Las Vegas Rock n Roll Marathon 2011 - EPIC FAIL!

The above photo is of runners trapped inside Mandalay Bay post-race. Photo borrowed from Facebook user.

This was my 3rd annual pilgrimage to Las Vegas to visit family and participate in the Las Vegas Rock n Roll Marathon. The first year, I ran the full marathon and thought that the race organizers went out of their way to make it a special event. Show girls, white tigers, fireworks, sky divers, Celine Dion impersonator, Blues Brothers, etc. Very Vegas. Decent bang for your buck. The race itself was well organized with no major problems to speak of other than a pretty boring second half atmosphere. But really, once you exit the Strip, it's a desert so not many options other than an out and back through a major artery.

Year two, I was scheduled to run the full marathon but was sick and ended up only running the half. Again, pretty good overall experience. They cut back on the pre-race festivities but that didn't bother me. I was there to race, not to be entertained.

This year, they announced that they were changing the start time, making the race a night time event. They hyped the hell out of running the Strip at night. Honestly, I wasn't all that excited about this and really thought it was a bad idea. Next, I learned that they were planning to start the marathon 90 minutes before the start of the half marathon. They were also going to have the marathoners run the boring part of the course first and then merge with the half marathoners to run the final half of the race on the Strip.

This was a huge red flag for me. It was obvious that anyone running the marathon at less than 3 hour pace was going to run smack-dab into a sea of slower moving half marathoners as soon as they merged onto the Strip. I emailed the race officials, stated my concerns and asked if they were planning to have a separate lane for the marathoners once they merged. I was told that they planned to give the marathoners a separate lane for the first mile of the merge and that was all. Upon hearing this, I decided that running the full marathon would be a huge mistake and decided to only run the half. As it turns out, WOW, did I make the right call.

The race turned out to be an utter and complete disaster for the majority involved. At this point, it would probably be easiest if I just break down all of the things that went wrong.

1. Despite seeding runners in corrals based on their expected finishing times, the race officials failed to enforce the corral seeding which led to people lining up in any corral they chose. This included many people who were walking the entire race lining up in some of the upper corrals. This caused major congestion on the course as runners had to try to weave around groups of walkers, some walking 4 or 5 wide, sometimes holding hands. This led to verbal and physical confrontations.

2. Reports of aid stations completely running out of water and sports drink well before all participants had passed the stations.

3. Reports of runners being given dirty (and/or contaminated) water, resulting in many runners getting sick and throwing up during and after the race.

4. Reports of congestion at the finish line so heavy that runners were forced to come to a complete stop while still on the course and wait in line to cross the finish line.

5. The race ran out of finisher medals. Seriously, how does that happen?

After the race is where it really got interesting. No one had bothered to plan an exit strategy for 44,000 runners. This resulted in absolute gridlock and chaos in Mandalay Bay as runners were trapped in a hallway, unable to move for somewhere between 45 and 90 minutes, based on different accounts. This resulted in multiple people passing out, getting sick, needing medical attention, etc. and no way to get them (or anyone else) to safety.

Additionally, apparently no one had the foresight to realize that 44,000 hungry runners plus countless thousands of spectators would descend upon the area between 10pm and midnight, looking for something to eat. Reports state that most nearby restaurants were closed and the ones that were open had at least a 2 hour wait.

Taxi service was also reported as being a 2 hour wait, shuttles that had been promised for runners were either nonexistent or hopelessly behind schedule. Lines for the trams were reportedly just as bad. Utter chaos and a complete lack of planning or consideration for the runners and spectators involved in this race.

To add insult to injury, the race organizers seemed to be completely oblivious to all of these problems. A race spokesman posted the following on his Facebook page immediately following the race:

"What a night. Got back to the room at 11:10pm. Impossible to describe. I've never seen anything like it. RnR Las Vegas 2011 was EPIC."

If by EPIC, he meant EPIC FAIL, then I completely agree.

The Las Vegas Marathon Facebook page has been buzzing with nonstop activity for the past two days, with post after post after post about the horrible, frightening, dangerous conditions that runners were exposed to during and after this race.

This was by far the worst run event I have ever participated in and I can't imagine giving any more money to Competitor and the Rock n Roll brand after this fiasco. I'll end by giving the boycott link. Run these events if you wish but buyer beware. You've been warned.