Friday, November 23, 2001
Record race field encounters problems
By John Fay
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Julie Isphording was hoping to reach 10,000 runners for the Thanksgiving Day Race in 2003 or 2004.So when it seemed 10,000 had shown up Thursday for this year's race, Isphording was thrown for a loop.
“I saw the line and I panicked,” she said.
Things went reasonably well. But there were glitches.
Some elite runners took a wrong turn, adding a half mile to their run. It was crowded at the start, taking back-of-the-packers eight minutes to get to the line. Organizers ran out of timing chips.
“I think you're going to have over 8,000 happy run ners,” Isphording said, “and a few unhappy ones.”
Isphording didn't have an official count of race entrants Thursday morning. Her best guess was around 9,000, which would smash last year's record field of 6,464.
The weather — 45 degrees and sunny at the race's 9 a.m. start — probably contributed to the increase.
But a new course, which began and ended at Paul Brown Stadium, was obviously the difference.
The old course went from Covington to downtown Cincinnati, requiring runners to be bused to start line.
Thursday's crowd shows Isphording's goal of 10,000 may be conservative. The race could draw 12,000-15,000 runners in a few years.
Is Isphording ready?
“I've got a year to figure it out,” she said.
Full results are posted at www.thanksgivingdayrace.com/results.htm.
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Record race field encounters problems