You can no longer repeatedly cancel and be guaranteed entry the following year. Now you will only be allowed to cancel once with guaranteed entry for the following year.
No more three strikes and you're in. In the past if you were rejected from the lottery three years in a row you were assured of a spot in year four. Now you can continue to be unlucky indefinitely.
The policy of guaranteed acceptance to 15x NYC Marathoners is being modified. They will grandfather those who make it by 2015, but there will be no consideration to those who hit their 15th marathon after 2015.
The time requirements for guaranteed acceptance have gotten much faster. After this year it will take a 75% AG ranking (in five year age groups) in the marathon or half marathon. As the chart below shows, this is markedly faster than the current standards, and is especially so for women. At first glance this seems unfair to women, but considering that they are using 75% AG ranking across the board, it seems to simply be reflective of the fact that women's records are improving at a far faster rate than men's, and that the previous standards were soft for women.
Let's look at the new guidelines and what motivated them. The Marathon continues to grow in popularity, and more and more people are applying, so NYRR had no choice but to make some changes. Certainly they're not going to touch their 9+1 policy since it provides them with multiple entry fees and free labor. Similarly, there's a financial incentive to leave the tourism and charity entries alone since NYRR makes extra money on those entries. Fast runners who get in off of qualifying times only pay their marathon entry fee, but not the extra hundreds of dollars that NYRR collects for 9+1, charities and tourists. Back in the day NYRR's bread and butter was fast runners. But today it's MOP runners, charity runners and tourists, so who can blame them for the changes?
Ultimately, though it's not the way I would go, it is NYRR's ball, and they can do with it as they please. The average finishing time gets slower and slower, but the race is more popular, and presumably generates more sponsorship and revenue every year. If NYRR's goal is to continue to make more money every year, these adjustments seem to make sense even if they won't be popular among some fast runners.
You can no longer repeatedly cancel and be guaranteed entry the following year. Now you will only be allowed to cancel once with guaranteed entry for the following year.
No more three strikes and you're in. In the past if you were rejected from the lottery three years in a row you were assured of a spot in year four. Now you can continue to be unlucky indefinitely.
The policy of guaranteed acceptance to 15x NYC Marathoners is being modified. They will grandfather those who make it by 2015, but there will be no consideration to those who hit their 15th marathon after 2015.
The time requirements for guaranteed acceptance have gotten much faster. After this year it will take a 75% AG ranking (in five year age groups) in the marathon or half marathon. As the chart below shows, this is markedly faster than the current standards, and is especially so for women. At first glance this seems unfair to women, but considering that they are using 75% AG ranking across the board, it seems to simply be reflective of the fact that women's records are improving at a far faster rate than men's, and that the previous standards were soft for women.
Let's look at the new guidelines and what motivated them. The Marathon continues to grow in popularity, and more and more people are applying, so NYRR had no choice but to make some changes. Certainly they're not going to touch their 9+1 policy since it provides them with multiple entry fees and free labor. Similarly, there's a financial incentive to leave the tourism and charity entries alone since NYRR makes extra money on those entries. Fast runners who get in off of qualifying times only pay their marathon entry fee, but not the extra hundreds of dollars that NYRR collects for 9+1, charities and tourists. Back in the day NYRR's bread and butter was fast runners. But today it's MOP runners, charity runners and tourists, so who can blame them for the changes?
Ultimately, though it's not the way I would go, it is NYRR's ball, and they can do with it as they please. The average finishing time gets slower and slower, but the race is more popular, and presumably generates more sponsorship and revenue every year. If NYRR's goal is to continue to make more money every year, these adjustments seem to make sense even if they won't be popular among some fast runners.
New Guidelines for NYC Marathon 2012
NYRR has announced new guidelines for guaranteed entry to the marathon beginning next year. Here are the highlights:
Let's look at the new guidelines and what motivated them. The Marathon continues to grow in popularity, and more and more people are applying, so NYRR had no choice but to make some changes. Certainly they're not going to touch their 9+1 policy since it provides them with multiple entry fees and free labor. Similarly, there's a financial incentive to leave the tourism and charity entries alone since NYRR makes extra money on those entries. Fast runners who get in off of qualifying times only pay their marathon entry fee, but not the extra hundreds of dollars that NYRR collects for 9+1, charities and tourists. Back in the day NYRR's bread and butter was fast runners. But today it's MOP runners, charity runners and tourists, so who can blame them for the changes?
Ultimately, though it's not the way I would go, it is NYRR's ball, and they can do with it as they please. The average finishing time gets slower and slower, but the race is more popular, and presumably generates more sponsorship and revenue every year. If NYRR's goal is to continue to make more money every year, these adjustments seem to make sense even if they won't be popular among some fast runners.
Posted at 09:17 AM in Coach's Comments | Permalink