Back to Racing, Part 2
This past weekend, the Unplugged Half Marathon was held, starting and finishing at Waterfront Park in Burlington. In total, 425 runners finished in eight waves, an hour apart over two days. It was a modified out and back course along the Burlington bikepath. It was unusual for various reasons. One, COVID-19 protocols limited the number of runners per wave to 150. In theory, that would have allowed for 1,200 runners. As it was, 950 were registered, but many of those had originally registered for the race on April 11th. With the April event cancelled due to COVID, runners’ registration carried over to October. If they did not respond when contacted for their preferred wave they were assigned a day and wave. That didn’t work for some, including a large number of out of staters subject to travel restrictions. Two, the eight waves were not seeded. Thus, usual competitors (at least before COVID) were likely not together and able to pace each other. Three, the course was out and back on the bikepath, not everyone’s first choice for a half marathon. The reason was the South End of the Burlington bikepath is being totally redone and the two-mile stretch from downtown … Continue reading