Some of what’s rattling around:
– Leaf-peeping: It’s time to start talking in earnest about the fall leaf season. Where’s the best color? What have you seen? If you’re out and about, let me know. The Hendersonville Times-News reports that the color change is already starting, and that can be evidenced by the photo above.
In the meantime, lots of local tourism officials are hoping that the tourists come in droves. Anything will be better than last year’s dismal season, what with the tanking economy and the gas shortage. The photo above is by one of the most prolific, amazing photogs here in Asheville, zen sutherland. Check out zen’s flickr photo stream. Hire zen.
– Christmas Jam 2009: Anybody heard any details about this year’s Warren Haynes Christmas Jam? Just wondering.
– PBS series on parks starts tonight: Speaking of beautiful mountains, the PBS series by filmmaker Ken Burns, The National Parks: America’s Best Idea, starts tonight. Must-see. The Great Smoky Mountains National Park will be featured.
– TW8K: I got up Saturday and ran the Thomas Wolfe 8k. I love the fact that the race takes you through serene Riverside Cemetery. But the most startling action occurred at the end of the race, when organizers spotted a “bandit,” an unregistered runner who ran the course and came across the finish line. The main race organizer angrily shouted at the man, who sort of shrugged it off. Another organizer came up from behind the runner, ripped the guys iPod ear buds out of his ears, bumped his chest, then shouted at him and threatened to have him arrested if he ever did that again. That wasn’t professional comportment on the part of race officials, in my opinion. I mean, is running unregistered really that big of a deal?
Race results here. I finished 90th out of 203. Woo. Hoo.
– Grass Routes: A green distribution business has opened in Asheville. It’s called Grass Routes, and it’s led by distribution specialist Sammy Cox, who also handles distribution for the Mountain Xpress. From a recent ad: “Grass Routes uses zero-emission electric cars, hybrid vehicles and car-free delivery options to promote a lighter, brighter way to deliver the news.”
– The Avett Brothers record on sale Tuesday: That’s all you need to know. Check out today’s story in the Charlotte Observer about this awesome band. Will they break big? Only time will tell.
– Bookopolis: Perusing the amazing books on display at Bookopolis was a real eye-opener on Saturday. The care and craft that goes into these works of art truly astounds. As does some of the price tags. I was afraid to touch one book that was being offered for $2,500.
– Mommy blogger schwag: The inaugural Type-A Mom Conference, a gathering of mommy bloggers from around the U.S. held here in Asheville this weekend and organized by Asheville’s blogging czarina Kelby Carr, appeared to be an unqualified success. The women had great things to say about the event, and about Asheville, if their initial tweets and blog posts are any indication. One aspect of the conference stood out – how companies used the event to market to moms, a powerful demographic of taste-makers and spenders. Chick-fil-a had piles of boxed lunches in hopes someone would write something positive about them. Local businesses turned out for a Saturday morning “mom mart” to get their goods in front of these women. An ice cream company gave away frozen treats. Samsung donated cameras for the conference to use to document the conference. And perhaps most exciting of all (at least for some women) a squat man with a big bag from Eden Fantasys was going around handing out pink dildos. Can’t wait to read the tweets about that.
6 Comments
Here it is in a nut shell folks. When Someone bandits a race it is the things posts above did mention.
1. Theft of goods and services.
2. Disrespectful to the people who did pay and the CHARITY that the event benifits.
3. Difficult for the people timing the race who are trying to get results out in a timely fashion.
The other 200 people who ran that day paid part of their entry fee towards getting age group awards and overall times distrubuted shortly after the race.
When someone comes across the line and we don’t hear a beep from a timing chip reading we become concerned. We want them to have an official time. That is something they PAID for after all, maybe they lost their chip or forgot to pick it up. Or simply ran over the mats with their foot too fast and to high in the air for the chip to read. Still, they should have a bib number on and we can insert them in manually by noting a bib number and the time that they finished to include them in the results. With a Bandit that goes through the finish line, they gum up the process, while I am first trying to do the right thing and help the person, I then find that in fact they should not be in the finish line chute at all. I could have spent that time serving my customers.
