jon Chernila – The crowding at the merge of the full with the half should not have come as a surprise to RnR. I passed on a chance to pace the 3:50 group once I figure out this WAS going to happen. I emailed the RD and posted about it on this page a couple months ago. With a 90 minute start differential, only the fastest marathoners were going to get past the merge without a crowd. Starting the full 30-45 minutes earlier would have solved most of the problem.
Steve Reincke – As a runner that trained for 7 months to do a 3:40 full I was on track until I hit the WALL of people at the 1/2. No control of the Full vs. Half lanes was so disappointing! Ran 8:04 miles for the first 1/2 then over 10 minutes per mile killed my opportunity for PR. TOO many runners for too narrow of a course. GREED rears it’s ugly head on the LV R&R Marathon!
DeAnn Mena – My very first half marathon event so I really don’t have much to compare it too. However what happened inside the mandalay bay was absolutely horrible, unsafe, and totally inexcusable. Running out of water, citomax, was also very unsafe!!! Not having enough medals for people is just downright rediculous. And wtf is up with your sizing chart of the tshirts?
Jennifer Lucas – The actual half course was great! The amount of people on the course that were clueless about race edicate was dangerous. The volunteers needed better information and commitment. With 44,000 people and compact conditions PEOPLE WITH HIKING/WALKING POLES, DOGS ON LEASHES AND BABY STROLLERS SHOULD NEVER BE ALLOWED TO RACE AND REMOVED IMMEDIATELY.
Kelsey Sibanda – I ran the half and felt awful for the marathoners. Bummer that they shoved you all into a sliver of the road and didn’t clearly mark where the line was. And I’m still not sure how so many walkers were in front of me. That is just bad etiquette. Stay with your corral and if you need to walk a little, stay to the right for everyone’s safety.
Raegan Carter – This was my first RnR event and my first half marathon. I started in corral 39 since I knew I’d be slow. First half of the race was fine (except for tying to stay out of the way of the marathoners- why the hell they planned it to merge marathoners with half-ers who planned to finish in 3:30 is beyond me), second half was horrible. Water and cytomax were gone by the time I got to the stations.
Rosie Bava – I’ve never been told to f*ck off or shut up by so many half marathoners who I dodged or politely asked to move out of the way.
Tava Bingham – What happened in Vegas clearly did not stay in Vegas. Surprised neither Rock ‘n’ Roll nor Competitor have made a statement.
Nancy Howard – If participation is anything more than what it was this year (rumor has it in the 60,000 range), TRUST ME, I will NOT be back. While I do appreciate walker participation, to have them walk 4-5 abreast was just too much. This race and the expense of traveling to this event left a very bitter experience. I must say not one person I have spoken with has not had at least one negative comment…the biggest for me…getting stuck at the finish line and unable to cross the mat due to the traffic jam. Thankfully this was not my first nor a race I was trying to PR
Denise Clancy Zack – Lackluster ending to a bitter-sweet journey… RnR 1/2 #10 ROCK IDOL for me. Felt great stopping at marathon mile 25 to help a marathoner in trouble get back on track and get her across the finish line… Only to find out there were no finisher medals left, no-post race fuel, volunteers all gone, photo guys wrapping up… and I wasn’t even last! Before you decide to host an event with this many folks again – you should make sure you have all your “medals” in a row… especially with all the money folks spend to make these events successful.
Bill Egan – First and Last Las Vegas R n R even for my wife, sister and me! Not worth repeating all the fails. Will recommend to all in the Phx area to stay away.
Elizabeth Bittner – the Vegas race chaotic! They had the Full runners meet up with the Halfer around the mid point which made it super crowded. One guy actually pushed me aside and said “get out of the way of the elite runners!”
Tara Boyle – The coordinators should be removed and an apology issued to those of us who participated and a meeting with city officials to coordinate a better route for the race, more blocked off safety for the marathon course to keep it separate from the 1/2 and actual provisions on the race route. Thanks for the pamphlet on safety and hydration – how about you read it before the next event.
Brian Pursel – I felt really bad for the marathoners. I was (on the right side of the cones) near the 3:20 pacer and witnessed a lot of angry and frustrated marathoners getting trapped by half marathoners in the left lane. I blame the organizers for poor communication and enforcement. Many first time half marathoners probably had no idea they were sharing the road with full marathoners until hearing “HALF MARATH
Breanna Rebman – I’m very sad that a good course and a great first half marathon run was overshadowed by the scary chaos at the end…I questioned after last night whether this was my first and last half …luckily many have told me that wasn’t typical…I will probably do another but I really hope I am not disappointed again
Christie Henderson – My running partner and I trained our hearts out for a personal best marathon and ended up smack in the middle of the 2.5hr half marathon crowd back at Mandalay. We ended up at 3:54 vs 3:40 and I have bruised ribs from being elbowed by slower runners in the marathon lane. Great scenery for 12 of the 42k. Mixing marathoners with halfers in that fashion is not good for anyone. Great city – disappointing the race went the way it did.
Jen Lee – Wow where to start? positives: the strip was beautiful. Negatives: what everyone else is saying-I’m too sore to type—first race I’ve been this sore after…since I had to run around everyone, jump curbs, zig zag and try to tread lightly over all the empty gel packs/water cups-eventually I knew there was no hope of recovering my usual pace.
Kate Spencer – I got so sick – nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, that I ended up in the hospital, this marathon is going to cost me a lot more than the entry fee!! Cytomax and bad water???
Dawn Hurley-Trogdon – 4th year running the strip. This year compares to how the race was organized before RnR took over. Sad for Vegas!! And of course all of us 44k runners.
Stephanie Stinson Barras – Just got a “sorry we ran out medals here is $10 off for your next race” email. Seriously?! I can get $10 with any random discount code. EPIC FAIL!!!
Sintasera Sorbetes – This is my 3rd half marathon this year and it was very disorganized. I also saw a lot of runners LITERALLY pushing others out of the way and hitting the volunteers with empty cups of water (some filled with a little water)…I had to stop and apologize on behalf of these people who were very rude. This is my first and definitely my last Rock n’ Roll marathon. It’s a shame since I actually encouraged at least 5 other people to join and some of them were traumatized by this event. NEVER. AGAIN.
Las Vegas Review Journal: Las Vegas Marathon Runners Say They Were Sickened by Bad Water
Did you run it? Leave a comment with your thoughts!
