Atlanta and Los Angeles. A tale of two cities

I’m sitting in a cafe in Portland, Oregon (actually Lake Oswego, Lola’s Cafe Bar). Into my second cup of coffee, enjoying the fresh air, outside under the heater and life is pretty good this morning. I’m almost packed after a week in Portland, now heading to New York for the NIKE Indoor Nationals.

I wanted you, dear readers, to consider last week’s events, the USATF Half Marathon and the Los Angeles City Marathon. I wanted to think about how quickly things can get out of hand. It’s also interesting to see how events handle situations.

1. The USATF Half Marathon was an event within an event. The Publix Atlanta Half Marathon, hosted by the Atlanta Track Club, knows how to put on an event. I believe that this year the Atlanta Track Club, under the leadership of CEO Rich Kenna and his team, will host 20-23 road races. They also organize matches and sponsor an elite club with the support of the adidas brand.
2. The ASICS Los Angeles City Marathon is now in its 41st year. Owned and hosted by the McCourt Foundation, with ASICS as title sponsor since 2019, the LA Marathon had a field of 5k and 27,000 in the marathon.
3. The top women’s runners in the USATF Half Marathon were thrown off course by a perfect storm, including a police officer injured in the line of duty.
4. In the Los Angeles Marathon, the leading male marathoner followed a flag-waving fan plus a vehicle and derailed with 400 meters to go. Exhausted, he was guided to the finish line. He was pinned in an incredible finish by a high school cross country coach who won by .01, the closest finish in marathon history.
5. The crisis at the USATF Half Marathon was quickly and promptly reported by athletes, managers and event management. Within a few days a measure was worked out for the 3rd prize purse, which seems to be appreciated by all concerned. A final decision on whether athletes will be allowed to compete in the half-marathon world championships must be voted on by the World Athletics Council at its upcoming meeting before the World Indoor Championships on March 18-19.
6. The news of high school cross country coach Nathan Martin from Michigan’s incredible finish at the ASICS LA Marathon hit many major news networks. Mr. Martin, who is African-American, is the first African-American man to win a major marathon in at least several decades.
7. Kudos to USATF Half Marathon, Atlanta Track Club, USATF and sponsor, Publix! Also kudos to Brooks running to look after Jess McClain who was winning the half marathon. Jess McClain’s thoughtful social media posts and her agent Josh Cox’s summary of the situation helped the running community learn more about the story. Rich Kenna, executive director of the Atlanta Track Club, world indoor 800 meter medalist, responded promptly and thoughtfully to a very difficult situation.
8. Nathan Martin races around the world for his brilliant win. A Kenya Sports video shows Micheal Kamau, exhausted from his brilliant run in the heat, a little flustered as he is pushed off the field and tries to respond, unable to hold off Nathan Martin’s charge. Some have speculated that Mr. Kamau may have held down the duties of a high-flying cross-country coach. I’m not so sure, however, I would note that the LA Marathon finish line area, in the future, should be much cleaner and adjustments should be made to keep enthusiastic, or perhaps over-enthusiastic, fans close to the finish line. Marathon fences were used for this. However, it was not possible to see in the video if LAM personnel were nearby to guard against such situations.
9. Both events are far from over, but I thought it would be nice to put them all in one post and welcome corrections and suggestions on how to cover this fascinating story. We take race management for granted, and when it happens at national events twice in one week, the racing culture needs to appreciate the amazing organization and precision of road racing management and how, when the perfect storm erupts, the various racing organizations respond.
10. Stay tuned!