4. Finally, the most important reason to not bandit. The bandit did NOT fill out an entry form and did NOT sign a waiver. IF that bandit, who was wearing an IPOD as also mentioned (this is an unsafe practice during a road race by the way) was to injure himself in any way, he could grab a good lawyer and sue Asheville Track Club, Set Up Events, or even the Thomas Wolfe House. Signing the waiver prevents that. As crazy as that sounds it can be done and it is the same mind set of a person who would bandit a race that would also see fit to sue a non profit.
As for the incident itself, no one touched this person, As I first approached him to try and help he kept his ear buds in, looked at me and shugged and pointed to his ear buds and grinned. As if to say "I can’t hear you". I then Yelled, Take them out and did that motion with my hands. He took one out and I started telling him that banditing is wrong, he started walking off on the other side of a barrier, but I was going to deliver my message. So to make certain I was heard, I raised my voice quite a bit. The race director also heard it, came over and had his say as well because the guy was completely remorseless about it, as is any petty theif. The race director did not yank out His ear buds, he did not physically touch the bandit. Nor did I.
Two final thoughts on the banditing.
1.For smaller races that don’t have chip timing, banditing can ruin results due to the method that they must use. Someone holds a tickertape machine that prints times. They hit enter when they see someone and the folks line up in the chute to get their bib tag pulled. If the person holding the ticker tape clock thing, a bandit causes everything to get off by one person another bandit makes it worse and so on until everybodies times are completely off.
2. As it has been said, if you are going to bandit, respect the race enough to duck out and hit your watch as a "finish" somewhere outside of the actual finishing chute. Leave that privlage to the folks that pay.
FJK has it right. Bandits should not cross the finish line.
As race director for the Thomas Wolfe 8k, and the second ‘official’ to confront Saturday’s bandit, that’s what I told him. "I don’t care if you bandit, but don’t #@%$ cross the finish line" Miss Daisy above is right to a certain extent; we can’t keep bandits off the streets, they’re open to the public.
But a non-paying, non-registered runner is a thief – using goods and services paid for by others. People who steal from non-profits and charities might be the most despicable thieves of all. And by interfering with the timing and results, they are interfering with every other runner who participates. Race officials are well within their rights to deny bandits access to areas set aside for registered runners.
Contrary to the original post, I did not chest bump the guy or threaten to have him arrested. The race timer (not the "main organizer") who first confronted the bandit was a bit harsh in his harangue.
Despite that unfortunate incident, the TW8K went very well and dodged the rain showers.
Congrats on your finish, Jason, certainly a good one! I’ve been running since the early `80s – 15 marathons, many, many halfs and 10ks, etc. At this advanced stage in life though, I do my "drag your ass" fitness running to be able to drink a reasonable amount of beer, eat what I want and still stay in decent shape. That’s it. Anyway, non-registered runners have always jumped into races, sometimes because the event is sold-out, sometimes because they don’t want to pay the entry fee. Either way, what they should NOT do is cross the official finish line. That messes-up organizers and time-keepers. It’s really simple. They should just peel-off at the end – stay out of the finish chutes – stop their own watches – check their times against the official clock – and then get the hell out of the way. In my opinion, there is nothing at all wrong with "ghost running", but they should also stay away from the water, bananas, snacks, etc. They did not pay for any of these post-race goodies. Fair is fair. There’s no such thing as a free lunch or even free replenishment. Head right on over to Green LIfe or Earthfare for some cold spring water or a smoothie. Stash it in your car. It’s all good, fitness freaks, but stay healthy on your own dime! Run well and be respectful.
That’s messed up. Race organizers don’t own the courses. Nothing wrong with ghost running.
I saw the same thing happen at the Citizen-Times race, but at the start of the half marathon. All I can think is that people who don’t pay their fair share to participate are taking up space on the track and resources for the rest of us who shell out the dough. Seems like there’s a better way to do it, but maybe this bandit dude makes it a habit.
I dunno. An unregistered runner could have been an al Qaeda terrorist. His iPod could have been a music bomb. If he’d won he would have blasted road races back to the stone age. Seems like the official was just trying to protect Asheville. Maybe he was operating under deep cover for Homeland Security?